Community Science in 2021
Community science (formerly called citizen science—read why we made the change in name) is public participation in scientific research. Students, teachers, and other community members use their skills of observation to contribute to important scientific research that can help us better understand the world.
At Tremont, we are using community science as an invaluable tool to connect people with nature. Hands-on experience with real research projects engages and excites students and volunteers. They develop a deeper connection to place through the projects and realize that they are contributing to something bigger than themselves.
In 2021, each of our community science volunteers made observations of trees, wildflowers, salamanders, butterflies, amphibian eggs, birds, soil respiration rates, or any number of the incredible natural phenomena that surround us. Their attention to detail and contributions to monitoring projects for Great Smoky Mountains National Park and national research programs help all of us better understand the world and our place within this ecosystem.
Explore our first-ever interactive research report to learn more about the amazing species we observed, studied, and learned from in 2021.
Community Science in 2021
Community science (formerly called citizen science—read why we made the change in name) is public participation in scientific research. Students, teachers, and other community members use their skills of observation to contribute to important scientific research that can help us better understand the world.
At Tremont, we are using community science as an invaluable tool to connect people with nature. Hands-on experience with real research projects engages and excites students and volunteers. They develop a deeper connection to place through the projects and realize that they are contributing to something bigger than themselves.
In 2021, each of our community science volunteers made observations of trees, wildflowers, salamanders, butterflies, amphibian eggs, birds, soil respiration rates, or any number of the incredible natural phenomena that surround us. Their attention to detail and contributions to monitoring projects for Great Smoky Mountains National Park and national research programs help all of us better understand the world and our place within this ecosystem.
Explore our first-ever interactive research report to learn more about the amazing species we observed, studied, and learned from in 2021.
Community Science in 2021
Community science (formerly called citizen science—read why we made the change in name) is public participation in scientific research. Students, teachers, and other community members use their skills of observation to contribute to important scientific research that can help us better understand the world.
At Tremont, we are using community science as an invaluable tool to connect people with nature. Hands-on experience with real research projects engages and excites students and volunteers. They develop a deeper connection to place through the projects and realize that they are contributing to something bigger than themselves.
In 2021, each of our community science volunteers made observations of trees, wildflowers, salamanders, butterflies, amphibian eggs, birds, soil respiration rates, or any number of the incredible natural phenomena that surround us. Their attention to detail and contributions to monitoring projects for Great Smoky Mountains National Park and national research programs help all of us better understand the world and our place within this ecosystem.
Explore our first-ever interactive research report to learn more about the amazing species we observed, studied, and learned from in 2021.
Phenology
Songbirds arriving in spring, salamanders laying eggs, and monarchs migrating are all events that alert us to changes in daylight, temperature, and other signs of a new season. But perhaps the most obvious signs of change, those that bring in millions of park visitors, are the seasonal variations of the plants around us.
From spring wildflower blooms to the color explosions of fall, the study of the timing of seasonal events is called phenology, and we have an incredible crew of dedicated volunteers that track these changes in trees and wildflowers season after season to help us understand how climate change, land-use change, and other impacts on our world will affect the species around us (and our own communities!)
As always, Tremont volunteer observers ranked at the top of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park VIP list for the number of observations submitted to Nature’s Notebook (the app used to submit phenology data to the National Phenology Network). With a whopping 5,869 submitted observations of , our very own Dr. Mac Post topped the leaderboard for observations within the park. But he’s not the only one! Out of 184 people who signed up as phenology volunteers for the Great Smoky Mountains in 2021, ALL of Tremont’s long-term phenology volunteers were in the top 15 for number of observations submitted! That’s amazing.
Learn more about how this data is used and check out the full leaderboard by reading the park’s Fall 2021 Phenology Newsletter.
