become a community scientist! When dealing with conservation, big issues like climate change and wildlife trafficking can
seem far beyond our control. However, the way to manage these crises, and even solve them, is not to let the task overwhelm us into inaction. Here are five things beyond the proverbial ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle’ that you can do to make a real impact right now!
1. identify camera trap images Identify wildlife images and videos caught by camera traps for conservation organizations around the world. Camera trapping is a non-invasive monitoring method used to study wildlife. These images provide important information to help protect species. The Living Desert works with organizations around the world including Grevy’s Zebra Trust, Painted Dog Research Trust, and Chaco Tapir Project in the U.S., Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Paraguay, looking at thousands of videos and photos of wildlife. Volunteers are essential in sorting these images. Camera Trap Image Photo credit: Painted Dog Research Trust
Please contact Volunteer Program Curator, Justin Carmichael at JCarmichael@LivingDesert.org if you are interested in helping code camera trap images.
2. survey local ant species Understand the ants in your backyard. Fifty years ago two historical entomologists began a survey of ants in an area that spanned from Santa Rosa Mountains, spread through Deep Canyon, Palm Desert, and all the way down to the Whitewater River Channel. We are asking the public to sample ants in their own backyard using a safe and easy bait and freeze trap supplied by (and then returned to) The Living Desert. We are interested to learn how development and climate change are affecting local biodiversity in the watershed in which The Living Desert resides. Please contact Conservation@LivingDesert.org for your free ant biodiversity kit.
Ants
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