Want to join the project?Click above to take our participatoin suvey or Scoll below to learn more about the project and how to participate |
Recently completed a Pool Collection?Click above to fill out the submission form
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Don't have a pool but still want to participate?Click above to upload photos of organisms found in your backyard.
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Check out some of the insects we have collected with our participants in the project
Do you live in California? Do you have a pool? If so, then we are looking for you to help find new species living in YOUR backyard!
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Fill out the survey to the right to sign up!
Join our team looking to discover new species in your backyard We are entomologists from The California Academy of Sciences and UC Berkeley who are interested in exploring the insects that live in your backyard! We are starting a new collaborative citizen science project after the discovery of new and rare species in a backyard pool in Marin County, California. Although the samples collected from our pilot pool in Marin County have received only cursory analysis, the results are already eye-opening. When these insects were examined by a taxonomist specializing in wasps, species from four new, undescribed genera were found. Even more exciting, we found an abundance of very rare Stigmatomma aka "Dracula Ants." These rarely seen, under studied ants are called “Dracula Ants,” since workers pierce the bodies of their own larvae and consume them for sustenance. While we will examine all the insects found in your backyard, as Myrmecologists, scientists who study ants, we are particularly interested to see the ants that exist in your backyard! This is why we are now looking for your help! We were so excited by these preliminary results that we wanted to expand to more homes across California. For the Backyard Biodiversity Project we are specifically looking for homeowners in California who have backyard swimming pools to assist us with the collection of insect samples. So, if you have a pool, come be a part of this fun and easy activity for people of all ages. Join our team in discovering new species that live in your backyard! If you want to join our team fill out the survey below to the right or click HERE to sign up |
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