The Lost Ladybug Project is a nonprofit organization in the USA focused on promoting

citizen science Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...

and

science education Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), some ...

to children. Its mission is "to help children become confident and competent participants in science, identifying personally with science, so that we develop a generation of adults who are engaged in scientific discussions, policy, and thinking."

History

The Lost Ladybug Project was founded in 2000 when researchers from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

worked with the

4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times i ...

Master Gardener program to survey

ladybug Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as the ...

populations across

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. With the discovery of a rare nine-spotted ladybug in 2006, the Lost Ladybug Project developed research methods and a database to log ladybug observations. Granted funding from the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

in 2008, the Lost Ladybug Project has counted over 34,000 ladybugs since its inception and is now a nationwide project.
- Researchers and citizen scientists from across North America submit photographs to the Lost Ladybug Project to help track different ladybug species.

References

Educational organizations based in the United States Citizen science {{US-org-stub