A review of citizen science and community-based environmental monitoring: issues and opportunities

Worldwide, decision-makers and nongovernment organizations are increasing their use of citizen volunteers to enhance their ability to monitor and manage natural resources, track species at risk, and conserve protected areas. We reviewed the last 10 years of relevant citizen science literature for areas of consensus, divergence, and knowledge gaps. Different community-based monitoring (CBM) activities and governance structures were examined and contrasted. Literature was examined for evidence of common benefits, challenges, and recommendations for successful citizen science. Two major gaps were identified: (1) a need to compare and contrast the success (and the situations that induce success) of CBM programs which present sound evidence of citizen scientists influencing positive environmental changes in the local ecosystems they monitor and (2) more case studies showing use of CBM data by decision-makers or the barriers to linkages and how these might be overcome. If new research focuses on these gaps, and on the differences of opinions that exist, we will have a much better understanding of the social, economic, and ecological benefits of citizen science.

[1]  R. Bonney,et al.  Citizen Science as a Tool for Conservation in Residential Ecosystems , 2007 .

[2]  D. Noble,et al.  Developing indicators for European birds , 2005, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[3]  B. Savan,et al.  Volunteer Environmental Monitoring and the Role of the Universities: The Case of Citizens' Environment Watch , 2003, Environmental management.

[4]  T Brydges,et al.  Public participation and volunteer help in monitoring programs: An assessment , 1990, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[5]  António Câmara,et al.  Promoting the use of environmental data collected by concerned citizens through information and communication technologies. , 2004, Journal of environmental management.

[6]  A. Sharpe,et al.  Community Based Ecological Monitoring in Nova Scotia: Challenges and Opportunities , 2006, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[7]  G. Whitelaw,et al.  Community-Based Monitoring in Support of Local Sustainability , 2005 .

[8]  L. Kruger,et al.  Getting to Know Ourselves and Our Places Through Participation in Civic Social Assessment , 2000 .

[9]  C. Griffin,et al.  WATERSHED COUNCILS: AN EMERGING FORM OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 1 , 1999 .

[10]  Madhav Gadgil,et al.  Science and the right to information , 2006 .

[11]  J. Schnoor,et al.  Citizen Science , 2017 .

[12]  R. Bruce Hull,et al.  Beyond Biology: toward a More Public Ecology for Conservation , 2001 .

[13]  Mark W Schwartz,et al.  How Conservation Scientists Can Help Develop Social Capital for Biodiversity , 2006, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[14]  P. Vos,et al.  A Framework for the Design of Ecological Monitoring Programs as a Tool for Environmental and Nature Management , 2000 .

[15]  I. Scoones,et al.  Participatory Learning and Action: A trainer's guide , 1995 .

[16]  Karen S. Oberhauser,et al.  The Monarch Butterfly: Biology and Conservation , 2004 .

[17]  Anna J. L. Carr.  Policy Reviews and Essays , 2004 .

[18]  Kevin J. Gaston,et al.  Trends in the use of private gardens by wild birds in Great Britain 1995–2002 , 2005 .

[19]  A. Collins,et al.  Watershed associations in West Virginia: their impact on environmental protection. , 2003, Journal of environmental management.

[20]  Lorne Bennett,et al.  Multi-Party Monitoring in Ontario: Challenges and Emerging Solutions , 2011 .

[21]  Colin J. Bibby,et al.  Fifty years of Bird Study , 2003 .

[22]  Leska S. Fore,et al.  Assessing the performance of volunteers in monitoring streams. , 2001 .

[23]  C. Conrad,et al.  Towards Meaningful Community-Based Ecological Monitoring in Nova Scotia: Where are we versus where we would like to be , 2006 .

[24]  Parvin Sultana,et al.  Effectiveness of participatory planning for community management of fisheries in Bangladesh. , 2008, Journal of environmental management.

[25]  Aparajita Datta,et al.  Empty forests: Large carnivore and prey abundance in Namdapha National Park, north-east India , 2008 .

[26]  Virginia Lee,et al.  A Profile of Volunteer Environmental Monitoring: National Survey Results , 1994 .

[27]  Ransom A. Myers,et al.  Canadian waters provide critical foraging habitat for leatherback sea turtles , 2006 .

[28]  Division on Earth.  Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems: Science, Technology, and Public Policy , 1992 .

[29]  David W. Macdonald,et al.  Validating mammal monitoring methods and assessing the performance of volunteers in wildlife conservation—“Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodies ?” , 2003 .

[30]  J. Andrew Royle.  Modeling Abundance Index Data from Anuran Calling Surveys , 2004 .

[31]  Wesley M. Hochachka,et al.  Seasonal and latitudinal trends in clutch size : Thermal constraints during laying and incubation , 2005 .

[32]  Eugene A. Rosa,et al.  “Environment, knowledge and democracy” , 2007 .

