10-Year Plan
Discover Life -- www.discoverlife.org
 Mission -- to assemble and share knowledge in order to improve education, health, agriculture,
economic development, and conservation throughout the world.
 Overview -- In 1998 I founded Discover Life to help researchers, land managers, students, and
others collect environmental data and ask questions in the historical and geographic context of
natural experiments across multiple years and study sites. Discover Life now provides research
protocols, identification guides, a global mapper, phenology graphs, and plots to understand
species and their interactions. It integrates over 450 million species occurrence records and 1.7
million images with weather data. It serves 640,000 interactive species maps. Since 1998 its
computers at the University of Georgia and University of New South Wales have served over 3
billion pages and images to 28 million IP addresses. In 2014, they averaged 50 million such hits
to 637,000 IP addresses per month.
o Goal -- to institutionalize Discover Life before my retirement. Discover Life's legal
umbrella, the non-profit Polistes Foundation, and its International Center for Public
Health and Environmental Research, a team of over 80 Ph.D.s, propose to add servers in
Papua New Guinea and at North Carolina State University, University of California
(Berkeley and Riverside), and University of Florida. (For recent funding, see Appendix
4 below.)
Research
 Overview -- My research focus is on long-term, large-scale studies of the impact of climate
change, land use, pollution, and other environmental factors on species abundance, distribution,
and life history parameters. My outreach teaches local communities to do science, empowers
them to run study sites, and contribute data needed to solve environmental issues.
 Mothing (discoverlife.org/moth) collects high-quality data on creatures attracted to lights. Since
2010 participants have uploaded 460,000 images from 20 study sites in the U.S. and Costa
Rica, identified 250,000 images to species, and documented differences in the seasonal activity
and abundance of 3,000 species. Discover Life's servers automatically update and present these
data each night. For example, see http://pick18.pick.uga.edu/mp/20m?plot=3&la=33.9&lo=83.3 for an interactive accumulation graph of over 1,100 species photographed nightly since
2010 at one of our sites in Clarke County, Georgia.
o Goal: With the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Audubon Society, National
Geographic's Great Nature Project, Cooperative Extension, and other potential partners,
I plan to develop additional research protocols (e. g., frogs, birds, mammals, plants,
pollinators, lichens) and implement them at community-run study sites across the U.S.
and elsewhere around the world.
o Publicity: The mothing project has been featured in Audubon Magazine
(http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/nature/come-over-dark-side-moth-loverurges-birders), UGA Columns (http://www.columns.uga.edu/news/article/nightwatchers/), the UGA homepage (http://www.uga.edu/about_uga/profile/moth-projectlights-the-way-to-discover-life/), the Orion Society, and SciStarter Citizen Science
(http://scistarter.com/blog/2014/07/our-daily-moth-national-moth-weekmothing/#sthash.B3UCecAW.dpbs)
 Pollinator+ (discoverlife.org/adbc) mobilizes museum data to examine how environmental
changes affect insect life history parameters and pollination.
o Goal: With 38 U.S. insect collections, Discover Life proposes to digitize 6 million
specimens collected over the past century. Our target species are bees, moths,
butterflies, flies, and beetles with different biologies selected to understand and predict
the impact of environmental changes. (See Appendix 4a below.)
 Long-term insect monitoring -- From 1992 to 2013 Don Windsor and I collected weekly
Malaise trap samples in Panama to study how El Niño weather patterns and tropical seasonality
affect the biodiversity and abundance of insects, particularly beetles and parasitic wasps.
o Goal: I intend to spend the last decade of my career further sorting our samples and
analyzing the 20+ year time-series that we collected.
Service
 Identification tools -- Discover Life has over 600 taxonomic checklists and identification guides
online, covering nearly 1.3 million valid species names. These include the world bee checklist
with 20,000 species, identification guides to 78 genera of U.S. bees, and a guide to the 12,000
moth species of the U.S. that is customized by state.
o Goal -- build additional identification guides, focusing on moths and selected
pollinators, pollen, and host plants.
