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KAY WILLIAMS/READERS PHOTO SHOWCASE 2021

150 people in the past 13 years, many of whom have a strong interest in dragon- Citizen scientists have helped fill in the known
distribution gaps for many of the state’s
flies but have careers in other fields. dragonflies and damselflies. Several species,
Those 150 people have been instrumental in a larger project Smith launched including this blue dasher dragonfly, have been
documented in every Oklahoma county.
in the early 2000s.
“When we first started studying Oklahoma’s odonates, there
wasn’t a lot of data. So, we created a spreadsheet and just start-
ed adding records from known specimens and literature refer-
ences. Then we started adding as many records as we could
vet from anyone who was interested in dragonflies. In 2009, this
spreadsheet formally became the ‘Oklahoma Odonata Project’
(https://biosurvey.ou.edu/smith/Oklahoma_Odonata.html). It’s
since grown into an unwieldy 60,000-plus records. That’s what
can happen with citizen science data.”
Because she’s seen the power of citizen science firsthand,
Smith is a strong advocate for anyone interested in nature to get Though a dedicated dragonfly enthusiast,
Williamson was a banker by profession until the
outside and get involved. Great Depression.
“People tend to think they can’t contribute because they aren’t a scientist. But just
going out to a local pond and getting a species list or abundance data is worth it.
“It’s been pretty awesome to work with enthusiastic people who love
nature. There’s just an energy from people who are excited to see and learn
about anything.”
Smith welcomes dragonfly and damselfly questions and records to be
considered for inclusion in the Oklahoma Odonata Project at argia@ou.edu.
Nature enthusiasts can also share sightings of all organisms on the free plat-
form, iNaturalist.

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