Making Waves: Marine Citizen Science for Impact

Schläppy, Marie‐Lise; Loder, Jennifer; Salmond, Jodi; Lea, A M; Dean, Angela J.; Roelfsema, Christiaan M

doi:10.3389/fmars.2017.00146

Cited by 38 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The engagement of citizens not only provides more data needed in natural resource management, but it also closes the gap between scientists and citizens [35].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Ocean Reflectance Acquired by Citizen Scientists Robust for Science Applications?

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Monitoring the dynamics of the productivity of ocean water and how it affects fisheries is essential for management. It requires data on proper spatial and temporal scales, which can be provided by operational ocean colour satellites. However, accurate productivity data from ocean colour imagery is only possible with proper validation of, for instance, the atmospheric correction applied to the images. In situ water reflectance data are of great value due to the requirements for validation and reflectance is traditionally measured with the Surface Acquisition System (SAS) solar tracker system. Recently, an application for mobile devices, "HydroColor", was developed to acquire water reflectance data. We examined the accuracy of the water reflectance measures acquired by HydroColor with the help of both trained and untrained citizens, under different environmental conditions. We used water reflectance data acquired by SAS solar tracker and by HydroColor onboard the BC ferry Queen of Oak Bay from July to September 2016. Monte Carlo permutation F tests were used to assess whether the differences between measurements collected by SAS solar tracker and HydroColor with citizens were significant. Results showed that citizen HydroColor measurements were accurate in red, green, and blue bands, as well as red/green and red/blue ratios under different environmental conditions. In addition, we found that a trained citizen obtained higher quality HydroColor data especially under clear skies at noon.

show abstract

“…The engagement of citizens not only provides more data needed in natural resource management, but it also closes the gap between scientists and citizens [35].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Ocean Reflectance Acquired by Citizen Scientists Robust for Science Applications?

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Improving funding opportunities can enhance the likelihood of producing accurate and pertinent data for marine conservation. Overcoming funding challenges is critical to enhance the capacity of marine citizen science and its social and environmental impacts (Schläppy et al 2017).…”

Section: Project Logistics: Community Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social license through citizen science: a tool for marine conservation

Kelly¹,

Fleming²,

Pecl³

et al. 2019

E&S

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Active and meaningful public engagement is necessary to foster informed and publicly accepted natural resource management. Citizen science presents an important avenue by which to achieve such engagement. Citizen science is the active involvement of the public in science to address scientific questions, often of common interest or concern, by collecting and analyzing data, and publishing and communicating science via diverse outlets. Here, we explore whether and how citizen science can also play a role in generating social license for marine conservation, using European marine citizen science as a case study. Social license is a concept that reflects community views and expectations on the use and management of natural resources. To date, social license in the marine space has largely focused on public perceptions of industrial and extractive uses of the marine environment, and limited research has explored social license for conservation. We highlight important linkages between social license and citizen science that can work synergistically to support conservation. We use in-depth qualitative interviews and a semiquantitative online survey of marine citizen science coordinators to investigate how citizen science can play a role in enhancing social license and the mechanisms through which it can occur. Our findings indicate that citizen science can enhance social license by improving ocean literacy and marine citizenship. We demonstrate that marine citizen science has considerable potential to generate and develop social license for marine conservation in Europe and elsewhere.Ecology and Society 24(1): 16 https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol24/iss1/art16/

show abstract

“…Global citizen science organisations such as Reef Check (http://www.reefcheck.org) and CoralWatch (https://www.coralwatch.org) empower citizens to carry out visual surveys of coral health, benthic habitat composition, anthropogenic impacts and invertebrate and fish biodiversity on coral reefs. This information is collated into global publicly-accessible databases that contribute to research, management and conservation practices [21-24]. In addition to generating scientific data, citizen science programs improve community knowledge about ecosystem function and threats, thus enhancing public stewardship of those ecosystems [18,22,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen scientists highlight conservation value of a small subtropical reef, Flinders Reef, southeast Queensland, Australia

Grol

Vercelloni

Kenyon

et al. 2019

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Subtropical reefs are unique ecosystems that require effective management – informed by regular ecological monitoring – to foster resilience to environmental changes. Resources to conduct monitoring are limited, and citizen science can complement data from local management agencies. Here, citizen science efforts document the ecological status of a subtropical reef, Flinders Reef, Moreton Bay Marine Park, Australia. Ecological surveys, following Reef Check Australia and CoralWatch protocols, were conducted by 44 trained volunteers. Ten sites at Flinders Reef were surveyed at 5-10 m depth in autumn and spring. Additionally, underwater photos and depth surveys were integrated with satellite imagery to create a detailed habitat map. Coral cover across sites ranged between 14% and 67%. Branching corals dominated the site with 67% cover and showed 89% dissimilarity in coral community composition compared to other sites. Coral community composition was mostly explained by spatial variation, of which 16% was influenced by wave exposure. Observed reef impacts including physical damage, unknown scars and coral disease were three times lower than studies on more accessible reefs in Moreton Bay Marine Park. Invertebrate abundance was relatively low (6.65 individuals per 100 m2), with the most abundant groups observed being sea urchins (Diademaspp.), gastropods (Drupellaspp.) and anemones. Butterflyfish were recorded at every site and were the most abundant fish group surveyed. Findings highlight the healthy condition of Flinders Reef, likely influenced by its offshore location and protection status as a ‘no-take’ zone. This study demonstrates that increasing the current 500m radius protection zone by a further 500m could double the protected area of coral, offering potential further conservation benefits. The findings resulting from the ecological data analysis and created benthic habitat map, provide an example of how citizen science based projects can assist marine park authorities and the public in ongoing conservation efforts.

show abstract

Making Waves: Marine Citizen Science for Impact

Cited by 38 publications

References 15 publications

Is Ocean Reflectance Acquired by Citizen Scientists Robust for Science Applications?

Is Ocean Reflectance Acquired by Citizen Scientists Robust for Science Applications?

Social license through citizen science: a tool for marine conservation

Citizen scientists highlight conservation value of a small subtropical reef, Flinders Reef, southeast Queensland, Australia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About