Aligning citizen science with best practice: Threatened species conservation in Australia

Abstract

Well-designed citizen science projects can improve the capacity of the scientific community to detect and understand declines in threatened species, and with the emergence of frameworks to guide good design, there is an opportunity to test whether projects are aligned with best practice. We assessed the current landscape of citizen science projects for threatened species conservation via a content analysis of the online communique of citizen science projects across Australia. Only 2% of projects stated clear research questions, although approximately 86% had implied project objectives aimed at threatened species conservation. Most projects were focused on field-based monitoring activities with half using structured ecological survey methods. Most reviewed projects (65%) shared data with open access biodiversity databases and the vast majority use at least one social media platform to communicate with potential and existing participants (up to 81%). Approximately 50% present citizen-sourced data summaries or publications on their websites. Our study shows there is a very strong foundation for public participation in threatened species conservation activities in Australia, yet there is scope to further integrate the principles of citizen science best practice. Improved integration of these principles will likely yield better outcomes for threatened species as well as for the citizen scientists themselves.

Learning from successful long-term citizen science programs

“…In recent years, citizen science researchers have made considerable efforts to distil key principles and best practice recommendations to promote innovative citizen science projects (e.g. Hecker et al 2018;Robinson et al 2019;Steven et al 2019). With a view to building on these studies, we suggest five key factors that are critical in enabling meaningful long-term citizen science programs.…”

“…Developing an overarching vision of monitoring activities that articulate project purpose, goals and objectives is critical to citizen science program persistence (Steven et al 2019). Without strategic planning, long-term citizen science projects can lead to 'monitoring for the sake of monitoring' (Conrad and Hilchey 2011), which may discourage longerterm commitment and contribute to volunteer burnout (Byron and Curtis 2002).…”

A social media fix to the Wallacean shortfall

“…With increasing popularity of social media, and wider availability of digital cameras, many people post biodiversity photographs on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr [17][18][19] representing a source of biodiversity data not customarily indexed in GBIF. Previous work has demonstrated the wealth of photographs on social media of global biodiversity, including many threatened species [20][21] . Among a broad array of social media providers, Facebook has become the largest network in the world 22 .…”

Citizen science and community action provide insights on a threatened species: nest box use by the brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa)

“…Across a 14-year period, the Regent Honeyeater Project in north-east Victoria attracted the support of over 17 000 volunteers to restore 1060 ha of habitat on 95% of farms in the local area, to the benefit of many species (Thomas 2009). 'Citizen science' projects, where scientific research is conducted wholly or partly by community members, is growing in popularity amongst such groups (Steven et al 2019). Community groups are encouraged, and may have an ethical obligation, to monitor the outcomes of their conservation work.…”