Citizen science can improve conservation science, natural resource management, and environmental protection

TLDR: In this article, the authors describe the two interwoven paths by which citizen science can improve conservation efforts, natural resource management, and environmental protection, and describe the investments needed to create a citizen science program.

About: This article is published in Biological Conservation.The article was published on 2017-04-01 and is currently open access. It has received 646 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Science communication & Social science education.

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Fig. 3.Heat maps show the northwardmigration of the chimney swift as modeled by the eBird network. Darker colors indicate higher probabilities of finding the species (Courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology). The analysis is based onpresence-absence data from complete checklists collectedunder the “traveling count” and “stationary count” protocols from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2011within the conterminous United States. The species distributionmodelswere trainedusing one species at a time,with eachbased on1,533,267 checklistsmade across 238,865 unique locations within this area.

Fig. 1. The two pathways that citizen science can take to inform conservation, natural resource management, and environmental protection by acquiring scientific information and fostering direct (solid arrows) and indirect (dashed arrows) public input and engagement. Note that these two paths are not distinct but converge and can be mutually reinforcing, generating synergies between science and public input and engagement. The italicized text around the edge refers to the policy cycle: issue or problem identification produces a need; policy formulation addresses the issue; policy adoption points to a way of resolving the issue; policy implementation entails taking action; and policy evaluation assesses policy effectiveness and outcomes, initiating the next policy cycle.

Fig. 2. Survey responses on programobjectives (top graphic), and level of government atwhich data have been used to develop, change, or enforce a policy or regulation (bottom graphic). Inset A (bottom graphic): geographic scope of monitoring programs. Inset B (bottom graphic): distribution of program ages.

Table 1 Examples of citizen science projects/programs used to meet needs for science and public input/engagement common to many natural resource and environmental organizations.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What are the future works in "Citizen science can improve conservation science, natural resource management, and environmental protection" ?

Citizen science is not a panacea, and further research is needed to better understand how citizen science can build understanding and deliver positive outcomes. However, citizen science does represent a promising option for tackling serious challenges in the fields of conservation biology, natural resource management, and environmental protection. Citizen science increases the potential for serendipitous knowledge discovery and creates information that goes into policy formulation, planning, and management activities at various levels of government. 

Q2. What are the contributions mentioned in the paper "Citizen science can improve conservation science, natural resource management, and environmental protection" ?

McKinley et al. this paper describe how citizen science can improve conservation outcomes by building scientific knowledge, informing policy formulation, and inspiring public action. 

Q3. What is the greatest potential for synergies?

Perhaps the greatest potential for synergies is when citizen science contributes to an adaptive management process, which often engages a variety of stakeholders and the public. 

Q4. What are the main reasons for the need for investments in citizen science?

Investments are needed in shared resources, particularly tools for planning and carrying out citizen science projects, and in platforms for fostering communication across projects and disciplines. 

Q5. What can citizen science do to help reduce conflict?

By spreading scientific knowledge and engagingmore people in policy formulation, citizen science can help reach solutions that lead to better environmental and social outcomes and avoid unnecessary conflict. 

Q6. What are the tools needed for citizen science projects?

The tools needed depend on a project's goals, technology, information management systems, data policies and guidelines, and communication systems. 

Q7. What is the common way to engage people in decision making?

They can engage people in decisionmaking processes by increasing firsthand understanding of conservation or environmental issues and encouraging participants to become more responsive to the issues they care about (Zerbe and Wilderman, 2010). 

Q8. What is the role of citizen science in decision making?

Citizen science can also provide the critical information that decisionmakers need to act; in some cases, it can also shorten the time from data collection to decisionmaking. 

Q9. What are the main reasons for the difficulty of adaptive management?

Despite its utility, adaptive management can be difficult to implement because of time constraints, lack of funding, and other limitations. 

Q10. What is the role of citizen science in promoting a richer, more productive public dialogue?

In turn, conservation scientists, natural resource managers, and environmental organizations receive input from volunteers, providing them with a better understanding of public priorities and social contexts and thereby contributing to a richer, more productive public dialogue (Cooper et al., 2007; Kapoor, 2001; Stepenuck and Green, 2015).3.4.1. 

Q11. What is the way to evaluate a project?

The evaluation systems can be internal or external to a project or organization, but ideally the results feed back into the project through an adaptive management system and improve the project's implementation. 

Q12. What is the way to engage the public in decisionmaking?

Citizen science is only one of many ways of engaging the public in decisionmaking processes and environmental stewardship, and it is not always the best way. 

Q13. What are the two pathways for citizen science to help to address conservation challenges?

Citizen science can help to addressmajor conservation challenges by (1) enabling science that might not otherwise be feasible because of scale or for other practical reasons, and (2) better engaging the public in helping tomake decisions. 

Q14. What are the main reasons why some scientists are finding that some citizen science volunteers show enthusiasm and aptitude?

Professional scientists are finding that some citizen science volunteers, particularly young adults, show enthusiasm and aptitude for scientific research. 

Q15. What are the bleak estimates of extinct species?

Extinction rates might be as high as 100 to 1000 times greater than pre-human levels (Pimm et al., 1995), and these bleak estimates may be too low if unidentified species disappear before they are discovered (Scheffers et al., 2012). 

Q16. What can citizen scientists do to help meet diverse informational needs?

Citizen scientists can also help with opportunistic and observational studies that do not follow a strict design but are often deliberate in the subject and timing of observation. 

Q17. What is the common factor limiting volunteer participation in a scientific project?

The most common factor limiting volunteer participation in a scientific project is the ability of trained volunteers to meaningfully contribute to the science (Powell and Colin, 2008).