Can laypeople really be of help to serious research & conservation projects?
Yes, absolutely – if the project is set up properly! Much of biological data collection consists of simple tasks and with a little training anyone can help to collect much needed information. Hard data form the core of all scientific arguments, but someone has to collect the information and this is often labour-intensive and, within a well-designed research project, can therefore be perfect for lay involvement. Example 1: The study site of our Namibian project is very large. The local scientists have many animal traps for capturing lions, cheetahs, leopards and hyaenas for radio-collaring, but on their own would not have the time to drive through the vast study site and check each trap every day, so most traps are idle and fewer animals are captured when Biosphere Expeditions is not around. When the expedition is on-site, however, all the traps can be checked every day, more animals are captured and radio-collared, resulting in more data. Needless to say that you do not need to be a fu
