Integrating local environmental data and information from non-driven citizen science to estimate jellyfish abundance in Costa del Sol (southern Spain)

Cities around the world have converged on structural and environmental characteristics that exert similar eco-evolutionary pressures on local communities. However, evaluating how urban biodiversity responds to urban intensification remains poorly understood because of the challenges in capturing the diversity of a range of taxa within and across multiple cities from different types of urbanization. Here we utilize a growing resource—citizen science data. We analyzed 66,209 observations representing 5,209 species generated by the City Nature Challenge project on the iNaturalist platform, in conjunction with remote sensing (NLCD2011) environmental data, to test for urban biotic homogenization at increasing levels of urban intensity across 14 metropolitan cities in the United States. Based on community composition analyses, we found that while similarities occur to an extent, urban biodiversity is often much more a reflection of the taxa living locally in a region. At the same time, the communities found in high intensity development were less explained by regional context than communities from other land cover types were. We also found that the most commonly observed species are often shared between cities and are non-endemic and/or have a distribution facilitated by humans. This study highlights the value of citizen science data in answering questions in urban ecology.

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Citizen Science and the Politics of Environmental Data

Science Technology & Human Values ◽

10.1177/0162243919858669 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 44 (5) ◽

pp. 871-880 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Olga Kuchinskaya

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Radiation Safety ◽

Environmental Hazards ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Nuclear Accident ◽

The Other ◽

Soviet Republic ◽

Science Projects ◽

The World ◽

Fukushima Daiichi

In this commentary, I reflect on the differences between two independent citizen approaches to monitoring radiological contamination, one in Belarus after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident and the other in Japan following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident. I examine these approaches from the perspective of their contribution to making radiological contamination more publicly visible (i.e., publicly recognized as a hazard). The analysis is grounded in my earlier work (Kuchinskaya 2014), where I examined how we have come to know what we know about post–Chernobyl contamination and its effects in Belarus, a former Soviet republic most heavily affected by the fallout. As I described in this study, much of what we know about the consequences of Chernobyl is based on the work of the Belarusian nonprofit Institute of Radiation Safety, “Belrad.” I compare Belrad’s approach to radiological monitoring with the work of the volunteer network Safecast, arguably one of the best-known citizen science projects in the world, which is working to monitor the scope of the post–Fukushima contamination. Through this comparison of approaches, I raise broader questions about a form of sensing practices—data-related practices of citizen science that make environmental hazards publicly in/visible.

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A citizen science approach to evaluating US cities for biotic homogenization

10.7287/peerj.preprints.27472v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Misha Leong ◽

Michelle D Trautwein

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

The United States ◽

Urban Biodiversity ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Science Data ◽

Metropolitan Cities ◽

Regional Specificity ◽

Urban Intensification ◽

The City ◽

Us Cities

Background. Cities around the world have converged on structural and environmental characteristics that exert similar eco-evolutionary pressures on local communities. However, evaluating how urban biodiversity responds to urban intensification remains poorly understood because of the challenges in capturing the diversity of a range of taxa within and across multiple cities from different types of urbanization. Methods. Here we utilize a growing resource—citizen science data. We analyzed 66,209 observations representing 5,209 species generated by the City Nature Challenge project on the iNaturalist platform, in conjunction with remote sensing (NLCD2011) environmental data, to test for urban homogenization at increasing levels of urban intensity across 14 metropolitan cities in the United States. Results. Based on community composition analyses, we found that while urban homogenization occurs to an extent, urban biodiversity is often much more a reflection of the regional specificity of taxa. On the other hand, we also found that the most commonly observed species are often shared between cities and are non-endemic and/or have a distribution facilitated by humans. This study highlights the value of citizen science data in answering questions in urban ecology.

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Shut up and take my environmental data! A study on ICT enabled citizen science practices, participation approaches and challenges

10.29007/mk4k ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maria Palacin-Silva ◽

Jari Porras

Keyword(s):

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Communication Technologies ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Social Changes ◽

Active Engagement ◽

Information And Communication ◽

Communal Living ◽

Civic Technology ◽

Science Governance

Citizen Science initiatives have been around since the 20th century in numerous fields, from astronomy to health monitoring. In recent years, social changes mediated by the development of information and communication technologies have pivoted new types of civic actions, which have enabled an expansion in the breath of citizen science applications. This civic technology has become a genuine interactive and inclusive opportunity for engaging citizens in the continuous collection of data relevant to science, governance, businesses, communal living, as well as individual concerns. This article presents the practices, trends and challenges of 108 ICT enabled citizen science projects. In addition, we present a palette for participation in ICT enabled citizen science that depicts the shapes civic participation is currently taking in different contexts. We discuss the potential uses of this palette for improving the engineering of ICT citizen science platforms to better fit the needs of volunteers and build opportunities for active engagement.

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HOWMUCH DO WE KNOWABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUNTEERED GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION AND CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECTS?

ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ◽

10.5194/isprsannals-ii-3-w5-339-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol II-3/W5 ◽

pp. 339-343 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. Mooney ◽

L. Morgan

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Volunteered Geographic Information ◽

Geographic Information ◽

Environmental Data ◽

High Quality ◽

Science Projects ◽

Meta Review ◽

Lack Of Knowledge

In the last number of years there has been increased interest from researchers in investigating and understanding the characteristics and backgrounds of citizens who contribute to Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and Citizen Science (CS) projects. Much of the reluctance from stakeholders such as National Mapping Agencies, Environmental Ministries, etc. to use data and information generated and collected by VGI and CS projects grows from the lack of knowledge and understanding about who these contributors are. As they are drawn from the crowd there is a sense of the unknown about these citizens. Subsequently there are justifiable concerns about these citizens’ ability to collect, generate and manage high quality and accurate spatial, scientific and environmental data and information. This paper provides a meta review of some of the key literature in the domain of VGI and CS to assess if these concerns are well founded and what efforts are ongoing to improve our understanding of the crowd.

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A citizen science approach to evaluating US cities for biotic homogenization

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.6879 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. e6879 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Misha Leong ◽

Michelle Trautwein

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

The United States ◽

Urban Biodiversity ◽

Biotic Homogenization ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Science Data ◽

Metropolitan Cities ◽

Urban Intensification ◽

The City ◽

Us Cities

Cities around the world have converged on structural and environmental characteristics that exert similar eco-evolutionary pressures on local communities. However, evaluating how urban biodiversity responds to urban intensification remains poorly understood because of the challenges in capturing the diversity of a range of taxa within and across multiple cities from different types of urbanization. Here we utilize a growing resource—citizen science data. We analyzed 66,209 observations representing 5,209 species generated by the City Nature Challenge project on the iNaturalist platform, in conjunction with remote sensing (NLCD2011) environmental data, to test for urban biotic homogenization at increasing levels of urban intensity across 14 metropolitan cities in the United States. Based on community composition analyses, we found that while similarities occur to an extent, urban biodiversity is often much more a reflection of the taxa living locally in a region. At the same time, the communities found in high-intensity development were less explained by regional context than communities from other land cover types were. We also found that the most commonly observed species are often shared between cities and are non-endemic and/or have a distribution facilitated by humans. This study highlights the value of citizen science data in answering questions in urban ecology.

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Arctic expedition cruise tourism and citizen science: a vision for the future of polar tourism

Journal of Tourism Futures ◽

10.1108/jtf-06-2019-0051 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 102-111

Author(s):

Audrey R. Taylor ◽

Þórný Barðadóttir ◽

Sarah Auffret ◽

Annette Bombosch ◽

Allison Lee Cusick ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Scientific Data ◽

Tourism Industry ◽

Environmental Data ◽

The Arctic ◽

Quality Data ◽

Science Data ◽

Content Type ◽

Cruise Industry ◽

Cruise Tourism

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for using citizen science – defined as a data collection method through which non-professionals engage in contributing to authentic scientific inquiry – within the expedition cruise industry to contribute significantly to the collection of environmental data from hard-to-access Arctic areas. Design/methodology/approach The authors review trends in Arctic expedition cruise tourism and current needs in Arctic research and monitoring, and clarify where the expedition cruise tourism industry could have the most impact by providing data to the scientific community. The authors also compare the regulatory context in the Antarctic to that in the Arctic and discuss how these differences could affect the widespread use of citizen science. At last, the authors describe some general principles for designing citizen science programs to be successful on board, and highlight several existing programs that are being recognized for their contributions to a greater scientific understanding of the Arctic. Findings The authors find that citizen science data from the expedition cruise industry are underutilized as a tool for monitoring Arctic change. Numerous examples illustrate how citizen science programs on-board expedition ships can successfully collect robust scientific data and contribute to enhancing the knowledge and stewardship capacity of cruise passengers. Inclusion of citizen science data from the expedition cruise industry should be considered a critical part of international Arctic observing networks and systems. Social implications Active participation in Arctic citizen science by tourists on expedition cruise ships has many potential benefits beyond the collection of high quality data, from increasing passengers’ knowledge and understanding of the Arctic while on board, to affecting their attitudes and behaviors after they return home. Originality/value The potential for tourism to contribute to Arctic observing systems has been discussed previously in the scientific literature; the authors narrow the focus to citizen science programs in the expedition cruise industry, and provide concrete examples, in the hope that this will streamline acceptance and implementation of these ideas by researchers and tourism practitioners.