Teaching and outreach
 Web-based instruction -- We are developing Moth math (see
discoverlife.org/moth/analysis.html) as a web tool to help 5th grade through college students
learn how to analyze and graph data collected by Mothing. In addition to biological data on
insect distribution, abundance, phenology, and size, Moth math enables web users to download
daily data on precipitation, temperature, barometric pressure, and the phase of the moon. Thus,
they can determine how these environmental factors affect species abundance and activity.
o Goal: With Peter Burn at Suffolk University, Jonathan Lochamy at Georgia Perimeter
College, and other partners, I plan to develop and integrate web tools and lesson plans to
enable teachers and their classes to generate and test hypotheses using the large quantity
of original data that Mothing makes available on-line.
 Formal classroom instruction -- Since fall 2013, I have co-taught two sections of a service
learning course with Marianne Shockley (ENTO 3300S) each Fall and Spring semesters to
approximately 60 students per semester.
o Goal: Each semester into the foreseeable future, we intend to keep teaching this course.
I plan to integrate it more with Discover Life's study site at Sandy Creek Nature Center
and teach its students to help develop and test Moth math at local schools. (See
Appendices 2, 2a, 2b below)
 Outreach – I plan to continue outreach to the scientific community and to citizen scientists. In
2014, I gave twenty-five invited presentations to colleagues and community groups throughout
the nation. (See Appendix 3 below.)
Appendix 1: Previous Post-tenure Review
March 12, 2006
Dr. Alan Covich Director, Institute of Ecology University of Georgia
RE: Post-tenure Review of John Pickering
Dear Alan:
A Post-tenure Review of Dr. John Pickering was conducted in February and March of 2006. The
review committee consisted of Ron Pulliam (chair), Patty Gowaty, and Jim Porter, all Professors in the
Institute of Ecology. The review committee met with Dr. Pickering and requested that he provide an
updated curriculum vitae (attachment 1), and a statement of future plans (attachment 2) to the
committee for review. The committee also requested and received copies of his annual evaluations
from the Director of the Institute of Ecology.
The review committee finds Dr. Pickering's overall performance for the past five years satisfactory.
The purpose of post-tenure review is "to examine, recognize, develop, and enhance the performance of
tenured faculty members at the University of Georgia." In reviewing Dr. Pickering's contributions, the
committee concludes that many of Dr. Pickering's past contributions have not been fully recognized
and appreciated by the University of Georgia, and we recommend a number of steps can be taken to
further develop and enhance his contributions in the future. Below, we first review his teaching and
scholarly contributions and then we offer some specific recommendations.
Teaching:
Dr. Pickering is a gifted teacher and a dedicated student mentor. However, the committee feels that his
teaching talents are not currently being utilized to the full benefit of the students of the University of
Georgia. To evaluate his teaching contributions the committee compared his teaching assignments in
the past five years to his earlier teaching assignments at the University.
The primary courses taught by Dr. Pickering since coming the University in 1986 and the number of
times he has taught each course (in parentheses) are as follows:
ECOL 3500 -- General Ecology, 1986-1999 (x20)
ECOL 4110/6110 -- Insect Diversity, 1998-2004 (x5)
ECOL 4130L -- Ecological Methodology, 2005
ECOL 8170 -- Natural History of the Hymenoptera, 1999-2005 (x4)
FRES 1020-- Natural History seminar, 2001-2005 (x5)
Dr. Pickering's teaching talents are attested to by numerous personal testimonies and by the official
recognition of the UGA Sandy Beaver Award for Teaching Excellence (1994) and the Outstanding
Upper Division Advisor Award (1996).
