Kansalaistiedeprojekti kevätesikon heterostyliasta (sopii erityisesti etelästä kotoisin oleville...) (In English below)

Tarton yliopiston Citizen science -projektissa on tavoitteena tutkia kevätesikon kahden kukkamorfotyypin osuuksia populaatioissa ympäri Eurooppaa. Havaintoja on kerätty jo pari vuotta Virossa, mutta nyt laajennetaan projektia koko Eurooppaan.

We would like to invite you to collaborate within the frames of a pan-European citizen science initiative 'Looking for Cowslips' (cowslip.sciencehttp://cowslip.science/).

We piloted the cowslip campaign in Estonia for two consecutive springs in 2019 and 2020. The campaign received a warm welcome by the public and led to exciting and surprising research findings recently published in Journal of Ecologyhttps://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2745.13488. Last year we broadened the geographic scope of the study to the other European countries where cowslips are part of the local flora, but it was done in a bit of a hurry, so we are doing it again this spring.

In Finland we partnered with Luonto-Liiton Kevätseuranta last year, but unfortunately they are not involved this year. We have also been in contact to the botany department of LUOMUS, but unfortunately they already had too many things on their hands. We would like to still find partners in Finland, who could help spread the campaign and explain the background to the public.

The task for citizen-scientists is easy and based on observing cowslip heterostylyhttps://nurmenukk.ee/about-cowslip. You can find out more about the campaign and our team from:

* this short animation https://youtu.be/6IL9Pv2RlF8 (also in Finnish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_XA_rkRxfo) and

* a short introduction: https://media.voog.com/0000/0045/2035/files/Looking_for_Cowslips2021_final.p... (also attached as a pdf with the current email).

For those helping to organize the campaign, we will offer the following:

1. campaign materials and guidelines in the local language (already translated to Finnish)

1. webpage in the local language (already translated to Finnish) 2. the core animationhttps://youtu.be/6IL9Pv2RlF8 in the local language (already translated to Finnish) 3. coordination of international communication 4. quick feedback about the progress of the campaign 5. a happy, enthusiastic and motivated cowslip team.

What we expect from you:

1. help with spreading information about the campaign in your home country

2. for those also interested in research outcomes of the study, you are welcome to be part of preparing the core findings into joint scientific and outreach publications

3. interest and enthusiasm towards science education, nature conservation and exciting research.

We are happy to provide more details about the project. Please let us know about your interest in joining the cowslip team herehttps://nurmenukk.ee/join-us or write back to me. You are also very welcome to forward the invitation!

Spring is already here. We therefore hope that you can let us know about your tentative interest ASAP.

Do not hesitate to contact us for further information (info@nurmenukk.eemailto:info@nurmenukk.ee or directly to me)!

Kind regards,

Cowslip team from the University of Tartu"