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Converging Opportunities: Environmental Compliance and Citizen Science

Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies ◽

10.1142/s2345748114500018 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 02 (01) ◽

pp. 1450001

Author(s):

Scott VAUGHAN ◽

Melissa HARRIS

Keyword(s):

Environmental Protection ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Environmental Regulations ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Data Sources ◽

Environmental Compliance ◽

Value For Money ◽

Regulatory Enforcement ◽

Regulatory Design

A major challenge for many countries is the implementation of environmental regulations developed to reduce or eliminate air, water, and other pollutants. Recent efforts to ensure value for money in environmental protection, examine how to improve regulatory design, compliance promoting, and regulatory enforcement to deter and prevent regulatory violation. Work in accountability mechanisms such as performance audits have helped identify regulatory implementation issues. Opportunity exits to supplement traditional compliance promotion with new environmental data sources, including from citizen science.

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Monitoring litter and microplastics in a highly polluted protected site of southern Spain: A research-based citizen science initiative

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11182 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alicia Mateos-Cárdenas ◽

Patricio Peñalver-Duque ◽

David León-Muez

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Coastal Water ◽

Stream Water ◽

Sampling Site ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Southern Spain ◽

Environmental Research ◽

Raising Awareness ◽

Airborne Contamination ◽

Science Initiative

Plastic pollution research and awareness activities have increased exponentially over the last decade, however not all citizen science activities are run with a degree of control assurance. Also, not many research projects include collaborations beyond academia or have set goals for the dissemination of results to specific non-academic stakeholders. Here, our project involves a range of collaborators from different disciplines, from the Irish academic sector to Spanish environmental NGOs and citizen scientists. Also, the project is funded by the US-based NGO Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA). We selected the natural area of Maro-Cerro Gordo Cliffs (southern Spain) as our sampling site due of its special status under Natura 2000. Despite this protection, previous monitoring work in 2019 identified heavily plastic polluted sites due to intensive agriculture activities in the area. Therefore, this project was designed as a citizen science initiative with a focus on (1) clean up and characterisation of litter from selected terrestrial and aquatic sites, both freshwater and coastal, and (2) an analysis of microplastics in stream and coastal waters. The main objectives of the project are to characterise the presence of litter and microplastics while working closely with citizen scientists, raising awareness and informing local authorities about the issue.&#160;First sampling activities were carried out in December 2020. A second field trip is organised for February 2021. Citizen scientists were previously trained and always worked together under the supervision of a team member. Litter was collected following transects and using tracking apps (eLitter and MARNOBA). A total of 43 items were collected from stream transects whereas 59 items were collected in beach transects. Remarkably, 74% of litter collected in streams were plastic items, 12% were other materials, 9% was paper or cardboard and 5% was metal. Whereas in beach transects, 51% of the litter collected was paper or cardboard, 25% plastic, 10% metal and 14% other materials. Regarding microplastic sampling, 200 L of stream water and 50000 L of coastal water samples were collected using a filtration unit with a 45 &#181;m pore size. The volume of filtered coastal water was significantly higher as it was collected from three kayaks for 30 minutes. Microfibres and fragments have been detected at both sites. Sample processing and polymer analysis is currently ongoing using FTIR. All protocols follow strict QA/QC guidelines including clean conditions and airborne contamination procedures.&#160;Results from this project will be submitted for peer-review and also shared in the form of mid-term and final reports among local stakeholders including local environmental managers and SOA. Also, citizen scientists will take part of a workshop aimed at informing the general public. Therefore, the findings from this project are directly used to raise awareness through citizen scientists and informing local and international non-profit stakeholders. More specifically, lessons learned will be presented at EGU in the form of successes and challenges for discussion. It is imperative that, when feasible, high quality environmental research is carried out between cross-disciplinary collaborators in order to gather sound data while raising awareness and discussing solutions.

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Citizen science and social movements: A case of participatory monitoring of genetically modified crops in Japan

The Sociological Review ◽

10.1177/00380261211009790 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 69 (3) ◽

pp. 580-602

Author(s):

Aya H. Kimura

Keyword(s):

Social Movements ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Genetically Modified Crops ◽

Scientific Data ◽

Genetically Engineered ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Grassroots Organizations ◽

Political Awareness ◽

Participatory Monitoring ◽

Civic Organizations

Agrifood related social controversies tend to involve scientific issues and advocacy groups increasingly turn to citizen science (CS), participatory data taking by regular people, to produce health and environmental data. A common assumption is that CS’s value lies in the data produced, and its volume and quality decide its persuasive power. This article describes participatory monitoring of genetically engineered rapeseed (canola) in Japan to suggest that social movements can leverage CS not only for the production of scientific data but also as occasions for recruitment, political awareness-raising, and collaboration with other civic organizations. The article proposes a new framework for understanding CS–social movement relations that is multi-actor (vs. expert–laypeople dyad); process-oriented (vs. product/data-oriented); and long-term (vs. one-shot and isolated data taking). There is an increasing awareness of the diversity of CS. Even those that are led by grassroots organizations have multiple and shifting uses of data and foster varying political subjectivity among participants. The proposed framework helps to understand the dynamics that shape such heterogeneous pathways of CS.

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