Guest Post by Katie Taylor (@YoPros4Wildlife)
Critical applications of citizen science include raising awareness of wildlife conservation issues and furthering research efforts. Conservation-themed citizen science projects can not only lead to greater scientific insights into conservation, but can also further engage people in conservation.
Citizen Science Coordinator and volunteers spot a frog in the pond. Photo Credit: NPS Photo by Ivie Metzen/Flickr.
Increasing Awareness and Learning
Utilizing citizen science projects to further wildlife conservation not only provides a greater scientific understanding of conservation issues, but also fosters awareness and learning of both the scientific process and conservation.
Citizen science conservation projects can create more positive attitudes and behaviors toward science and conservation (Toomey & Domroese 2013). Anne Toomey and Margret Domroese (2013) developed the citizen science-conservation behavior feedback model, which invokes an iterative process where participants have positive feelings about the work they’ve done, thus leading to more positive attitudes and conservation-focused behaviors, which in turn motivates them to participate in additional conservation-focused projects.[1] For volunteers to understand what their efforts will mean for the future of conservation, researchers need to engage with their participants and explain the goals of the project.
Citizen Science & Youth
To advance conservation goals, it is critical to engage youth in citizen science projects. Including youth in citizen science projects allows them to feel empowered in their ability to contribute to science. Through citizen science experiences, youth have the potential to learn how to rigorously collect data, connect to the land, and recognize the roles they play in shaping the ecosystem. Beyond this, youth involvement in science learning can build confidence in their scientific, writing, and speaking abilities, and can foster interest in scientific studies.
“Recording Mountain Goat Surveys, Siyeh Pass (Citizen Science)” by GlacierNPS is marked under CC PDM 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
Technological advancements have made it easier for people to get involved in citizen science projects. Wildlife camera trap images allow for youth and adults alike to traverse the Serengeti and identify images with wildebeest or help Panthera to identify big cats caught on camera all around the world just by logging on to the Internet.
Internet-based citizen science projects foster curiosity and present a simple, free and exciting way to engage people in wildlife conservation efforts. Within Internet-based projects like Snapshot Serengeti or CATalogue, users can view camera trap images uploaded to the database and identify whether or not a certain animal is in that image. These identified images help researchers track a variety of species’ movements. As we continue on into the future and as technological advancements improve, it will be amazing to see ways citizen science projects expand to include even more ways for volunteers to participate even from their own homes!
Screenshot of the Snapshot Serengeti. Citizen scientists view camera trap photos and identify any wildlife species observed. Image Credit: http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-snapshot-serengeti-02891.html
On November 5th at 4 pm EST, I (@YoPros4Wildlife) hosted a #CitSciChat panel of key experts who will discuss their journeys in citizen science, pros and cons of different projects, as well as how to increase racial and gender diversity among participants.
The panelists included: Michelle Toshack of Adventure Scientists, Sean O’Connor of BSCS Science Learning, and Anne Haywood of Mountain to Sea Education.
Michelle Toshack is a Senior Manager of Volunteer Experience at Adventure Scientists, located in Montana. She trains and manages volunteers while also overseeing their data collection on projects. She began her journey in citizen science in 2008 when her butterfly conservation study evolved into the Cascades Butterfly Project where volunteers helped to inventory butterfly species.
Sean O’Connor is a program manager for citizen science at BSCS Science Learning in Colorado. Before joining the BSCS Science Learning team, he was a citizen science program manager at the National Geographic Society. Sean also is the product manager of a citizen science technology called FieldScope that is used by a number of wildlife conservation organizations. FieldScope is an interactive online platform that allows project managers to consolidate citizen scientists’ data collection, resources, and access visualization and mapping tools for participant and researcher use. Participants of these projects are able to easily and conveniently upload their data and observations to a shared project database.
Anne Haywood is the Director of Mountain to Sea Education in Florida and a former National Geographic Fellow who is dedicated to connecting youth education to the natural world through interdisciplinary programs, exploration, and citizen science.
These panelists have diverse experiences in the citizen science realm, which provided a fascinating question and answer session about how this field of science interacts with and contributes to wildlife conservation.
