How Your Backyard Photos Can Help Scientists Control the Spread of Invasive Species

Whatever your penchant is for observing and recording data, there is a new place to share that data. It's called the Encyclopedia of Life. The EOL is a website that aims to combine various data sets from observers around the world. The site will allow scientists and observers to gain a worldwide of overview of biodiversity. The EOL will help scientists track invasive species before they spread unchecked, monitor the spread of malaria-carrying mosquitoes and keep airplanes from interacting with migrating birds.

You can aid this project in a variety of different ways, and you don't even have to be a scientist. You just have to have a camera.

Here is one of the simplest ways to help Encyclopedia of Life

Step One: Find some life.

Step Two: Take a picture of found life.

Step Three: Load your original pictures on the Encyclopedia of Life Group on Flickr. Make sure to follow their instructions about licensing and tagging.

Furthermore, you can share your Blog or online information with EOL. (Check out these example pages).

Or just volunteer to curate some pages. If you know a little something about marigolds, you may be expert enough to curate some marigold information. And if you are a scientist or a professional, you can add your papers and research to the encyclopedia and help it grow.

Later in 2009, there will be even more ways to share your findings. Keep checking back, and keep finding those findings.

The Encyclopedia of Life can help scientists stay abreast of environmental issues that our on-Earth lifeforms are facing. If an ecological problem arises in a far-off land, the online community will be alerted at once and the proper solution can be obtained through collaborative process and up-to-the-minute analysis.

Check out the How to Build the Encyclopedia of Life page.

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