Donovan Hayes

For my biology service hours, I took part in citizen science research on Zooniverse, where I identified animals in images, mainly beluga whales and squirrels, and recorded each one’s sex, color, and quantity. This connected directly to what we study in biology. Counting individuals and tracking traits like sex ratio is how researchers measure population size and structure, and a population with too few of one sex may struggle to reproduce and sustain itself. Seeing where these animals appeared also showed me how scientists track which environments they live in and whether they belong there, since an animal found outside its normal range can signal habitat loss, climate change, or the spread of a species into a new area. Recording color and sex also reinforced ideas about genetics and adaptation, because traits like color can affect camouflage and survival. Most of all, this work showed me that real research depends on careful, accurate data. Each classification I made was a small piece of a larger dataset that helps scientists learn what animals exist, where they are, and how they are doing, and it made biology feel like something I could actively contribute to rather than just read about.