(no subject)
Inspired by an offhand comment at the meeting last week, I want to start a citizen science program to track the extent of the invasion of the Hairy Maggot, Chrysomya rufiffacies. I think they are a great subject because we don't know if they are permanent residents or transients, and how far they range north and west.
The problem is that they unlike ladybugs or ivory billed woodpeckers, or other relatively charismatic fauna, I'm talking about a maggot. Something that grows in rotting animal tissue. Never mind that they are predators of our native decomposers, that the may be reducing biodiversity. And never mind that they make the best possible type of species for citizen science: Easily identified to species, and generally identifiable by smartphone photograph. I just can't imagine that anyone outside of people that I bully would bother to look at dead things and report back to a webpage.
Not even FOR SCIENCE.
Although it occurs to me that it's just 6.99 to add a domain name to my existing hosting account. So I totally registered hairymaggot.org, but I haven't yet put a site up.
The problem is that they unlike ladybugs or ivory billed woodpeckers, or other relatively charismatic fauna, I'm talking about a maggot. Something that grows in rotting animal tissue. Never mind that they are predators of our native decomposers, that the may be reducing biodiversity. And never mind that they make the best possible type of species for citizen science: Easily identified to species, and generally identifiable by smartphone photograph. I just can't imagine that anyone outside of people that I bully would bother to look at dead things and report back to a webpage.
Not even FOR SCIENCE.
Although it occurs to me that it's just 6.99 to add a domain name to my existing hosting account. So I totally registered hairymaggot.org, but I haven't yet put a site up.