csmethods
cassius blue butterfly on romerillo in Everglades National Park, by woodcreeper
Hey! Try printing this page and taking it out into the field with you for a handy step-by-step reference. It will print without all the menus and graphics.

Methods of Investigation

When scientists on a team work together they agree to follow a single shared set of rules, a protocol. This page explains the steps of our protocol and the reasons behind each. When you go out into the field, you'll print and take with you an abbreviated version including a data collection worksheet you can fill out. You might also want to bring with you a sheet we've made to help you identify our three target species.

STEP 1: Find outdoor plants of least one of our target plant species

Our target three plant species are:

  • Shiny-leaved wild coffee, Psychotria nervosa
  • Firebush, Hamelia patens
  • Romerillo, Bidens alba
These will be good plants to look for and watch because they are known to grow around Miami, bloom for a long time during the school year, and are native to the area which means they will attract plants and animals that are also native to the area.

You can look up these species in print and online references to learn about what they look like and what kind of wildlife they attract. You can also view and print an identification sheet we've made for you to take with you in your hunt through the neighborhood.

STEP 2: Observe each group of native plants you find for at least 15 minutes total (broken into shorter sessions, if you wish) and count the animals you see visiting the plants' flowers or fruits

Working on a team? Try assigning different people to watch different parts or areas of the plant
Once you have found your plants, the goal is to see what is visiting them. This is the heart of this project! Mostly we'll see insects, but keep your eye open for everything—you'd be surprised what some plants attract!

Do an initial walkaround of the site to make sure you know just how many plants are there—is it just one, or is there a cluster of nearby siblings? Is there more than one species? Then, get ready to carefully watch what is going on with these plants for at least 15 minutes, broken into shorter periods if you wish. You can even spread your observations out over multiple days and times of day.

If you have a choice, the best time of day to see pollinator activity is early in the morning on sunny days; overcast, cool days slow activity.
Whatever you do, follow these steps:

  1. Check the time and note it in the box marked "Start Time" on your worksheet.
  2. Closely watch the flowers of your plant. If you notice a visiting insect or other animal, note how many you are seeing at one time. You should not simply tally visitors one by one, or it would be too easy to count repeat visitors many times.
    Working on a team? It may help to have someone call out time at every minute, and at that point everyone records how many creatures they see in their assigned plant part. You can combine your data later.
  3. Choose a period of time, perhaps 3 minutes, to observe the plants. Keep the plant in sight at all times from a few feet away so you won't scare visitors more than you have to, but are still close enough to see when a new one arrives.
  4. When your time is up: for each type of animal, record the highest number of animals of each type that you saw at one time. For an example, let's say you watched for three minutes and saw
    • At 12:30: 5 butterflies and 2 beetles
    • At 12:31: 3 butterflies and 7 beetles
    • At 12:32: 2 butterflies and 5 beetles
    You would count this as 5 butterflies and 7 beetles. This avoids the common mistake of counting the same animal twice, especially as many of them leave and quickly return.
  5. Remember that you need to eventually watch the plants for 15 minutes total, so if you watched in a period of 3 minutes first, you need to repeat that four more times to add up to 15. You can do this whenever is convenient for you: later that day, on another day, whatever, but you have to return to the same group of plants to make sure you watch that particular group for at least 15 minutes total.
  6. Fill out the rest of your worksheet with other observations and thoughts about your area and its plants.
Working on a team? Divide and conquer. Some people like the outdoors, some like using web technology, and some love reading about plants and animals. You'll need all these skills.

STEP 3: Find more habitat fragments

Go back to Step 1 to explore again for a new group of plants to watch, starting with a new data worksheet. You don't have to observe more than one group of plants—one will suffice if you do a good job of taking data and observations and do some good research and thinking to back it up—but observing more points will give you and others more data to ponder.

When you are done with all your sites, you are done with the outdoor part of your work. Move on to the next phase: publishing your work on an online shared map.