REPORTS & PUBLICATIONS
Project reports and scientific publications.
Adventure Scientists publishes transparent conservation project reports and scientific publications that document methods, data collection, and outcomes from volunteer-powered field research.
PROJECT REPORTS
Reports from our projects
Full reports from recent and past projects, newest first.
2025 REPORT
Searching for Killer Whales
This project was the first of its kind in Oregon, documenting presence and absence information along with the location, behaviors, and identities of Southern Resident killer whales across the entire 362 miles of Oregon’s coastline.
2025 REPORT
California Biodiversity
eDNA and insect surveys across 112 ecoregions: 3,100+ samples supporting California’s 30×30 conservation goals. This CalBio Report summarizes 700+ field days of volunteer-led soil and insect sampling, yielding environmental DNA (eDNA) analyzed at UC Santa Cruz and insect identifications at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
2025 REPORT
Tracking Eastern Hemlock
Winter 2025 brought a new kind of adventure: the search for eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). This project, in partnership with Holden Forests & Gardens, focused on identifying candidate lingering hemlocks—trees that have survived woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) infestation and may harbor natural genetic resistance.
2024 REPORT
Mast Reforestation: Western US
Adventure Scientists completed the second successful season of the Reforestation: Western U.S. project in 2024. In collaboration with Mast Reforestation, volunteers identified seed cones from nine conifer species: Douglas fir, Engelmann spruce, Jeffrey pine, red fir, white fir, incense cedar, western larch, lodgepole pine, and ponderosa pine.
2023 REPORT
Tree Tracking: Tulip Poplar
In 2023, Adventure Scientists sampled tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) trees across 21 states in the eastern United States, an ongoing, multi-year effort to mobilize, train, and equip volunteers to collect samples from trees for scientific partners to create vital databases on tree species that will help protect forests, promote sustainable harvest, and conserve biodiversity.
2023 REPORT
Tree Tracking: Green and White Ash
In 2023, marking the sixth year of the Tree Tracking project, Adventure Scientists sampled green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) and white ash (Fraxinus americana) tree populations across 14 states in the eastern United States. From May through September 2023, volunteers collected 1,962 leaves and 4,794 buds.
2023 REPORT
Reforestation: Western US
Adventure Scientists completed a successful season of the Reforestation: Western U.S. project in 2023. Reforestation was a new project for the organization, with a goal of identifying seed cones from nine conifer (evergreen, cone-producing) species.
2022 REPORT
Tree Tracking: Eastern White Oak
In 2022, we began collection of our sixth species of the Tree Tracking project with eastern white oak (Quercus alba). Volunteers collected leaf, twig, acorn caps, and tree core samples from May 2022 through December 2022. In total, 147 volunteer teams collected 4,228 samples of leaves, twigs, acorn caps, and cores from 1,567 trees.
2021 REPORT
Tree Tracking: Eastern Black Walnut
Adventure Scientists embarked on its fifth species of the Tree Tracking project by adding eastern black walnut (Juglans nigra) sample collection. Volunteers collected leaf, twig, and tree core samples from black walnut trees from July 2021 through January 2022. In total, 145 volunteer teams collected samples from 932 trees. Their collection included 483 leaf samples, 942 twig samples, and 491 tree core samples.
2020 & 2021 REPORT
Wild and Scenic Rivers
Adventure Scientists’ volunteers successfully completed the first two field seasons of the four-year-long Wild and Scenic Rivers project. The project seeks to address water quality data gaps and update the status of Wild and Scenic Rivers across the nation, improving how these river systems are managed and protected.
2017–2020 FINAL REPORT REPORT
Conserving Biodiversity: Pollinators
Adventure Scientists’ Conserving Biodiversity: Pollinators Project provides data on pollinator abundance and diversity from remote areas where data gaps limit scientists’ and land managers’ ability to protect species and habitats at risk. In collaboration with Dr.
2019 REPORT
Tree Tracking: Redwood and Cedar
Our 2019 Tree Tracking project focused on coast redwood, western redcedar and Alaska yellow-cedar. Volunteer adventurers collected 2,282 coast redwood samples from across entirety of the species’ natural range in an effort that supports both the US Forest Service in combatting timber theft and Save the Redwoods League in restoring forests with climate-resilient trees.