[33]  Cristina Nali,et al.  Air Quality Survey Carried Out by Schoolchildren: An Innovative Tool for Urban Planning , 2007, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[34]  Jason Chilvers,et al.  Deliberating Competence , 2008 .

[35]  W. Hochachka,et al.  Density-dependent decline of host abundance resulting from a new infectious disease. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[36]  J. F. Lavado Contador.  Adaptive Management, Monitoring, and the Ecological Sustainability of a Thermal-Polluted Water Ecosystem: A Case in Sw Spain , 2005 .

[37]  Ian Scoones,et al.  A trainer's guide for participatory learning and action , 1995 .

[38]  C. Findlay,et al.  The Rauischholzhausen Agenda for Road Ecology , 2007 .

[39]  A. Lawrence.  ‘No Personal Motive?’ Volunteers, Biodiversity, and the False Dichotomies of Participation , 2006 .

[40]  Kenneth V. Rosenberg,et al.  Land manager's guide to improving habitat for forest thrushes , 2003 .

[41]  James D. Lowe,et al.  A land manager's guide to improving habitat for scarlet tanagers and other forest-interior birds , 1999 .

[42]  Raúl E. Martínez,et al.  Methodology for public monitoring of total coliforms, Escherichia coli and toxicity in waterways by Canadian high school students , 2000 .

[43]  T L Root,et al.  Volunteers and the NBS. , 1994, Science.

[44]  S. Lakshminarayanan.  Using Citizens to Do Science Versus Citizens as Scientists , 2007 .

[45]  Rick L. Lawrence,et al.  Choosing Public Participation Methods for Natural Resources: A Context-Specific Guide , 2001 .

[46]  B. Bradshaw.  Questioning the credibility and capacity of community‐based resource management , 2003 .

[47]  S. M. Evans,et al.  The value of marine ecological data collected by volunteers , 2003 .

[48]  Richard Margoluis,et al.  Monitoring and Evaluation in Conservation: a Review of Trends and Approaches , 2005 .

[49]  Michael S. Carolan,et al.  Science, Expertise, and the Democratization of the Decision-Making Process , 2006 .

[50]  Melanie Kershaw,et al.  Numbers of wintering waterbirds in Great Britain, 1994/1995-1998/ 1999: I. Wildfowl and selected waterbirds , 2003 .

[51]  J. Pretty.  Social Capital and the Collective Management of Resources , 2003, Science.

[52]  Celia A. Evans,et al.  The Neighborhood Nestwatch Program: Participant Outcomes of a Citizen‐Science Ecological Research Project , 2005 .

[53]  Brice X Semmens,et al.  Conservation and management applications of the REEF volunteer fish monitoring program. , 2003, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[54]  English Only.  Economic Commission for Europe , 2012 .

[55]  Donald J. Baird,et al.  Performance of Ontario’s Benthos Biomonitoring Network: Impacts on Participants’ Social Capital, Environmental Action, and Problem-solving Ability , 2006 .

[56]  C. Conrad,et al.  Community-Based Monitoring Frameworks: Increasing the Effectiveness of Environmental Stewardship , 2008, Environmental management.

[57]  G. Whitelaw,et al.  Establishing the Canadian Community Monitoring Network , 2003, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[58]  Harini Nagendra,et al.  Evaluating Forest Management in Nepal: Views across Space and Time , 2005 .

[59]  Wesley M. Hochachka,et al.  Irruptive Migration of Common Redpolls , 1999 .

[60]  Dale J Blahna,et al.  Achieving Integrative, Collaborative Ecosystem Management , 2006, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[61]  Michael W. Mullen,et al.  STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT AND SOCIAL CAPITAL: KEYS TO WATERSHED MANAGEMENT SUCCESS IN ALABAMA 1 , 1999 .

[62]  M. Witter,et al.  Monitoring trends in bat populations through roost surveys: methods and data from Rhinolophus hipposideros , 2002 .

[63]  K. Fernie,et al.  Effect of sampling effort and species detectability on volunteer based anuran monitoring programs , 2005 .

[64]  C. Pahl-Wostl,et al.  Social Learning and Water Resources Management , 2007 .

[65]  Brian L. Sullivan,et al.  eBird: A citizen-based bird observation network in the biological sciences , 2009 .

[66]  Laszlo Nagy,et al.  Why most conservation monitoring is, but need not be, a waste of time. , 2006, Journal of environmental management.

[67]  S. Fennessy,et al.  Review of: Restoration of aquatic ecosystems: Science, technology, and public policy: Committee on Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems-Science, Technology, and Public Policy, National Research Council. National Academy Press, Washington, DC , 1993 .

[68]  T. Lynam,et al.  A review of tools for incorporating community knowledge, preferences, and values into decision making in natural resources management , 2007 .

[69]  S. Chand Basha,et al.  Status and distribution of the endangered lion-tailed macaque Macaca silenus in Kerala, India , 1997 .