Instructions

Risks to the environment, animals, plants, and ecosystems

Instructions for:TraineeTrainer

Goal

After completing this module learners will be able to: a) Understand the risks to the environment, plants, animals, and ecosystems in the context of citizen science and b) Understand how to minimize risks to the environment, plants, animals, and ecosystems when practising citizen science.

Duration (hours)

2

For whom is this important?

All stakeholders in researchCitizen Scientists

Method

Blended learning Individual learning

Part of

ROSiE

Steps

1Introduction

2Learning about Key Issues

3Test your Knowledge

4Case Study

What is this about?

Citizen science, according to the European Citizen Science Association (ESCA), is "an ‘umbrella’ term that describes a variety of ways in which the public participates in science. The main characteristics are that: (1) citizens are actively involved in research, in partnership or collaboration with scientists or professionals; and (2) there is a genuine outcome, such as new scientific knowledge, conservation action or policy change."

Why is this important?

Currently, citizen science is becoming more and more important in different fields of science. For example, in natural sciences, it enables large-scale data collection by involving a vast number of individuals which would be challenging to achieve for traditional research methods within the same timeframe and resources. This training will guide you through the crucial elements of responsible citizen science, including protection of human research participants, plants, animals and ecosystems; rights of citizen scientists; conflicts of interest; quality of research outputs etc. By the end of this training, you will gain a deeper understanding of responsible open science and acquire the following skills and attitudes necessary for responsible practising of citizen science.

Practical Tips

This module is part of the ROSiE training on Responsible Open Science for Citizen Scientists. To complete the trainig please complete the other modules in the citizen science guide.

By the end of this training, you will gain a deeper understanding of responsible open science and acquire the following skills and attitudes necessary for responsible practising of citizen science:

Local and Global Citizenship:

Awareness of the importance and social benefits of Open Science in local and global contexts.
Participation in ethics and integrity self-regulation of Open Science and citizen science community.

Personal and Social Responsibility:

Personal and professional responsibility for implementation of Open Science and production of results.
Openness to share own research data, results, tools and publications and appreciation of efforts of others.

Epistemic Skills

Ability to organize, present and use open data and knowledge with integrity.
Ability to critically assess data, knowledge and scientific results produced by others.
Ability to identify ethical and integrity issues in Open Science.

Collaborative Problem-Solving

Ability to apply critical thinking skills in collaborative analysis of ethical and integrity problems in Open Science.
Discussing, finding solutions and making decisions to handle ethics and integrity issues within the Open Science community.

1

Introduction

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

https://www.inaturalist.org

2

Learning about Key Issues

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

3

Test your Knowledge

Use the flashcards below to test your knowledge!

ROSiE Test: Risks to environment, animals, plants, and ecosystems

4

Case Study

Read the slides and complete the exercises below!

ROSiE Case Study: Risks to environment, animals, plants, and ecosystems

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

Steps

Other information

Good Practices & Misconduct

Open science