scholarly journals “Invasive Aliens”: A Student Citizen-Science Activity Using DNA Barcoding to Investigate Concepts in Ecology & Molecular Biology

2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-174
Author(s):  
Jeff Eble ◽  
John Pecore
Keyword(s):  
Dna Barcoding ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Classroom Engagement ◽  
Lutjanus Campechanus ◽  
Piscivorous Fish ◽  
Sequencing Technologies ◽  
Ecological Concepts ◽  
Student Assessments ◽  
Invasive Lionfish ◽  
Citizen Science Project

Student participation in authentic research, as citizen scientists, can improve classroom engagement, achievement of learning objectives, and perceptions of science. We present DNA barcoding of invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans) prey as an example student citizen-science project, though the protocols, objectives, and outcomes can be generalized to any piscivorous fish. The objective of this five-lab conservation genetics unit is to enhance student understanding of fundamental molecular and ecological concepts through applied use of DNA sequencing technologies. Student assessments were equivocal, indicating modest gains in conceptual understanding and maintenance of an overall high perception of science. More notably, student findings have contributed to an improved understanding of the impacts of invasive lionfish, including providing the first evidence that lionfish prey on economically important red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus).

scholarly journals Citizens, Scientists, and Enablers: A Tripartite Model for Citizen Science Projects

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 309
Author(s):  
Rhian A. Salmon ◽  
Samuel Rammell ◽  
Myfanwy T. Emeny ◽  
Stephen Hartley
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Tripartite Model ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Emerging Issues ◽  
Citizen Science Project

In this paper, we focus on different roles in citizen science projects, and their respective relationships. We propose a tripartite model that recognises not only citizens and scientists, but also an important third role, which we call the ‘enabler’. In doing so, we acknowledge that additional expertise and skillsets are often present in citizen science projects, but are frequently overlooked in associated literature. We interrogate this model by applying it to three case studies and explore how the success and sustainability of a citizen science project requires all roles to be acknowledged and interacting appropriately. In this era of ‘wicked problems’, the nature of science and science communication has become more complex. In order to address critical emerging issues, a greater number of stakeholders are engaging in multi-party partnerships and research is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary. Within this context, explicitly acknowledging the role and motivations of everyone involved can provide a framework for enhanced project transparency, delivery, evaluation and impact. By adapting our understanding of citizen science to better recognise the complexity of the organisational systems within which they operate, we propose an opportunity to strengthen the collaborative delivery of both valuable scientific research and public engagement.

Building Data Sets for Rainforest Deforestation Detection Through a Citizen Science Project

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Fernanda Beatriz Jordan Rojas Dallaqua ◽  
Fabio Augusto Faria ◽  
Alvaro Luiz Fazenda
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Citizen Science Project

scholarly journals The epistemic culture in an online citizen science project: Programs, antiprograms and epistemic subjects

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 564-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dick Kasperowski ◽  
Thomas Hillman
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Distributed Cognition ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Large Sets ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Epistemic Culture ◽  
Classification Of Images ◽  
Citizen Science Project

In the past decade, some areas of science have begun turning to masses of online volunteers through open calls for generating and classifying very large sets of data. The purpose of this study is to investigate the epistemic culture of a large-scale online citizen science project, the Galaxy Zoo, that turns to volunteers for the classification of images of galaxies. For this task, we chose to apply the concepts of programs and antiprograms to examine the ‘essential tensions’ that arise in relation to the mobilizing values of a citizen science project and the epistemic subjects and cultures that are enacted by its volunteers. Our premise is that these tensions reveal central features of the epistemic subjects and distributed cognition of epistemic cultures in these large-scale citizen science projects.

scholarly journals Reliability of Data Collected by Volunteers: A Nine-Year Citizen Science Study in the Red Sea

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Meschini ◽  
Mariana Machado Toffolo ◽  
Chiara Marchini ◽  
Erik Caroselli ◽  
Fiorella Prada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Red Sea ◽  
Reliable Data ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Quality Of Data ◽  
Mass Tourism ◽  
Science Approach ◽  
Citizen Science Project ◽  
Professional Volunteers

