scholarly journals Malleefowl Leipoa ocellata incubation mounds as habitat for other vertebrates

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 99-106
Author(s):  
Heather Neilly ◽  
◽  
David Wells ◽  
Tim Pascoe ◽  
Craig Gillespie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Camera Trap ◽  
Ecosystem Engineers ◽  
Insectivorous Birds ◽  
Invertebrate Prey ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Visitation Rates ◽  
The Mean

Ecosystem engineers change the availability of resources for other species by forming new habitat or modifying existing habitat but, despite the diversity of avian ecosystem engineers, 80% of current literature focuses on mammals and invertebrates. Malleefowl Leipoa ocellata build large incubation mounds of soil and leaf-litter that are likely to provide habitat for invertebrates and vertebrates but use of their mounds by other vertebrates has never been quantified. Here, we examine vertebrate fauna visitation rates at Malleefowl mounds and non-mounds using camera-trap data collected by two citizen science projects. From 2012 to 2018, 20 active Malleefowl mounds and 16 non-mound sites were monitored over 31,913 hours and 225,144 hours, respectively. In total, we identified visits by 1724 birds, reptiles and mammals from 36 species. The mean number of vertebrate visits per 1000 hours of surveillance was around one and a half times and species richness five times that at mounds compared with non-mounds. Malleefowl mounds may enhance the availability of invertebrate prey for insectivorous birds and mammals, provide a favourable microclimate for reptiles to thermoregulate, and be signalling/social communication locations. Our results show that further research is warranted and suggest that conservation of Malleefowl may be important not only for the Malleefowl itself, but also for a suite of mallee birds and reptiles.

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.

Citizens of the future

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-144
Author(s):  
Colin Milburn ◽  
Melissa Wills
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Responsible Innovation ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Technical Innovations ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Utopian Thought

Over the last decade, a variety of ‘citizen science’ projects have turned to video games and other tools of gamification to enrol participants and to encourage public engagement with scientific research questions. This article examines the significance of sf in the field of citizen science, focusing on projects such as Eyewire, Be a Martian!, Sea Hero Quest, Play to Cure: Genes in Space, Forgotten Island and the ‘Project Discovery’ experiments in EVE Online. The sf stories that frame these projects often allegorise the neoliberal assumptions and immaterial labour practices of citizen science, even while seeming to hide or disguise them. At the same time, the fictional frames enable players to imagine social and technical innovations that, while not necessarily achievable in the present, nevertheless point to a future of democratic science, social progress and responsible innovation - blips of utopian thought from the zones of crowdsourced labour.

scholarly journals The role of citizen science in addressing grand challenges in food and agriculture research

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1891) ◽  
pp. 20181977 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. F. Ryan ◽  
N. L. Adamson ◽  
A. Aktipis ◽  
L. K. Andersen ◽  
R. Austin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Communities ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Food Science ◽  
Grand Challenges ◽  
Food Research ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Agriculture And Food

The power of citizen science to contribute to both science and society is gaining increased recognition, particularly in physics and biology. Although there is a long history of public engagement in agriculture and food science, the term ‘citizen science’ has rarely been applied to these efforts. Similarly, in the emerging field of citizen science, most new citizen science projects do not focus on food or agriculture. Here, we convened thought leaders from a broad range of fields related to citizen science, agriculture, and food science to highlight key opportunities for bridging these overlapping yet disconnected communities/fields and identify ways to leverage their respective strengths. Specifically, we show that (i) citizen science projects are addressing many grand challenges facing our food systems, as outlined by the United States National Institute of Food and Agriculture, as well as broader Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations Development Programme, (ii) there exist emerging opportunities and unique challenges for citizen science in agriculture/food research, and (iii) the greatest opportunities for the development of citizen science projects in agriculture and food science will be gained by using the existing infrastructure and tools of Extension programmes and through the engagement of urban communities. Further, we argue there is no better time to foster greater collaboration between these fields given the trend of shrinking Extension programmes, the increasing need to apply innovative solutions to address rising demands on agricultural systems, and the exponential growth of the field of citizen science.

scholarly journals Affordances and tensions in recording bird observations: how coordinators and volunteers perceive and experience citizen science in birding

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (02) ◽  
pp. A10
Author(s):  
Helen Verploegen ◽  
Wessel Ganzevoort ◽  
Riyan van den Born
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Data Sharing ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Future Design ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
The Future