Selected Posts from #CitSciChat
Join me on 11/5 at 4 pm EST for a #CitSciChat with expert citizen scientists about #wildlife #Conservation awareness through #citizenscience! Learn more here: https://t.co/8B0FDfE4gf pic.twitter.com/X87S4At5sX
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 4, 2020
Panelists for the 11/5 #CitSciChat include Sean O'Connor @BSCS_FieldScope, Anne Haywood @geo_annieph, and @MichelleToshack. Learn more about our topic for the #CitSciChat here: https://t.co/8B0FDfE4gf pic.twitter.com/6zhQnDr0w5
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 4, 2020
Follow along on our #CitSciChat about wildlife conservation awareness through #citizenscience today at 4 pm EST! As I introduce our panelists, feel free to give them a follow! pic.twitter.com/sBcaHqIQDC
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
Panelist Sean O'Connor is a program mgr for #CitizenScience at @BSCSorg. He is also product mgr of @BSCS_FieldScope, an interactive online platform 4 data collection, resources, & access visualization and mapping tools for #citsci & researcher use.#CitSciChat #CitizenScience
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
Panelist @MichelleToshack is Sr. Mgr of Volunteer Experience at @AdvScientists. She trains & manages volunteers & data collection on projects. She previously worked on a #butterfly #conservation study that turned into a #CitizenScience project ?#wildlife #CitSciChat
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
Panelist Anne Haywood @geo_annieph is Director of Mountain to Sea Education in FL & former @NatGeo Fellow who is dedicated to connecting youth education to the natural world through interdisciplinary programs, #exploration and #CitizenScience. #CitSciChat #wildlife #conservation
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
Panel format: I'll tweet out a question beginning w Q1, Q2, etc. & the panelists will begin each answer w A1, A2, etc. I'll leave about 5 mins. per question for panelists & to chime in before moving on to the next Q. Feel free to chime in during the panel! #CitSciChat
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
Q1. How did you begin your journey into #CitizenScience? #CitSciChat
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
A1 – When FieldScope was first built @natgeo, I was engaged in #bioblitz programs with the public and classrooms in parks and also in water quality monitoring in the Chesapeake Bay region. I love supporting people connecting with our amazing world through science!
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
A1 I started working for the North Cascades National Park in 2010 in Washington for the Cascades Butterfly Project, looking at diversity of butterflies and wildflowers in subalpine meadows #CitSciChat
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
I first learned about cit sci doing education with annual National Park Service/ NatGeo BioBlitzes, from 2006-2016 celebrating 100 years of NPS. These showed how the public could help with a species inventory of an area, and students collected and analyzed real-time data.
— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
Q2. What's the most challenging aspect of creating a #CitizenScience #CitSci project? #CitSciChat
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
Making sure you have a good plan for engaging with participants. Know how you will communicate and show contributors that they are valued. And of course a good study design that will get you the data you want AND that volunteers can be successful with.
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
A2 – Keeping projects running long term! As a #citsci project gets up and running, volunteers will keep engaging more and more in the issues and therefore there are higher volunteer retention rates. So the longer a project can be funded and managed, the better. #CitSciChat
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
A2. I can’t speak from that experience, as I’ve worked with finding ways to extend projects others have created. I would imagine it’s a challenging step for a scientist to translate their work to involving large numbers of people. But the benefits can be huge!
— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
Q3. How do we encourage #Participation from people who typically wouldn’t be interested?#CitSciChat #conservation #wildlife
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
A3. And I hear often from educators about students who aren’t “into” science but get excited because a citizen science project is REAL. That’s a big incentive for teachers to give CitSci projects a try.
— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
A3- Community building is challenging during COVID, but at @AdvScientists we are working hard to connect volunteers with each other via digital means. Also, we believe that learning and caring deeply about the conservation issues is the best success to #participation. #CitSciChat
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
Q3 – Meet them where they are at and demonstrate the need – why do you need this data? How is it important to you and why should they care? I think people are often willing to help but you need to make a clear ask of them.
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
Q4. How do we increase #Diversity in #CitizenScience projects?#CitSciChat #conservation #wildlife
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
A4 – Reducing barriers to participation, such as providing tools and resources so that community science can be inclusive. Every #CitizenScience project needs to take a deep look at their practices of inclusion, equity, and justice. #CitSciChat
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
A4. Girl Scouts working with SciStarter on the “Thinking Like A Citizen Scientist” badges is a great model that works anywhere. Scout troops choose a project that interests them, and they can participate in science in new ways. https://t.co/xbMS4MxrPE#SciStarter
— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
Q4 – Again, meeting people where they are at. I think you need to be intentional about which new audiences you want to connect with and then really consider what meeting them where they are at looks like.
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
Q5. Tell us about a project that was particularly successful at achieving its goals. Why was it so?#CitSciChat #citsci #CitizenScience #wildlife #conservation
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
Q5 – #frogwatch from AZA @zoos_aquariums has trained thousands of participants to connect with local wetlands to report on frog and toad calls. Their goal was to get a baseline of amphibians and to track population trends. Over 130,000 frog and toad calls have been recorded!
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
At @AdvScientists the #TimberTracking project involves volunteers collect tree samples to build chemical and genetic reference libraries for the US Forest Service. Volunteers have collected samples across the entire species ranges to combat illegal logging.
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
A5. iNaturalist has generated 53 million observations. Original goals were to build a global biodiversity dataset, but the goal of creating a social network for people who love nature invites anyone to participate. My favorite (hope it's ok to say that!)
— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
Q6. What elements of #citizenscience are essential for every project?#wildlife #citsci #CitSciChat
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
A6 – A direct tie to the outcome of the data so that citizen scientists feel connected to the science! Relationship building is also important. A study design that be translated easily. And a great data analyst to process the data! #CitSciChat
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
A6 – Fun! A #citizenscience project needs to be fun or rewarding – ideally both. How can the whole process or participation be fun. Or if it is something with more of a serious social or environmental justice aim, how can it also be rewarding – seeing the impact of the work, etc.
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
A6. Public engagement, plus clear guidance on how to participate and why it matters. Successful projects have communications from the science leads who interpret the results and keep volunteers engaged and energized. #CitSciChat
— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
Q7. Do you foresee #citizenscience becoming more accepted in the scientific #community as a rigorous way to collect data? Why or why not?#wildlife #CitSciChat #citsci
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
A7. Absolutely I do! Our tools are becoming better (digital platforms like ours, sensors technologies, AI, etc) and as a field we are learning more about how to best support participants in producing quality data. I think it’s only going up from here. It’s exciting!
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
A7 – With careful study design and management with an eye for QA/QC, then most definitely yes! @AdvScientists integrates data quality checks into the data collection app and monitor the data closely to correct initial mistakes. #CitSciChat #CitizenScience
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
A7. Science needs public participation to get data. Here in Miami I See Change makes it easy to report flooding and other impacts of sea level rise with photos, and AI will only make photo recognition more and more useful. We need science to action for urgent challenges
— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
Q8. Is it more effective to conduct smaller, local #citizenscience projects or large, #global projects to achieve a #conservation goal?#wildlife #CitSciChat #citsci
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
A8. Camera trap projects often focus in a small area, which I think helps people focus and envision how wildlife conservation management looks on the ground. Here’s one: https://t.co/g8fUcL7KuH#instant-wild #CitSciChat
— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
A8 – I think it depends on the outcome of the data. The conservation action of #CitizenScience should be implemented in the community where the data was collected. #CitSciChat
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
A8. If it’s a global phenomenon, I think it makes sense to go big! In a global community like @inaturalist you can carve out your own local projects. With our platform, we have examples of projects that are global and local and everything in between!
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
Q9. What are best practices for disseminating results for both small, local projects and large, global scale projects?#citizenscience #CitSciChat #citsci #wildlife #conservation
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
A9 – @AdvScientists project data is available for download through https://t.co/NHlrIn98dM so that other researchers can utilize these datasets. The #microplastics dataset has been downloaded by researches and government agencies across the world. #CitSciChat
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
A9. #visual – think easy to read and access maps and graphs. Translating results into other forms, like artistic representations and video stories. Translating the science and findings into compelling narratives. Sharing back with the community as often as possible.
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
A9. I like how all data on iNaturalist is explorable! And project-specific data exploring is really fun https://t.co/QJU6OrC2Bp
View the data in multiple ways. It also has a journal feature for updates and lets people join for ease of reaching out.— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
Q10. Do #citizenscience projects actually engage people and foster a sense of curiosity in youth?#wildlife #conservation #CitSciChat #citsci
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
A10. People engage people! Having the right “teacher” as a #citsci program lead, teacher, parent etc. Also the design of the tools and platforms matters. Use good interface and tool #design to keep hooking someone’s curiosity and their desire to contribute and learn more.
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
A10 – We survey volunteers at the end of projects, and the vast majority report they are more engaged in the issues of the #CitizenScience project compared to the start of their volunteer experience. So yes! #CitSciChat
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
A10. YES again. Parents always ask for more wildlife exploration opportunities like bioblitz events for their families. Students are visibly, deeply engaged exploring the wild species in their schoolyard. I find all of this really exciting! #bioblitz #citscichat
— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
Q11. What do you want #citizenscience to look like fifty years from now?#wildlife #conservation #citsci #CitSciChat
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
A11 – Ideally, #CitizenScience will be more accessible to diverse groups across the globe, with tangible results applied from the data collected. #CitSciChat
— Michelle Toshack (@MichelleToshack) November 5, 2020
A11. Oh my!! Hopefully it looks like people of all ages being scientifically literate and engaged en masse in the observation and stewardship of our planet and all its inhabitants. Utopic, I know 🙂 I think sensor and AI tech will be fabulous, too. And VR/AR! 🙂 #citscichat
— FieldScope (@BSCS_FieldScope) November 5, 2020
A11b. We will credit CitSci with helping to develop solutions to the world’s major challenges, plus a sustainable planet.#CitSciChat
— Anne Haywood (@geo_annieph) November 5, 2020
Thank you to all of our wonderful panelists today! It was great to hear all of your perspectives on #citizenscience and #wildlife #conservation #awareness!#CitSciChat pic.twitter.com/I942vx377H
— Endangered Species Protection Network (@YoPros4Wildlife) November 5, 2020
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[1] Toomey, A., & Domroese, M. (2013). Can citizen science lead to positive conservation attitudes and behaviors? Human Ecology Review, 20(1), 50-62. Retrieved October 30, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24707571