Gratitude to: The Pearsons, the Metcalfs, the Higdons, Mark Weingartz, Pip Maas, Mac Post, Travis Whitehead, Terry Uselton, and Cheryl Brodbeck for showing up week after week to assess the status of their trees and wildflowers.Vernal Pond-Breeding Amphibians
Laura Dixson and Mark Weingartz count wood frog eggs. Each clump or “mass” of eggs represents the offspring of one female wood frog.
Tremont facilitates the longest-running amphibian monitoring program in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. First started in 1993 by researcher Jim Petranka, and later taken over by community scientists at Tremont in 2007, this project aims to assess the breeding population of wood frogs and spotted salamanders by counting their egg masses in.
This work is important to assess the health of not only our amphibians (who are suffering a global decline due to viruses and habitat loss) but the health of our entire ecosystem. Amphibians are , and are highly sensitive to changes in the environment, from water quality to air quality. In this way, they act as a “canary in the coal mine” (should be called “salamander in the stream”) to alert us to potentially harmful events that could cascade and impact all other species, including humans.
Looking at the graph above, what stands out to you? Do you notice any patterns between the population changes of the two species? What questions do you have after looking at this graph? Note that in 2007, 2010, and 2017 our area experienced drought, and at least one of the ponds in our survey never filled with water.
Something you may notice was the huge spotted salamander count from 1995, numbers we have not come close to since. We reached out to Jim Petranka to see if he had any ideas about what happened that year to spark such a large mass laying and he provided the following insight:
“To figure those spikes out, you need to consider what happened several years back. For example, Spotted Salamander metamorphs that leave the ponds in GRSM probably take 3-4 years to reach sexual maturity and first return to their natal ponds as adults. So, it may be that we had a very long hydroperiod back [3-4 years prior] that allowed lots of juveniles to emerge from the ponds.”
Thanks to Mac Post, Tracy Tolley Hunter, Stacey Whetstone, Laura Dixson, Walt Peterson, Mark Weingartz, and Kimber Bradbury for not being afraid to wade into frigid winter pools to count these precious baby amphibians.Bird Banding
Every summer we welcome our resident birds back from their wintering grounds further south. In order to assess the breeding populations of our birds and track their health and numbers, we run a bird banding station once every 10 days from late May to early August.
Bird banding is an avian research method that requires catching birds in mist nets (see photo below), carefully removing them, placing a small metal band on their legs, and taking specific measurements and data on each individual bird. This includes age, sex, species, weight, wing length, and whether or not the individual is nesting. Every band has a unique number, which no other bird in the world will have. That way, if they are caught again either here at Tremont next year, or even in Latin America where they overwinter, researchers can learn more about their movements, survival, and the land each species depends on.
Discover Life in America’s Will Kuhn and Tremont summer Science Educator Steph Busse carefully remove a Louisiana Waterthrush from a mist net on campus in Summer 2021.
Banding days required VERY early mornings, and we have a phenomenal team of volunteers that gets up before sunrise (sometimes sleeping in our tent platforms the night before!) to set up the nets and supplies to be ready for the morning movement of birds.
Over time, the information from banding can help us understand trends in individual survival and overall population health more precisely. This data can then be used to inform conservation policy as efforts can be focused on areas of known importance for birds.
Species included:
- Acadian Flycatchers
- American Goldfinch
- Carolina Wrens
- Eastern Phoebes
- Wood Thrush (featured in video above)
- And many more!
Read our full 2021 banding report, which includes information about our most common warbler visitor: the Louisiana Waterthrush.
Otters
from the Great Smoky Mountains region from over trapping and habitat destruction in the early 1900s, American River Otters were reintroduced in the 1980s, and can now be seen frolicking and fishing throughout our river systems. The extent of their range and the particular sites that they use is still understudied, so a few years ago Tremont teamed up with Maryville College to create an iNaturalist Project: Otter Spotter.
Within the past year, so many folks have excitedly told Tremont staff about their otter experiences in the park, yet in 2021 only 5 observations of otters and their signs were added to the iNaturalist project! We need your observations!