Digital citizen science projects differ greatly in their goals and design. Tensions arise when coordinators' design choices and conceptions of citizen science conflict with users' motivations and expectations. In this paper, we use a combination of qualitative methods to gain new insights into the ways citizen science is understood and implemented digitally. This includes a study into the affordances of two citizen science portals for bird observations, and qualitative interviews with users and coordinators of the portals. This reveals tensions related to data sharing, community hierarchies, and communicated expectations. Awareness of these tensions can benefit the future design of online citizen science projects.

scholarly journals Long-term species richness-abundance dynamics in relation to species departures and arrivals in wintering urban bird assemblages

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jukka Suhonen ◽  
Jukka Jokimäki
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Total Abundance ◽  
Bird Species Richness ◽  
Abundance Dynamics ◽  
Local Species Richness ◽  
Local Species ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Urban Bird ◽  
Number Of Individuals

Abstract Temporal dynamics of local assemblages depend on the species richness and the total abundance of individuals as well as local departure and arrival rates of species. We used urban bird survey data collected from the same 31 study plots and methods during three winters (1991–1992; 1999–2000 and 2009–2010) to analyze the temporal relationship between bird species richness and total number of individuals (abundance). We also evaluated local departures and arrivals of species in each assemblage. In total, 13,812 individuals of 35 species were detected. The temporal variation in bird species richness followed the variation in the total number of individuals. The numbers of local departure and arrival events were similar. Also, the mean number of individuals of the recently arrived species (8.6) was almost the same as the mean number of individuals of the departed species (8.2). Risk of species departure was inversely related to number of individuals. Local species richness increased by one species when the total abundance of individuals increased by around 125 individuals and vice versa. Our results highlight the important role of local population departures and arrivals in determining the local species richness-abundance dynamics in human-dominated landscapes. Local species richness patterns depend on the total number of individuals as well as both the departure-arrival dynamics of individual species as well as the dynamics of all the species together. Our results support the more individuals hypothesis, which suggests that individual-rich assemblages have more species.

scholarly journals Citizen Science, Communication, and Expertise: An Examination of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center's Plastics Project

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Wehner
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Marine Debris ◽  
Communication Media ◽  
Marine Science ◽  
Project Staff ◽  
Educational Benefits ◽  
Science Projects

Citizen science projects have the opportunity to educate participants about environmental issues being studied first-hand and often in the field. The Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s Plastics Project utilized volunteers to collect and sort through samples of sand on beaches to estimate the abundance of plastic marine debris on beaches throughout the Puget Sound of Washington State. Volunteers were surveyed to determine if educational benefits were evident, if participants were educating others and with what frequency, what communication media were used and preferred, and who participants identified as experts. All participants reported being better educated about plastic marine and most reported changes in their consumer behavior. Participants who educated others on a regular basis also attended environmental and plastic marine debris-focused events, and interacted with experts regularly. No other demographic variables examined were able to distinguish more active educators from less active. Participants used and preferred email and in-person communication media while social media and postal mail were among the least utilized. Participants identified a wide array of experts, including university scientists and Plastics Project staff. Citizen science projects may be beneficial at inducing consumer behavior changes and educating participants, and should take care to explore lectures and other in-person communication approaches to increase opportunities for learning. Participants’ wide perception of expertise should be taken advantage of to increase opportunities for participant-expert interaction and address participant questions and concerns.

scholarly journals Can citizen science analysis of camera trap data be used to study reproduction? Lessons from Snapshot Serengeti program

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thel Lucie ◽  
Chamaillé-Jammes Simon ◽  
Keurinck Léa ◽  
Catala Maxime ◽  
Packer Craig ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Camera Trap ◽  
Camera Traps ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
List Type ◽  
Breeding Phenology ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Morphological Criteria ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Trained Observers

AbstractEcologists increasingly rely on camera trap data to estimate a wide range of biological parameters such as occupancy, population abundance or activity patterns. Because of the huge amount of data collected, the assistance of non-scientists is often sought after, but an assessment of the data quality is a prerequisite to their use.We tested whether citizen science data from one of the largest citizen science projects - Snapshot Serengeti - could be used to study breeding phenology, an important life-history trait. In particular, we tested whether the presence of juveniles (less than one or 12 months old) of three ungulate species in the Serengeti: topi Damaliscus jimela, kongoni Alcelaphus buselaphus and Grant’s gazelle Nanger granti could be reliably detected by the “naive” volunteers vs. trained observers. We expected a positive correlation between the proportion of volunteers identifying juveniles and their effective presence within photographs, assessed by the trained observers.We first checked the agreement between the trained observers for age classes and species and found a good agreement between them (Fleiss’ κ > 0.61 for juveniles of less than one and 12 month(s) old), suggesting that morphological criteria can be used successfully to determine age. The relationship between the proportion of volunteers detecting juveniles less than a month old and their actual presence plateaued at 0.45 for Grant’s gazelle and reached 0.70 for topi and 0.56 for kongoni. The same relationships were however much stronger for juveniles younger than 12 months, to the point that their presence was perfectly detected by volunteers for topi and kongoni.Volunteers’ classification allows a rough, moderately accurate, but quick, sorting of photograph sequences with/without juveniles. Obtaining accurate data however appears more difficult. We discuss the limitations of using citizen science camera traps data to study breeding phenology, and the options to improve the detection of juveniles, such as the addition of aging criteria on the online citizen science platforms, or the use of machine learning.

