Risks to the environment, animals, plants, and ecosystems
InstructionsRisks to the environment, animals, plants, and ecosystems
- Understand the risks to the environment, plants, animals, and ecosystems in the context of citizen science.
- Understand how to minimize risks to the environment, plants, animals, and ecosystems when practising citizen science.
What is this about?
Citizen scientists play an increasingly significant role in knowledge production and there are many scientific projects to which their contribution is vitally important. For example, monitoring threatened species requires collecting vast amounts of data and correspondingly significant financial investment. To accomplish this task cost-effectively, scientists increasingly rely on data, collected by citizen scientists via projects like iNaturalist. However, although extremely valuable, this practice presents some risks for the environment and ecosystems.
References
Why is this important?
The data collected by citizen scientists are increasingly used in different fields of scientific research. One of the most prominent examples is animal and plant population monitoring programs. This development brings many benefits. It is a cost-effective way to gather substantial amounts of data for research purposes that otherwise would be impossible or too expensive to collect. The involvement of citizen scientists in monitoring animal and plant populations could also help improve public understanding of science and promote public engagement in conservation. Additionally, these citizen science projects can inform policies.
However, some risks have to be addressed as well. Publishing information about the location of threatened animal and plant species might inadvertently enable poaching. Poaching refers to illegal hunting, capturing, or harvesting of wildlife, typically for commercial purposes or personal gain. For example, Soroye et al. point out that "human disturbance or poaching and harvesting are listed as major threats for 57.9% of threatened species reported in iNaturalist" compared with 38% of all Red List threatened species are at risk of these threats. (Soroye et al., 2022) This suggests “that the threatened species reported to iNaturalist disproportionately tend to be threatened by disturbance and harvesting.” (Soroye et al., 2022) Moreover, incentivising non-professional monitoring creates a potential for harm even to the species that are not threatened by poaching as some species can be negatively affected just by disturbance (Quinn, 2021).
Citizen scientists can greatly contribute to monitoring threatened species by complementing traditional methods and addressing monitoring gaps. To avoid or mitigate the above-mentioned risks citizen scientists should be provided with information or trained on species identification and monitoring, citizen science projects should ensure a robust data vetting process and involve threatened species experts, as well as developing plans for data use and security. Some citizen science projects are even directly aimed at fighting against poaching (See this project in South Africa.)
References
- Quinn, A. (2021). Transparency and secrecy in citizen science: Lessons from herping. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 85, 208–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2020.10.010
- Soroye, P. et al. (2022). The risks and rewards of community science for threatened species monitoring. Conservation Science and Practice, 4(9), e12788. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12788
Test
Please, read a question and think about the answer based on the information you can find in the "Why is this important?" part! To read the answer, please, turn the card.
ROSiE Test: Risks to environment, animals, plants, and ecosystems
Case study
Please read the case study on the slides below and complete the activities!
Remarks
Additional Resources:
- Fraisl, D., Hager, G., Bedessem, B., Gold, M., Hsing, P. Y., Danielsen, F., ... & Haklay, M. (2022). Citizen science in environmental and ecological sciences. Nature Reviews Methods Primers, 2(1), 64. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-022-00144-4
- Soroye, P. et al. (2022). The risks and rewards of community science for threatened species monitoring. Conservation Science and Practice, 4(9), e12788. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12788
- https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/about
- https://ebird.org/about
