This is an invitation for a citizen science project organized by Discover Life initiative based at the University of Georgia. Help scientists and together learn more about moths by participating in or organizing a moth party.
If you would like to organize a moth party here are the main guidelines for your observations. You can obtain more info or get involved at Discover Life’s website:
http://www.discoverlife.org/moth/
Moths are an ideal group to study for scientific, educational and logistic reasons — a fun pastime for naturalists and the scientifically inclined. For Mothing at its simplest, switch on your porch lights and wait in the safety of your home. Over the course of a year, hundreds of species are likely to come in, sit on your wall, and enable you to study them and enjoy their diversity. Beginning in 2012 there will be an official Moth Week in every July.
There are over 11,800 moth species north of Mexico, over ten times as many species as birds. Their diversity provides greater opportunity for those of you who wish to keep a ‘life list’ of the species that you have observed. With the advent of modern digital cameras, moths are now one of the easiest groups to document and identify accurately. While challenging, most moths can be identified to species from digital photographs using resources on the web.
Moths are relatively poorly studied. Much about them awaits discovery, including undescribed species new to science. Their study could provide much material for many science fair through university-level research projects. Furthermore, they neither bite, sting nor vector diseases, and hence, are an extremely safe group with which to work.
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