scholarly journals Citizen Science in Human Medicine and the Use of Software-Systems: A Rapid Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jannik Schaaf ◽  
Michaela Neff ◽  
Joerg Scheidt ◽  
Michael Steglich ◽  
Holger Storf
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Rare Diseases ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Human Medicine ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Science Projects

Citizen science allows involving interested citizen in the entire research process in science. In the past, various citizen science projects have been performed in different research fields, especially in human medicine. We conducted a rapid scoping review to determine which citizen projects in human medicine already used software-based systems to engage citizens in the research process. Furthermore, we analysed which of the software-systems are publicly available, especially in the field of rare diseases, how citizens can participate using those tools and whether the usability was rated by the participants. To get insights for our project “SelEe (Seltene Erkrankungen bürgerwissenschaftlich erforschen)”, which is a citizen science project in rare diseases funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), we aimed to identify projects in this research area. We searched PubMed for articles between 2011 and 2021 and performed a title- and abstract screening, as well as a full-text screening. Finally, 12 studies were identified in different research areas like public health, genetic research and infectious diseases. We could not identify any study directly associated with rare diseases. None of the studies investigated usability of those systems. Furthermore, five publicly available citizen science software-systems were identified. Three of them are general systems that allow creating, operating, managing citizen science projects and including citizens in the research process. In further investigations, we will check and compare these systems, if they are appropriate for use in our SelEe-project.

scholarly journals Exploring citizen science in post-socialist space: Uncovering its hidden character in the Czech Republic

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbora Duží ◽  
Robert Osman ◽  
Jiří Lehejček ◽  
Eva Nováková ◽  
Pavel Taraba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Representation ◽  
Science Projects ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
High Level ◽  
Search Approach ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract Citizen science is a relatively new phenomenon in the Czech Republic and currently a general overview of existing citizen science projects is not available. This presents the challenge to uncover the ‘hidden’ citizen science landscapes. The main objective of this paper is to explore the (public) representation of citizen science (CS) projects and to describe their heterogeneity. The study aims to answer the question of what type of projects in the Czech Republic meet the definition of citizen science. Based on a specific methodological data-base search approach, we compiled a set of CS projects (N = 73). During the classification process, two general citizen science categories were identified. The first group (N = 46) consists of “pure” CS projects with a prevalence towards the natural sciences, principally ornithology, and thus corresponding to general European trends. Citizens usually participate in such research in the form of data collection and basic interpretation, and a high level of cooperation between academia and NGOs was detected. The second group of “potential” CS projects (N = 27) entails various forms of public participation in general, frequently coordinated by NGOs. Based on these results, we discuss the position of citizen science in the Czech Republic, including socially-oriented citizen science. Further research is strongly encouraged to achieve a more in-depth insight into this social phenomenon.

scholarly journals An assessment of the factors determining rotifer assemblage in river-lake systems: the effects of seasonality and habitat

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Moacyr Serafim-Júnior ◽  
Gilmar Perbiche-Neves ◽  
Fabio Lansac-Toha
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Aquatic Macrophytes ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Ecological Attributes ◽  
Lake System ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Lake Systems

Zooplankton exhibit several trends of variation in space and time, and these trends can be more evident in natural environments without anthropic perturbations. Examples of anthropic factors are climate change, eutrophication and construction of reservoirs. This study evaluated the influence of three factors – seasonality, type of environment and the presence of aquatic macrophytes – on various ecological attributes of rotifers in a river-lake system located in the Paraná River floodplain. Monthly samplings were conducted during 1993 and 1994. The mean species richness per sample was 60 species. The seasonality and the type of environment influenced the ecological attributes of rotifer assemblages, while the presence or absence of aquatic macrophytes did not. Species richness was highest in the lake system and during the months when water levels were low. Multivariate analysis indicates a small group of species associated with the low water-level phase. In contrast, many species were associated with high water levels or increasing water levels. The seasonal variation of hydrological cycle and the type of environment are the most important factors for rotifer structure in natural conditions.

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