The quality of data collected by non-professional volunteers in citizen science programs is crucial to render them valid for implementing environmental resources management and protection plans. This study assessed the reliability of data collected by non-professional volunteers during the citizen science project Scuba Tourism for the Environment (STE), carried out in mass tourism facilities of the Red Sea between 2007 and 2015. STE involved 16,164 volunteer recreational divers in data collection on marine biodiversity using a recreational citizen science approach. Through a specifically designed questionnaire, volunteers indicated which of the seventy-two marine taxa surveyed were observed during their recreational dive, giving an estimate of their abundance. To evaluate the validity of the collected data, a reference researcher randomly dived with the volunteers and filled in the project questionnaire separately. Correlation analyses between the records collected by the reference researcher and those collected by volunteers were performed based on 513 validation trials, testing 3,138 volunteers. Data reliability was analyzed through 7 parameters. Consistency showed the lowest mean score (51.6%, 95% Confidence Interval CI 44.1–59.2%), indicating that volunteers could direct their attention to different taxa depending on personal interests; Percent Identified showed the highest mean score (66.7%, 95% CI 55.5–78.0), indicating that volunteers can correctly identify most surveyed taxa. Overall, results confirmed that the recreational citizen science approach can effectively support reliable data for biodiversity monitoring, when carefully tailored for the volunteer skills required by the specific project. The use of a recreational approach enhances massive volunteer participation in citizen science projects, thus increasing the amount of sufficiently reliable data collected in a reduced time.

scholarly journals Monitoring the influx of new species through citizen science: the first introduced ant in Denmark

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8850
Author(s):  
Julie K. Sheard ◽  
Nathan J. Sanders ◽  
Carsten Gundlach ◽  
Sämi Schär ◽  
Rasmus Stenbak Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Exotic Species ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Niche Overlap ◽  
Botanical Garden ◽  
Sampling Effort ◽  
Niche Modelling ◽  
Climatic Niche ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Geographic Space ◽  
Citizen Science Project

Climate change and invasive species threaten biodiversity, yet rigorous monitoring of their impact can be costly. Citizen science is increasingly used as a tool for monitoring exotic species, because citizens are geographically and temporally dispersed, whereas scientists tend to cluster in museums and at universities. Here we report on the establishment of the first exotic ant taxon (Tetramorium immigrans) in Denmark, which was discovered by children participating in The Ant Hunt. The Ant Hunt is a citizen science project for children that we ran in 2017 and 2018, with a pilot study in 2015. T. immigrans was discovered in the Botanical Garden of the Natural History Museum of Denmark in 2015 and confirmed as established in 2018. This finding extends the northern range boundary of T. immigrans by almost 460 km. Using climatic niche modelling, we compared the climatic niche of T. immigrans in Europe with that of T. caespitum based on confirmed observations from 2006 to 2019. T. immigrans and T. caespitum had a 13% niche overlap, with T. immigrans showing stronger occurrence in warmer and drier areas compared to T. caespitum. Mapping the environmental niches onto geographic space identified several, currently uninhabited, areas as climatically suitable for the establishment of T. immigrans. Tetramorium immigrans was sampled almost three times as often in areas with artificial surfaces compared to T. caespitum, suggesting that T. immigrans may not be native to all of Europe and is being accidentally introduced by humans. Overall, citizen scientists collected data on ants closer to cities and harbours than scientists did and had a stronger bias towards areas of human disturbance. This increased sampling effort in areas of likely introduction of exotic species naturally increases the likelihood of discovering species sooner, making citizen science an excellent tool for exotic species monitoring, as long as trained scientists are involved in the identification process.

Student participation in a coastal water quality citizen science project and its contribution to the conceptual and procedural learning of chemistry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luís Araújo ◽  
Carla Morais ◽  
João Paiva
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Coastal Water ◽  
Student Participation ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Procedural Learning ◽  
Science Project ◽  
Coastal Water Quality ◽  
Chemistry Learning ◽  
Citizen Science Project

The active participation of citizens in scientific research, through citizen science, has been proven successful. However, knowledge on the potential of citizen science within formal chemistry learning, at the conceptual...

Somewhere over the Rainbow

2019 ◽  
pp. 186-190
Author(s):  
Nicholas Mee
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence ◽  
Telescope Array ◽  
Science Project ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Radio Signals ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Citizen Science Project

Frank Drake devised the Drake equation to estimate the number of advanced civilizations in the galaxy with the aim of gathering support for SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). The earliest attempts to detect radio signals from extraterrestrials date back to the 1960s. Paul Allen has funded the Allen Telescope, Array which is dedicated to searching for such signals. When complete it will include 350 radio dishes. The citizen science project SETI@Home allows anyone with a home PC to participate in analysing the data amassed by the SETI project.

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