Citizen science in environmental and ecological sciences

• Published in: Nature Reviews Methods Primers
• Main Authors: Fraisl, Dilek, Hager, Gerid, Bedessem, Baptiste, Gold, Margaret, Hsing, Pen-Yuan, Danielsen, Finn, Hitchcock, Colleen B., Hulbert, Joseph M., Piera, Jaume, Spiers, Helen, Thiel, Martin, Haklay, Mordechai
• Other Authors: Brandeis University, European Commission, Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (US), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2022
• Subjects: UArctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/281634; https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-022-00144-4; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000780; https://doi.org/10.13039/100005825; https://doi.org/10.13039/100007864

20 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables, supplementary information https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-022-00144-4 Citizen science is an increasingly acknowledged approach applied in many scientific domains, and particularly within the environmental and ecological sciences, in which non-professional participants contribute to data collection to advance scientific research. We present contributory citizen science as a valuable method to scientists and practitioners within the environmental and ecological sciences, focusing on the full life cycle of citizen science practice, from design to implementation, evaluation and data management. We highlight key issues in citizen science and how to address them, such as participant engagement and retention, data quality assurance and bias correction, as well as ethical considerations regarding data sharing. We also provide a range of examples to illustrate the diversity of applications, from biodiversity research and land cover assessment to forest health monitoring and marine pollution. The aspects of reproducibility and data sharing are considered, placing citizen science within an encompassing open science perspective. Finally, we discuss its limitations and challenges and present an outlook for the application of citizen science in multiple science domains The work of C.B.H. was supported by a Brandeis University Provost Research grant. The work of D.F. was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research And Innovation Programme EU-Citizen.Science project (under grant agreement number 824580). The work of F.D. was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research And Innovation Programme INTAROS, CAPARDUS and FRAMEwork projects (under grant agreement numbers 727890, 869673 and 862731), and the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education through the UArctic Thematic Network on Collaborative Resource Management. The work of G.H. was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme EU-Citizen.Science and FRAMEwork projects (under ...