From 1986 to 1999, Dr. Pickering taught the core ecology undergraduate course (ECOL 3500) 20
different times and to over 1500 students, in total. However, since 2000, his teaching has been
restricted to teaching smaller, more specialized upper division and graduate courses. Among these, the
Insect Diversity course (ECOL 4110/6110) is especially noteworthy since it is one of the few intensive
field courses offered to our undergraduates. Dr. Pickering has also taught numerous Independent Study
courses providing students an opportunity to become involved in research during their undergraduate
years. He has also supervised a large number of graduate and undergraduate theses. Finally, beyond his
traditional teaching role at the University, he has conducted a number of Discover Life training
workshops in locations around the world.
Although the quality of Dr. Pickering course offerings remains high, the specialized courses he now
teaches attract relatively few students. The committee feels that his teaching contributions at the
University can be strengthened by re-engaging him in the core undergraduate course (ECOL 3500) and
he has expressed a willingness to do so.
Scholarship and Public Service:
Dr. Pickering has made fundamentally important contributions to the study of biological diversity,
albeit not always in the form typical of most academic scientists. Like other academics, he has
conducted original research, published in peer-reviewed journals, and obtained competitive research
funding. He has worked on a wide range of problems including the epidemiology and virulence of
infectious diseases, and sex ratio theory. He is one of the world's leading experts on the natural history
of the Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, and sawflies) and has pioneered in the development of
comparative inventories across tropical and temperate sites and the long-term monitoring of
populations and communities in response to environmental and experimental changes.
Since 1991, he has worked on an Insect Diversity Project to quantify how climate, biogeography,
habitat type, disturbance, land-use, and landscape fragmentation affect species abundance, diversity,
and trophic interactions of insects in terrestrial ecosystems. He has also been involved in a large-scale
comparative study of insects in old-growth and secondary forests in Panama, Costa Rica, and eastern
North America. The study has sought to quantify how seasonality, El Niño cycles, fire, and other largescale factors influence insect diversity in time and space.
Dr. Pickering's most important contributions have not come through the traditional venues of academia
but rather have involved using new technologies to distribute biodiversity information to a multitude of
scientists, students, natural history enthusiasts, and decision makers around the world. He is the
founder and moving force behind Discover Life, a web-based information source designed "to provide
the technology to enable an army of scientists, students, and other citizens to work together, study
biodiversity, and share information on a grand scale." Under his leadership, Discover Life has
organized information technology centers at the University of Georgia and the Smithsonian Tropical
Research Institute in Panama, and has already gathered and organized information on 250,000 species.
By adding information at a pace of 590 new species per day, Discover Life is on track to build an online Encyclopedia of Life of a million species by the year 2012. Each month, Discover Life serves
approximately 3 million pages and images to 70,000 IP addresses. Its online tools include a global
mapper that enables users to compare the distribution of taxa across geographic scales.
In addition to Discover Life, Dr. Pickering has played a major role in establishing two other major
biodiversity initiatives: the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory
and the Polistes Foundation. The All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory is a massive study involving scores
of scientists and hundreds of park volunteers in a systematic effort to inventory all of the species in the
Great Smokey Mountain National Park. The Polistes Foundation was established in 2002 "to assemble
and share knowledge about nature in order to improve education, health, agriculture, economic
development, and conservation throughout the world."
Summary and Recommendations
Judged strictly by the number of courses taught, student credit hours generated, peer-reviewed papers,
and competitive research grants obtained in the past five years, one could wrongly conclude that Dr.
Pickering has not been as productive in the past five years as in his previous years of service at the
University. However, these traditional measures of academic success do not begin to quantify Dr.
Pickering's overall contributions to science and education during the past five years.
John Pickering is a truly remarkably scholar who marches to a different drummer than most academic
scientists. Having reviewed his work in the past five years, the review committee concludes his
scholarly contributions, though unconventional, will likely have more long-lasting impact on
biodiversity science and education than the contributions of a dozen more traditional scholars. When
asked about his long-term goals, Dr. Pickering provided the committee with a remarkable 20 year plan
(attachment 2), that includes completing Discover Life's online Encyclopedia of Life and further
developing a powerful new technology that will allow field researchers and laymen alike to identify,
map, and record biodiversity information anywhere in the world.
