Participatory Science
Public participation in scientific research (also known as Citizen or Participatory Science) encourages community involvement in the advancement of scientific research. These kinds of efforts invite everyone from young naturalists to amateur scientists to assist in the discovery of solutions to important environmental issues while providing them with hands-on research experience. Below are a few you can get involved with right here in Tampa Bay.
Upcoming Events
Boyd Hill Freshwater Wetland Trek and Chat
Lake Maggiore Environmental Education Center at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve
Lake Maggiore Environmental Education Center at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, 1101 Country Club Way S, St. Petersburg, FL 33705, USA
Visit our calendar to find upcoming events & sign up!
Join our email list to get personal emails about upcoming opportunities.
Vertical Oyster Gardens
TBEP, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, and Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department
Interested in being part of Tampa Bay’s restoration story? Adopt a Vertical Oyster Garden, or VOG, and install it off your dock! VOGs are strings of recycled oyster shells collected from local restaurants. When suspended in brackish water, these strings of oyster shells provide the ideal habitat for young, larval oysters to settle and grow.
Great Bay Scallop Search
Tampa Bay Watch, Tampa Bay Estuary Program
Scallops are marine, algae filtering animals that are extremely sensitive to declines in water quality. Tampa Bay scallops disappeared in the early 1960s as a result of pollution in the bay. Water quality and seagrasses have significantly improved to levels that now support bay scallop populations. The Great Bay Scallop Search is an annual monitoring event. Citizen scientists snorkel along a transect line to search for scallops in selected areas of Tampa Bay. This monitoring helps document bay scallop population in Tampa Bay. For more information, visit tampabaywatch.org
Tea Time For Science
Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, Restore America’s Estuaries
Climate change is affecting many coastal areas, including Tampa Bay. This participatory science project helps us understand how different coastal ecosystems mitigate the change through blue carbon sequestration, or the storage of carbon in biomass below the soil. Trained citizen scientists use tea bags to examine soil decomposition and respiration rates variability around the estuary.