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EARLIER REPORTS
Reports from 2018 and before
Our archive of earlier project reports, with films where we have them.
2018
Tree Tracking
The 2018 pilot season of Adventure Scientists’ Tree Tracking project engaged 110 volunteers who succeeded in sampling from 1,023 bigleaf maples across California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The resulting collections will fuel the research and development of multiple wood identification technologies to battle against the illegal timber trade.
2017
Conserving Biodiversity: Pollinators
With 94 volunteers observing more than 500 butterflies and nearly 700 wildflowers, the results of our 2017 field season present a robust picture of backcountry biodiversity in alpine meadows of the Western United States.
2017
Global & Gallatin Microplastics Initiatives
Our two Microplastics Initiatives conducted surveys of microplastics pollution in aquatic ecosystems from 2013-2017. The results show that globally, microplastics are accumulating at a higher rate in marine systems than in freshwater systems and that microplastic contamination is ubiquitous across remote sample locations in both marine and freshwater systems––including glaciers.
2016
Rare Carnivore Monitoring in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest
Adventure Scientists report on the Uinta Carnivore Connectivity Project with the USDA Forest Service to train volunteers and lay out a network of 30 cameras in 14 remote drainages. The sites recorded more than 3000 camera-nights of data, fifteen species of wildlife, and nearly 20,000 camera trap images and video clips.
2015
Marine Diversity and Protected Areas in Palau
The National Geographic Pristine Seas report from their expedition to the Republic of Palau includes data from samples gathered for our Marine Microplastics Project. This report was provided to the government of Palau.
2012
Military Veterans and Families Grizzly Tracking, Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana
2011
Wolverine Tracking, Helena National Forest, Montana
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-reviewed and published research
Scientific papers and articles that use data collected by Adventure Scientists volunteers, grouped by project.
TREE TRACKING
Cronn, Richard C., et al. 2021. “Range-wide assessment of a SNP panel for individualization and geolocalization of bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum Pursh)” Forensic Science International: Animals and Environments, Vol. 1.
WILDLIFE CONNECTIVITY
Segar, Josiane, et al. 2020. “Species and Demographic Responses to Wildlife-Friendly Fencing on Ungulate Crossing Success and Behavior.” Conservation Science and Practice, Vol. 2, Issue 10.
Monge-Nájera, Julián. 2018. “Road Kills in Tropical Ecosystems: a Review with Recommendations for Mitigation and for New Research.” Revista De Biología Tropical, Universidad De Costa Rica, Vol. 66. No. 2.
COASTAL MARTEN SURVEY
Moriarty, Katie M., et al. 2019. “Status of Pacific Martens (Martes caurina) on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington.” Northwest Science, Vol. 93, No. 2.
WORLDWIDE PIKA PROJECT
Smith, Adam B., et al. 2019. “Alternatives to Genetic Affinity as a Context for within-Species Response to Climate.” Nature Climate Change, Vol 9. p. 787-794
YELLOW CEDAR STUDY, SOUTHEAST ALASKA
Oakes, Lauren E., et al. 2015. “Conservation in a Social-Ecological System Experiencing Climate-Induced Tree Mortality.” Biological Conservation, Vol. 192.
Oakes, Lauren E., et al. 2014. “Long‐Term Vegetation Changes in a Temperate Forest Impacted by Climate Change.” Ecosphere, Vol. 5. Issue 10.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST GLACIAL ICE WORM RESEARCH
Dial, Roman J, et al. 2018. “The Role of Temperature in the Distribution of the Glacier Ice Worm, Mesenchytraeus Solifugus (Annelida: Oligochaeta: Enchytraeidae).” Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 48. Issue 1.
WORLDWIDE DIATOM STUDY
Bahls, Loren L. 2015. “Kurtkrammeria, a New Genus of Freshwater Diatoms (Bacillariophyta, Cymbellaceae) Separated from Encyonopsis.” Nova Hedwigia, Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
Bahls, Loren L. 2014. “The Role of Amateurs in Modern Diatom Research.” Diatom Research, Vol. 30. Issue 2.
Bahls, Loren L. 2014. “Neidiopsis Hamiltonii Sp. Nov., N. Weilandii Sp. Nov., N. Levanderi and N. Wulffii from Western North America.” Diatom Research, Vol. 29. Issue 4.
