Case Study

Context: Maine Big Night—Amphibian Migration Monitoring (MBN) was created as a direct result of observing the impacts roads are having on amphibian populations. 

Challenges: Monitoring animal populations on a statewide scale requires extraordinary human resources. Involving citizen scientists is one of the best ways to collect valuable data on a large scale over a short period of time and effectively circumvent this problem. In turn, it is crucial to train these volunteers to ensure their safety and the quality of the data collected.

Solutions: This training provides volunteers with the necessary elements for the success of the project by making them aware of safety requirements while training them to identify and handle amphibians, as well as to effectively collect scientific data.

Results: Each year, more and more volunteers join the project and safely collect critical data to advance knowledge about human impacts on amphibian populations during the annual migration.