To help, keep an eye out for quick fluid movements in the water. Otters will often slide over rocks, chirp with one another, and then dive under to quickly swim underwater, popping up many meters away. Another fun way to get to know otters is by looking for the tracks and signs that they leave behind. A great place to look for footprints is under bridges or next to rivers where wet sand temporarily preserves their tracks. Otters also use latrine rocks, where groups of otters will return to the same area to leave fishy-smelling scat behind! These signs are just as important for researchers to understand how these charismatic and playful mammals are using their environment. Upload any otter sighting OR photos of scat and tracks of otters to iNaturalist’s Otter Spotter project.
Otters
from the Great Smoky Mountains region from over trapping and habitat destruction in the early 1900s, American River Otters were reintroduced in the 1980s, and can now be seen frolicking and fishing throughout our river systems. The extent of their range and the particular sites that they use is still understudied, so a few years ago Tremont teamed up with Maryville College to create an iNaturalist Project: Otter Spotter.
Within the past year, so many folks have excitedly told Tremont staff about their otter experiences in the park, yet in 2021 only 5 observations of otters and their signs were added to the iNaturalist project! We need your observations!
To help, keep an eye out for quick fluid movements in the water. Otters will often slide over rocks, chirp with one another, and then dive under to quickly swim underwater, popping up many meters away. Another fun way to get to know otters is by looking for the tracks and signs that they leave behind. A great place to look for footprints is under bridges or next to rivers where wet sand temporarily preserves their tracks. Otters also use latrine rocks, where groups of otters will return to the same area to leave fishy-smelling scat behind! These signs are just as important for researchers to understand how these charismatic and playful mammals are using their environment. Upload any otter sighting OR photos of scat and tracks of otters to iNaturalist’s Otter Spotter project.
Salamander Monitoring
The Great Smoky Mountains is the salamander capital of the world, with 30 documented species of salamanders in the park. But do you know what characteristics to use to distinguish between all of these freshwater friends?
Our salamander monitoring volunteers do! Each month, volunteers visit their adopted stream at Tremont to count, identify, and measure the species of salamanders they find throughout the year. They do this using a site-specific dichotomous key. These keys are like puzzles that lead you to an identification by asking a series of pairwise questions about your salamander.
Do they have gills (still a young salamander in the larval stage)? Are they brown overall or more reddish? Is the shape of their snout more round or more square? And on and on until you reach your ID. Sounds simple, right? BUT sometimes, as biologist and salamander volunteer Holly Hoyle discovered, they are tiny and that makes it tricky to count just how many pairs of orange-ish spots they have between their front and back legs. Or they may not quite fit into the perfect category, as we are still learning about regional salamanders of the same species that may look quite different.
It takes a lot of careful observation and repeated practice to successfully identify our salamanders. In 2021, our salamander volunteers spent over 83 hours going through our monitoring protocol to count over 175 salamanders that were represented by at least 7 different species.
For their efforts identifying, measuring, counting, and admiring our Tremont stream salamanders (and getting wet in the process!) thanks is due to: Tom Dittmaier and Rory Ferguson, Mark Wiengartz, the Littleton Family, Holly Hoyle, Julie Pryor, Diane Peters, Walt Peterson, Hayley Mcleod, Alexander Miele, and Kristen Mecke
Because of amphibians’ sensitivity to the world around them, we are careful not to handle them directly, as our hands could have oils or toxins that harm them. We temporarily place them in a clean, sanitized plastic bag for observation before returning them safely to their homes.
A pint-sized salamander, indeed!
Salamander Monitoring
Because of amphibians’ sensitivity to the world around them, we are careful not to handle them directly, as our hands could have oils or toxins that harm them. We temporarily place them in a clean, sanitized plastic bag for observation before returning them safely to their homes.
The Great Smoky Mountains is the salamander capital of the world, with 30 documented species of salamanders in the park. But do you know what characteristics to use to distinguish between all of these freshwater friends?