Unfortunately, Dr. Pickering's contributions, because of their unconventional nature, have been underappreciated by the University of Georgia. He has not been promoted to Full Professor despite his time
in service and he has received substantially below average salary increases for many years. As a result,
he has gotten the message that the University of Georgia does not appreciate his contributions and,
accordingly, he has withdrawn from participation in faculty governance and has reduced his
undergraduate course participation. He has indicated to the review committee that he would be willing
to participate more in Institute activities and undergraduate instruction if his participation were
recognized and rewarded.
The post-tenure review committee makes the following four recommendations aimed at recognizing,
developing, and enhancing Dr. Pickering's contributions to the University:
1) Recognize that Dr. Pickering's contributions to Discover Life and related activities are legitimate
scholarly contributions that are appreciated and will be rewarded by the University;
2) Immediately initiate a review process and solicit outside letters of recommendation to consider
promoting Dr. Pickering to the rank of Full Professor;
3) Make an immediate salary adjustment to bring his salary in line with other faculty with similar time
in service in the Institute;
4) Engage Dr. Pickering more fully in the undergraduate course offerings of the Institute and ask him
to renew his teaching role in Ecology 3500 making it clear that outstanding teaching contributions will
be rewarded by the Institute.
The review committee feels that these are necessary steps not only to enhancing Dr. Pickering personal
productivity and contributions to the University but also in sending the message to other faculty that
outstanding contributions beyond the standard ones measured by number of publications and grants are
appreciated and will be rewarded by the University of Georgia.
Sincerely,
H. Ronald Pulliam
Chair, Post-tenure Review Committee
Appendix 2: Teaching Since Last Post-tenure Review
Course number
Title
Semester
Enrollment
Percent effort
ECOL 3070
Environment and Humans
2009 Fall
24
100%
2010 Fall
23
100%
2011 Fall
22
100%
2012 Fall
15
100%
ECOL 3500
General Ecology
2009 Spring
113
50%
ECOL 4110/6110
Insect Diversity
2007 Fall
7
2007 Spring
8
100%
100%
ECOL 4940
Internship in Ecology
2007 Spring
1
2008 Spring
9
2010 Spring
10
2011 Spring
5
100%
100%
100%
100%
ECOL 4950
Senior Seminar
2011 Fall
22
100%
ENTO 3900
2013 Fall
Special Problems in Entomology
62
25%
ENTO 3300S
Outreach and Service-Learning in Entomology
2014 Spring
60
25%
2014 Fall
63
25%
2015 Spring
60
25%
Additional teaching listed at http://www.discoverlife.org/who/CV/Pickering,_John.teaching.html
Student evaluations: http://www.discoverlife.org/who/Pickering,_John.html
Appendix 2a: Syllabus for ENTO 3300S
Entomology Outreach & Service-Learning
ENTO 3300S
Spring 2015
Dr. Marianne Shockley
706-542-1238 entomolo@uga.edu
Office: 460 BioSciences Bldg
And
Dr. John Pickering
706-254-7446 pick@discoverlife.org
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course provides an overview of entomology outreach and service-learning. Students will
participate in a guided study and practice in developing sustainable entomological educational
programs for the public (mostly children) in the Athens/Atlanta area, which includes identifying
needs, establishing objectives, focusing on sustainability, as well as designing and evaluating
entomological educational programs. Students will work closely with the H.O. Lund Entomology
Club organizing and participating in outreaches with the Insect Zoo throughout the semester.
www.ent.uga.edu/insectzoo
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course is designed to facilitate a partnership between the community and the Department of
Entomology. Students enrolled in this course will spend significant time in local schools and
community organizations hosting entomological programs. From this, the following goals are
sought:
 Improve the science experiences and science content knowledge of UGA and Athens
students through hands-on science programs in schools and community events.
