From Remote Coral Reefs to Your Sofa, Citizen Science Spreads Everywhere

Citizen science has blurred the boundaries that constrained professional science. Traditionally, scientists organize  data-gathering campaigns, go back to their labs, analyze the information and publish their conclusions. But millions of citizen contributions from around the world are widening the scope of the research and making it more precise and consistent. Data generated by citizens is as reliable as information gathered by professional scientists, according to a paper published in May in Citizen Science: Theory and Practice. The study compared data gathered by amateurs and professionals during a campaign to measure algal coverage on rocky shores in the UK. Still, the paper recommend that when performing complex tasks, citizens should be trained, given clear instructions and the right equipment. As an expert on seagrass, Scott helped design the Great Reef Census, a program in which divers are asked to upload 20 random photos of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The images allow scientists to assess reef health — including coral bleaching and the presence of coral killers like the crown-of-thorns starfish — from touristic spots to the most remote, which can only be accessed on private yachts and research vessels. During the last campaign, citizens submitted over 40,000 photos of about 300 reefs.  “That’s why scientists are getting more keen on working with people, it means you can scale up your projects,” she said. “It opens a whole new world of possibilities that wouldn’t even be possible with a small team of scientists.” And participation in the quest for knowledge doesn’t require a diving certificate or ability to travel to far-flung areas of the planet. Citizen science platforms like Sci Starter in the US or EU-citizen. Science in Europe filter projects by location and type of research, with dozens of options for people with all sorts of skills, anywhere in the world.  From the comfort of home, anyone with a smartphone can contribute to Globe at Night, which encourages people to take a picture of the nighttime sky and upload it into an app. More than 52,000 observations over five years have allowed scientists to find dark sky oases — areas undisturbed by outdoor lighting — to study light pollution and its impact on bats’ flight paths.  While some citizen science projects have been running for over a century, the pandemic in many ways forced non-scientists to see the natural world with a different perspective and inspired new ways for researchers to tap into this interest. “We had this exceptional silence because there were no airplanes in the sky and no cars on the roads, so people were noticing the birds much more,” said Michael John German, the director of the BIOTOPES - aria a natural history museum still under construction in Munich, Germany. “At the same time, we were keenly aware of the reduction in bird numbers — only in Germany, 15% of breeding pairs of birds disappeared in the past 12 years. Complaint through the app that mosquitos bothered them, that science was too slow and that no one was helping them,” said Astana ultra, a co-founder of the project. “So we got Barcelona’s public health agency involved,   and now they’re acting on this information”