Citizen Scientists
Climate scientists are not present everywhere. Because there are so many places in the world and not enough scientists to observe all of them, theyre asking for your help in observing signs of climate change across the world. The citizen scientist movement encourages ordinary people to observe a very specific research interest - birds, trees, flowers budding, etc. - and send their observations to a giant database to be observed by professional scientists. This helps a small number of scientists track a large amount of data that they would never be able to gather on their own. Much like citizen journalists helping large publications cover a hyper-local beat2, citizen scientists are ready for the conditions where they live. All thats needed to become one is a few minutes each day or each week to gather data and send it3 in.
One of the groups first efforts relies on scientists and non-scientists alike to collect data about plant flowering and leafing every year. The program, called Project BudBurst, collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants from across the United States. People participating in the project - which is open to everyone - record their observations on the Project BudBurst website.
词汇：
Neighborrhood n.近邻;邻近地区 Database n.数据库
注释：
2. hyper-local beat: beat 在此做名词用，意思是：某类资讯报道，如，a business beat;商业专题报道。这是近年来出现的新词。Hyper-local beat 即hyper-local news，指的是被传统资讯报道方式所忽略的小型社区或居民居住区里发生的相关信息报道。在美国由此而诞生了hyper-local news website，专门对主流媒体所没有覆盖的地区所发生的事件进行报道，其形式多以网民，即短文中所提及的citizen journalists，上传所在社区发生的事件报道、照片或视频为主。这是网络时代产生的又一新生事物。
4. phenology：物候学或生物气候学，是气候学和生态学的边缘学科，主要研究气候环境对生物的影响。
练习：1. Ecologists turn to non-scientist citizens for help because they need them
B) to observe the life cycle of plants.
D) to teach children knowledge about climate change.
A) To develop a specific research interest and become professional scientists.
C) To increase their knowledge about climate change.
3. In All thats needed to become one... , what does the word one stands for?
B) a citizen scientist.
D) a citizen.
A) Only experts can participate in it.
C) It collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants.
5. What is the final purpose of Project BudBurst?
B) To find out the types of plants in the neighborhood.
D) To investigate how plants and animals will respond as the climate changes.