 Provide experiences for students and teachers that will bring about more positive
attitudes about science.
 Develop a sense of community involvement for UGA students that will continue after
graduation.
 Promote science knowledge in a positive way to the community, students, and
teachers.
 Enhance the communication and leadership skills of UGA students.
 Emphasize sustainability as the relationship between environmental limits of
pollinators and human values, decisions, and actions.
COURSE EXPECTATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS
Weekly Written Assignments (300 points)
Students will submit weekly written assignments according to the schedule provided (roughly
one/week) via ELC. It is expected to be thoughtful and reflective. There will be questions
assigned to guide your weekly written entries. See ELC
Reflective Summary of Experience (100 points)
You will submit a Reflective Summary of Experience at the end of the semester by answering the
following questions:
1. Describe your outreach involvement this semester.
2. Describe what you feel you have learned about society.
3. Describe what you feel you have learned about the processes of learning and
teaching–you can refer to your own learning or the communities’ learning.
4. Did you learn any entomology in this experience? This could be something you had
never learned before this experience, or something you feel you understand better
because you taught it.
5. Suggest some service-learning projects for future Entomology Outreach &
Service-Learning Courses and explain what would be needed to carry them out
(community partners, funds, students, time, etc.).
6. What have you learned about sustainability this semester and how can you
incorporate concepts of sustainability into your everyday life?
7. Describe any other effect participation in Entomology Outreach & ServiceLearning, has had on you as an individual. In other words, will you do or think about
things differently because of this experience?
Spending time at outreaches and volunteering (200 points)
Please note you are expected to have 30 “contact” outreach hours (hours outside of the
classroom). This may include planning, preparing, commuting, and facilitating the outreaches.
This does not include class-time. This may include volunteering with the Insect Zoo or other
organizations in Athens.
Quizzes (200 points)
There will be quizzes throughout the semester about insects in general and more specifically
about insects and arthropods in the insect zoo.
Social Media (100 pints)
Each student is required to share/post 15 pictures/images/articles on Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram.
UGABugDawgs
UGABugDawgs@gmail.com password bugdawgs
Service-Learning Project (50)
Students will interface with Discover Life on various online projects. www.discoverlife.org/moth
GRADE APPORTIONMENT
Summary Reflection
Outreach Hours
Quizzes
Weekly Journals
Social Media
Discover Life Service-Learning Project
Professionalism
100pts
200pts
225pts
300pts
75pts
50pts
50pts
Total 1000pts
A = 945 – 1000 points, A- = 900 – 944 points, B+ = 855 – 899 points, B = 800 – 854 points,
C+ = 755 – 799 points, C = 700 – 725 points, D = 600 – 699, F < 599
Insect Zoo Sign-up
If you sign up for an outreach you MUST ATTEND. I will send out confirmations 2 weeks prior to
the outreach. Everyone on the list at that time is required to attend. If you cannot or do not
attend there will be an automatic 10 point deduction in your grade.
Attendance Policy
Attendance is expected. Notify the instructor prior to your excused absence.
Withdrawal Policy
If a grade of WP or I is requested, University policy will be followed.
Students with disabilities
If you have a disability and would like to request classroom accommodations please see me after
class or make an appointment. If you plan to request accommodations for a disability, please
register with the Disability Resource Center at (706) 542-8719, 114 Clark Howell Hall
University Honor Code and Academic Honesty Policy
As a University of Georgia student, you have agreed to abide by the University’s academic
honesty policy, “A Culture of Honesty,” and the Student Honor Code. All academic work must
meet the standards described in “A Culture of Honesty” found at: www.uga.edu/honesty. Lack of
knowledge of the academic honesty policy is not a reasonable explanation for a violation.
Questions related to course assignments and the academic honesty policy should be directed to
the instructor.
The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations announced to the class by
the instructor may be necessary.
