Citizen Scientists

Understanding hownature responds to climate change will require monitoring key life cycle events一

flowering,theappearance of leaves,the first frog calls of the spring一all around the world.But ecologists

（生态学家）can' tbe everywhere so they' re turning to non-scientists, sometimes called citizenscientists,

for help.

Climate scientistsare not present everywhere.Because there are so many places in the world andnot

enough scientists toobserve all of them,they're asking for your help in observing signs of c1imat。 ehang,

across the world.Thecitizen scientist movement encourages ordinary people to observe "veryspecific

research interest一birds,trees,flowers budding,etc. andsend their observations to a giant database

（数据库）to beobserved by professional scientists. This helps a small number of scientiststrack a large

amount of data thatthey would never be able to gather on their own.Much like citizen journalistshelping

large publicationscover a hyper-local beat,citizen scientists are ready for the conditions wherethey live.All

that's needed tobecome one is a few minutes each day or each week to gather data and send itin.

A group ofscientists and educators launched an organization last year called the NationalPhonology

Network."Phenology"iswhat scientists eni1 the study of the timing of events in nature.

One of the group'sfirst efforts relies on scientists and non-scientists alike to collect dataabout plant

flowering andleafing every year. The program,called Project BudBurst,collects life eyeledata on a variety

of common plantsfrom across the United States.People participating in the project一which is open to every-

one一record their observations on theProject BudBurst website.

"People don'thave to be plant experts一theyjust have to look around and see what's in their

neighborhood,"saysJennifer Schwartz,an education consultant with the project."As we collectthis data,

we'll be able tomake an estimate of how p'ants and communities（生物群落）of plants and animals will re-

spond as the climatechanges."What are citizenscientists asked to do?

A.To develop aspecific research interest and become professional scientists.

B.To send theirresearch observations to a professional database.

C.To increase theirknowledge about climate change.

D.To keep a recordof their research observations.