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Life Responds: Citizen Science to Document Behavior Changes in Plants and Animals During the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse
Abstract
There is a rich historical record demonstrating the cultural and scientific impact of solar eclipses on humans, but much of the information regarding plant and animal reactions is anecdotal. The Life Responds project was designed to formalize those anecdotes, mobilizing citizen scientists to collect data during the 2017 eclipse. While people prepared for and observed the eclipse, we hoped they would also take a couple moments to experience a connection to the life around them, as they witnessed first-hand that all life is influenced by celestial events. With extensive outreach and media coverage, over 600 people participated in Life Responds, submitting more than 2,500 observations of plant and animal behavior during the eclipse, creating the largest collection to date of response to a solar eclipse.
... Another pattern in solar eclipse research that continued during the 2017 eclipse was the use of data gathered by the public. One example was The Life Responds project, where 645 people submitted more than 2,795 observations of plant and animal responses during the eclipse (Young et al., 2019). In that study, the most commonly submitted data was on dogs, chickens, and humans. ...
... The Life Responds project created the largest collection of observations of animals during the solar eclipse to date. Young et al. (2019)demonstrated how fruitful participatory science methods are for observing behavior around eclipses. Additionally, participatory science programs create formal and informal education opportunities in which the public can engage in realworld scientific studies (National Academies of Sciences & Medicine, 2018), while simultaneously allowing scientists to collect more data across geographic and temporal scales that would otherwise be unfeasible (Lottig et al., 2014;Poisson et al., 2020). ...
... Likewise, 59% and 66% of the people that observed insects and mammals during the annular eclipse noted a reaction to it. As was observed by Young et al. (2019), domestic dogs were among the most common subjects in our study -84% of all mammals observed. Using logistic regression, we saw that, while there was no correlation between the percent totality and perceived reaction for birds and insects, there was a statistically significant relationship for mammals: for the adults who observed mammals during the annular eclipse, the higher the percent of totality, the more likely they were to perceive a mammalian reaction (Wald = 3.915, p = .048, ...
The August 21st 2017 Total Solar Eclipse public engagement program was arguably the largest, most complex, and most inclusive engagement program ever achieved by NASA. This was the first total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States since 1979 and the first one to cross from coast to coast since 1918. NASA worked with a broad set of organizations as well as states and cities to help support and promote events across the country before and during the event. It was much more than an event, though: it was an opportunity to engage over two billion people in the United States and throughout the world with rich STEM educational content, vivid imagery, safety messages, and citizen science opportunities. This amazing spectacle of nature is not the only such opportunity for the hemisphere. A total solar eclipse crossed Chile and Argentina in July 2019 and did so again in December 2020. The United States will have another chance to experience this in April 2024. With all the eclipse excitement in North and South America over a relatively short period of time, the public continues to hunger for more. NASA hopes to again help excite and inform the world of the next opportunity for the Sun’s corona to shine.
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