Appendix 2b: Most Recent Course Evaluations
Appendix 3: Invited presentations 2014
27 January, 2014
Join the dark side -- study the fabulous diversity of local moths to understand environmental
changes
University of Georgia, Entomology, Athens, GA
17 March, 2014
"Moth communities as indicators of environmental changes: results from natural experiments along
a latitudinal gradient."
National Ecological Observatory Network; Boulder, CO
26 March, 2014
Moth Party at Winged Deer Park
Winged Deer Park; Johnson City, TN
2 May, 2014
Mothing: the highlights from this year
Sandy Creek Nature Center; Athens, GA
12 May, 2014
Moth communities as indicators of environmental changes: results from natural experiments along
a latitudinal gradient
SESYNC workshop; Annapolis, MD
14 May, 2014
Using Discover Life for crowd-sourcing aerial photographs to survey sea birds.
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
15 May, 2014
Moth communities as indicators of environmental changes: results from natural experiments along
a latitudinal gradient.
The National Science Foundation; Arlington , VA
16 May, 2014
Moth communities as indicators of environmental changes: results from natural experiments along
a latitudinal gradient.
United States Geological Survey, Reston , VA
22 May, 2014
Moth communities as indicators of environmental changes: results from natural experiments along
a latitudinal gradient.
Audubon Society – Webinar
30 May, 2014
Moth communities as indicators of environmental changes: results from natural experiments along
a latitudinal gradient.
California Academy of Sciences; San Francisco, CA
5 June, 2014
Join the dark side -- study the fabulous diversity of local moths to understand environmental
changes
Highlands Biological Station, Highlands, NC
25 June, 2014
Presentation to Young Scholars: Discover Life and your cell phone
Sandy Creek Nature Center; Athens, GA
22 July, 2014
Moths -- presentation to Thai Learning Science Summer School
University of Georgia, Athens, GA
23 July, 2014
Moth photography
Sandy Creek Nature Center, Athens, GA
24 July, 2014
Moth identification
University of Georgia, Athens, GA
19-27 July, 2014
National Moth Week
Sandy Creek Nature Center, Athens, GA
26 August, 2014
"Monitoring moth communities as indicators of environmental health and changes."
Department of Ecosystem Science, Biodiversity Institute, & Program in Ecology
University of Wyoming; Laramie, WY
27 August, 2014
"Monitoring moth communities as indicators of environmental health and changes."
Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
28 August, 2014
"Monitoring moth communities as indicators of environmental health and changes."
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Fort Collins, CO
29 August, 2014
"Monitoring moth communities as indicators of environmental health and changes."
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
4 September, 2014
"Monitoring moth communities as indicators of environmental health and changes."
McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
17 September, 2014
"Monitoring moth communities as indicators of environmental health and changes."
Department of Biological Sciences
Eastern Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
27 September, 2014
"Monitoring moth communities as indicators of environmental health and changes."
Southern Lepidopterist's Society; Gainesville, FL
11 November, 2014
"Research opportunities to study moths in Georgia and Costa Rica."
Junior Seminar, Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
8 December, 2014
"Monitoring moth communities as indicators of environmental health and changes."
Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology
University of Delaware; Newark, DE
Appendix 4: Support to the Polistes Foundation
YEAR
2001-2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
TOTAL
POLISTES
REVENUE
$201,445.00
$75,000.00
$157,860.00
$234,469.71
$369,214.30
$618,705.53
$367,190.44
$307,439.89
$216,025.87
$223,410.04
$2,770,760.78
DISCOVER LIFE
TO ODUM UGA
$201,445.00
$75,000.00
$157,860.00
$234,469.71
$310,561.48
$278,223.10
$257,200.94
$251,428.18
$209,025.87
$199,166.59
$2,174,380.87
$24,632.04
$57,130.47
$55,951.75
$13,530.12
$151,244.38
Appendix 4a: NSF Pollinator+ Project. Status: pending