Bahls, Loren L. 2014. “New Diatoms from the American West-A Tribute to Citizen Science.” Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Vol. 163. Issue 1.
SNOW AND ICE
Carey, Mark, et al. 2017. “Climbing for Science and Ice: From Hans Kinzl and Mountaineering-Glaciology To Citizen Science in the Cordillera Blanca.” Revista De Glaciares y Ecosistemas De Montaña.
GLOBAL MICROPLASTICS INITIATIVE
Lima, A.R.A., et al. 2021 “Global Patterns for the Spatial Distribution of Floating Microfibers: Arctic Ocean as a Potential Accumulation Zone.” Journal of Hazardous Materials, 403: 123796.
Montoto-Martínez, Tania, et al. 2020. “Pump-Underway Ship Intake: An Unexploited Opportunity for Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Microplastic Monitoring Needs on Coastal and Oceanic Waters.” Public Library of Science, Vol. 15. Issue 5
Rasmussen, Lisa M. 2019. “When Citizens Do Science: Stories from Labs, Garages, and Beyond.” Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, Vol. 9. No. 1. p. 1-4.
Barrows, Abigail P.W., et al. 2018. “Marine Environment Microfiber Contamination: Global Patterns and the Diversity of Microparticle Origins.” Environmental Pollution, Vol. 237.
Waller, Catherine L, et al. 2017. “Microplastics in the Antarctic Marine System: An Emerging Area of Research.” Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 598.
Pate, J.A., and E.E. McKinnon. 2016. “A Citizen Engagement Approach to Water Advocacy: Experiences from ‘EXXpedition Great Lakes.’” Maritime Affairs: Journal of the National Maritime Foundation of India,Vol. 12. Issue 2.
Barrows, Abigail P. W., et al. 2016. “Grab vs. Neuston Tow Net: a Microplastic Sampling Performance Comparison and Possible Advances in the Field.” Analytical Methods, Issue 9.
Haab, Samantha, and Kimberly Haab. 2016. “The Environmental Impacts of Microplastics: An Investigation of Microplastic Pollution in North Country Waterbodies.” St. Lawrence University, May 2016.
GALLATIN MICROPLASTICS INITIATIVE
Barrows, Abigail P.W., et al. 2018. “A Watershed-Scale, Citizen Science Approach to Quantifying Microplastic Concentration in a Mixed Land-Use River.” Water Research, Vol. 147. p. 382-392.
CONSERVING BIODIVERSITY: POLLINATORS
Forister, M.L., et al. 2021. “Fewer Butterflies Seen by Community Scientists Across the Warming and Drying Landscapes of the American West.” Science, Vol. 371. Issue. 6533. p. 1042-1045.
Prudic, Kathleen L., et al. 2019. “Creating the Urban Farmer’s Almanac with Citizen Science Data.” Insects, Vol. 10. Issue 9. p. 294
Prudic, Kathleen L, et al. 2017. “EButterfly: Leveraging Massive Online Citizen Science for Butterfly Conservation.” Insects, Vol. 8. Issue 2. p. 53.
WHITEWORM LICHEN COLLECTION
Onuț-Brännström, Ioana. 2017. “The Puzzle of Lichen Symbiosis: Pieces from Thamnolia.” Doctoral Thesis, Uppsala Universitet.
Onuţ‐Brännström, Ioana, et al. 2017. “A Worldwide Phylogeography of the Whiteworm Lichens Thamnolia Reveals Three Lineages with Distinct Habitats and Evolutionary Histories.” Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 7. Issue 10. p. 3602-3615.
OTHER RESEARCH
Julia A. Schwartzman, Francois Lebreton, Rauf Salamzade, et al. 2024. “Global diversity of enterococci and description of 18 previously unknown species” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
Connolly, C.T., et al. 2018. “Watershed Slope as a Predictor of Fluvial Dissolved Organic Matter and Nitrate Concentrations across Geographical Space and Catchment Size in the Arctic.” Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 13. No. 10.
Macfarlane W.W, W.R. Kern, D.J. Mattson and J.A. Logan. 2013. Pilot Study: Gauging the impact of whitebark pine mortality on occurrence of Clark’s nutcracker, red squirrel, black bear and grizzly bear. Ecogeomorphology and Topographic Analysis Laboratory, Utah State University, Prepared for Natural Resources Defense Council, Logan, Utah, 23 pp.
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