Our salamander monitoring volunteers do! Each month, volunteers visit their adopted stream at Tremont to count, identify, and measure the species of salamanders they find throughout the year. They do this using a site-specific dichotomous key. These keys are like puzzles that lead you to an identification by asking a series of pairwise questions about your salamander.
Do they have gills (still a young salamander in the larval stage)? Are they brown overall or more reddish? Is the shape of their snout more round or more square? And on and on until you reach your ID. Sounds simple, right? BUT sometimes, as biologist and salamander volunteer Holly Hoyle discovered, they are tiny and that makes it tricky to count just how many pairs of orange-ish spots they have between their front and back legs. Or they may not quite fit into the perfect category, as we are still learning about regional salamanders of the same species that may look quite different.
A pint-sized salamander, indeed!
It takes a lot of careful observation and repeated practice to successfully identify our salamanders. In 2021, our salamander volunteers spent over 83 hours going through our monitoring protocol to count over 175 salamanders that were represented by at least 7 different species.
For their efforts identifying, measuring, counting, and admiring our Tremont stream salamanders (and getting wet in the process!) thanks is due to: Tom Dittmaier and Rory Ferguson, Mark Wiengartz, the Littleton Family, Holly Hoyle, Julie Pryor, Diane Peters, Walt Peterson, Hayley Mcleod, Alexander Miele, and Kristen MeckeButterflies
This precious silver-spotted skipper was photographically captured by David Bryant in Cades Cove
Our first EVER all-day butterfly count was organized by Wanda DeWaard, with help from Warren Bielenberg.
How it works: The North American Butterfly Association (NABA) is a nonprofit “working to increase public enjoyment and conservation of butterflies.” One of the ways they do this is to engage the public in data collection of butterfly populations by providing a protocol for conducting a single-day butterfly count. On a chosen day, hundreds of volunteers around North America count and identify butterflies within a designated count circle in their region.
Our own count circle is centered in Cades Cove and includes Tremont’s National Park and second campus as well as parts of neighboring Townsend and Walland. We split up into teams to cover more ground and count more butterflies!
Who we saw: In one day our teams collectively counted over 1800 individual butterflies and identified 52 different species of butterflies. That’s a lot of butterflies in one day!
All of our data from each team was collected and organized by Wanda, who sent it to NABA to be included in their monitoring database. Participating in this event was an excellent way to learn to use a field guide, identify butterflies, and spend time with fellow naturalists!
Butterflies
This precious silver-spotted skipper was photographically captured by David Bryant in Cades Cove
Our first EVER all-day butterfly count was organized by Wanda DeWaard, with help from Warren Bielenberg.
How it works: The North American Butterfly Association (NABA) is a nonprofit “working to increase public enjoyment and conservation of butterflies.” One of the ways they do this is to engage the public in data collection of butterfly populations by providing a protocol for conducting a single-day butterfly count. On a chosen day, hundreds of volunteers around North America count and identify butterflies within a designated count circle in their region.
Our own count circle is centered in Cades Cove and includes Tremont’s National Park and second campus as well as parts of neighboring Townsend and Walland. We split up into teams to cover more ground and count more butterflies!
Who we saw: In one day our teams collectively counted over 1800 individual butterflies and identified 52 different species of butterflies. That’s a lot of butterflies in one day!
All of our data from each team was collected and organized by Wanda, who sent it to NABA to be included in their monitoring database. Participating in this event was an excellent way to learn to use a field guide, identify butterflies, and spend time with fellow naturalists!
Monarchs
As our local migratory species start moving south in the Fall before the cold sets in, we get a chance to witness and document an incredible migration through Cades Cove: Monarch butterflies on their way to Mexico!
Here are some highlights from the season:
Last year, we started noticing a trend that we were tagging fewer female monarchs than male monarchs (read more about last year’s data here). The trend was worrying, as it could affect the breeding population of butterflies. At Tremont we have thousands of data entries about monarchs going back to 2002. Lists of tag numbers and locations and dates and whether they were male vs female. A bunch of numbers on a sheet is not super interesting, and also hard to interpret. With the data that our community has collected over the years, however, we can make data visualizations that help us quickly and confidently answer questions (or develop new questions).
