Using a citizen science program to monitor coral reef biodiversity through space and time

Abstract

Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystems of the ocean and they provide notable ecosystem services. Large-scale monitoring is necessary to understand the effects of anthropogenic threats and environmental change on coral reef habitats and citizen science programs can support this effort. Seventy-two marine taxa found in the Red Sea were surveyed by non-specialist volunteers during their regular recreational dives, using SCUBA Tourism for the Environment (STE) questionnaires. Over a period of 4-years, 7,125 divers completed 17,905 questionnaires (14,487 diving hours). Validation trials were carried out to assess the data reliability (Cronbach's alpha [50 % in 83.6 % of validation trials), showing that non-specialists performed similarly to conservation volunteer divers on accurate transect. The resulting sightings-based index showed that the biodiversity status did not change significantly within the project time scale, but revealed spatial trends across areas subjected to different protection strategies. Higher biodiversity values were found in Sharm el-Sheikh, within protected Ras Mohammed National Park and Tiran Island, than in the less-regulated Hurghada area. Citizen science programs like STEproject represent novel, reliable, cost-effective models for biodiversity monitoring, which can be sustained and embedded within long-term monitoring programmes, and extended to include a wider geographical scale, while increasing the environmental education of the public.Communicated by Angus Jackson.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

How Does the Diversity of Divers Affect the Design of Citizen Science Projects?

“…Dive duration in our study for recreational divers (47.3 ± 36.8 min) is slightly lower than reported for Philippines (56 ± 6.4 min; Vianna et al, 2014), Florida (54.2 min; Camp and Fraser, 2012), or in the Red Sea at Sharm el Sheik (48.6 min; Branchini et al, 2015), and more similar to that found in the Mediterranean Sea (44-48 min;Terrón-Sigler et al, 2016). The shorter dive time in our study might be explained by the comparatively low water temperature in the Humboldt Current System (Thiel et al, 2007), which naturally reduces the amount of time divers are able to spend in the water (Stang and Wiener, 1970).…”

Science for the Future: The Use of Citizen Science in Marine Research and Conservation

“…Despite some background experience being required in these instances for safety, none of the reviewed projects required participants to have any educational background, as they become trained and therefore specialists in the task required (Hobson 2000). Furthermore, some projects allow participant development to a level whereby they can become project organizers, coordinators, or even lead authors in scientific publications and/or identification guides (see Bowen et al 2011 for an example of an identification guide authored by citizen scientists). An example includes Seasearch (available at www.seasearch.org.uk) that coordinates general surveys that all participants may undertake, as well as a 'surveyor' level survey for participants that undertake advanced training, and 'specialist projects' created by marine biology experts and experienced volunteers.…”

CIGESMED for divers: Establishing a citizen science initiative for the mapping and monitoring of coralligenous assemblages in the Mediterranean Sea

“…Experience from the field trials and past CS projects showed that knowledge exchange between citizen scientists and researchers promotes trust and facilitates application of marine conservation schemes (Arvanitidis et al 2011, Thiel et al 2014). Participation to monitoring CS projects can itself have a positive effect on recreational participants’ knowledge level and environmental awareness (Branchini et al 2014). Establishing communication with users is also important for the optimization of the protocol and reporting of possible bugs in the website.…”

“…Although a plethora of CS projects deal with tropical coral reefs (e.g. Hodgson 2001, Marshall et al 2012, Branchini et al 2014) at a global scale, none has focused on their Mediterranean counterparts.…”