Take a look at Figure 1. How does this graph display our data? What can we learn from this data? What do you still wonder after looking at this graph?
Figure 1. Relative proportion of Male and Female monarch butterflies that were tagged by Tremont staff and volunteers between 2002 and 2021.
When you look at a graph, it’s important to ask yourself a few key questions such as “what are the axes showing?” “what information is NOT shown in this that could affect how I interpret the data?” “what was the intention of the person/entity who created this visualization? Do they want me to come to a particular conclusion? If so, does that influence how they created the scale or visualization?” For this graph, the percentages do not show you the total number of butterflies (n) counted each year. For 2002, n=12 whereas for 2020, n=893. Does this change how reliable you view the data?
Monarchs
As our local migratory species start moving south in the Fall before the cold sets in, we get a chance to witness and document an incredible migration through Cades Cove: Monarch butterflies on their way to Mexico!
Here are some highlights from the season:
Last year, we started noticing a trend that we were tagging fewer female monarchs than male monarchs (read more about last year’s data here). The trend was worrying, as it could affect the breeding population of butterflies. At Tremont we have thousands of data entries about monarchs going back to 2002. Lists of tag numbers and locations and dates and whether they were male vs female. A bunch of numbers on a sheet is not super interesting, and also hard to interpret. With the data that our community has collected over the years, however, we can make data visualizations that help us quickly and confidently answer questions (or develop new questions).
Take a look at Figure 1. How does this graph display our data? What can we learn from this data? What do you still wonder after looking at this graph?
Figure 1. Relative proportion of Male and Female monarch butterflies that were tagged by Tremont staff and volunteers between 2002 and 2021.
When you look at a graph, it’s important to ask yourself a few key questions such as “what are the axes showing?” “what information is NOT shown in this that could affect how I interpret the data?” “what was the intention of the person/entity who created this visualization? Do they want me to come to a particular conclusion? If so, does that influence how they created the scale or visualization?” For this graph, the percentages do not show you the total number of butterflies (n) counted each year. For 2002, n=12 whereas for 2020, n=893. Does this change how reliable you view the data?
Second Campus Hemlocks
Our beautiful native conifer species, the Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), has suffered immensely in recent years due to the introduction of an invasive insect called the hemlock woolly adelgid (A. tsugae) in the mid-1900s. These tiny true bugs suck the sap from the base of the hemlock needles, disrupting the nutrient flow. An infestation of this kind will eventually kill the tree.
Luckily, there is a way to treat hemlocks, so when Tremont purchased our second campus property in Townsend, one of the first priorities was to protect the hemlocks on our land from these tiny killers. If you ever notice a red or green dot spray-painted at the base of these gentle giants, that means they have been chemically treated for adelgids.
For their many days of hiking, treating, and/or surveying on our second campus, thanks are due to Rodney and Allison Pearson, Amy Arnold, Ken Voorhis, Mark Weingartz, Kristen Mecke, Lynda Parker, Steve Higdon and Kimber Bradbury. The hemlocks thank you!
Looking for more educational content like this? Check out Smokieees at Home to find activities and resources for learners of all ages, courtesy of Great Smoky Mountains National Park partners.
Get Involved
All of these programs run because of engaged and curious community members who volunteer their time and knowledge to help us all learn more about our world and our place within it. If you are interested in volunteering to support Tremont’s community science projects, please fill out the volunteer application. Note that most of our community science projects require a training session and long-term commitments, though may only require a few hours a month, seasonally. Not all projects are suitable for young children.
Call for science communicators! We are currently looking for data-savvy volunteers who like to analyze numbers and communicate the results for public understanding. If this is you, email Erin at [email protected].
Thanks to REI Co-op in Pigeon Forge for supporting Tremont’s community science programs in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
