The Importance of Citizen Science
Asian Shore Crab off Port Phillip Bay. Photo courtesy of Port Phillip EcoCentre
By Daniel Vlahek
On the shorelines of Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay, a small crab emerges from the water. With its distinctive spotted claws attached to a square shaped carapace (the shell on its back that is constructed of chitin and calcium carbonate), the Asian shore crab begins its daily ritual of feeding across the rocky shores and sandy beaches that stretch across the well-known bay in the Southern Australian capital.
Averaging 5 cm in length, onlookers would no doubt be charmed by its miniature stature.
However, to those not familiar with the animal, the Asian shore crab is an invasive species. And like any invasive species, it can have severe ecological impacts on the larger biosphere.
Its highly aggressive nature ensures a broad diet of prey, including small fish, mussels, oysters, molluscs and other crabs.
By preying on native wildlife, it can disrupt marine food webs, thereby spoiling the flow of energy and nutrients to other organisms that makeup part of the greater web.
Highly adaptable, the crab can proliferate rapidly within estuarine and marine habitats, creating communities that become increasingly hard to eradicate should they not be properly detected and responded to.
The good news is that through ‘citizen science’ programs like PestWatch! - managed by local environmental group Port Phillip EcoCentre - volunteers are able to assist researchers in closely monitoring the species’ distribution and abundance across the bay.
Numerous scientific groups and environmental communities worldwide, such as the Port Phillip EcoCentre, greatly benefit from citizen science initiatives. These initiatives, driven by regular individuals passionate about scientific exploration, contribute significantly to enhancing our understanding of environmental issues on a broader scale.
But what is citizen science?
Citizen Scientists collecting biological samples. Photo courtesy of Australian Citizen Science Association.
Characteristics of citizen science can be seen through the early days of natural philosophers and amateur naturalists in the 18th century.
However the term only became formalised in recent years with sociologist Alan Irwin and ornithologist Rick Bonney collectively being given credit for its origins, with each one providing their own unique take on the activity.
Despite Bonney and Irwin’s respective concepts varying in the relationship between citizen and science, citizen science is now broadly seen as general public engagement in scientific research activities where citizens contribute to science, either with their intellectual knowledge or surrounding knowledge or with their tools and resources.
Opinions have also matured with the profile of citizen science not only being seen as an integral part of data collection for natural and social sciences, but also in illustrating a myriad of other benefits to society.
Zoologist writing down date from camera tracker. Photo courtesy of @Lena_viridis
One great part of public participation in scientific endeavours is that it enables professional scientists to do, well, good science.
This has been key in scientific domains that have a focus on environmental monitoring. Good research in any format is a convoluted task, with the management and evaluation of large data sets being a key barrier in success.
Even with robust data management strategies in place, accurate observations can range from months to years. Which is why Port Phillip EcoCentre owes a large sum of its work to the efforts of citizen participation in its ‘Clean Bay Blueprint’ project.
Starting in January 2015, the group conducted monthly trawls across Melbourne’s Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers over the next four years to assess the level of microplastics currently contained in Melbourne’s waterways.
Whilst the results painted a stark picture of the quantity of plastic found (an estimated 2 billion), an impressive 8800 hours were recorded by volunteers in assisting the project's activities.
Microplastic waste contaminated with seaside sand. Photo courtesy of @chayanuphol
With the impacts of microplastics becoming increasingly prevalent - due to its adverse physiological and behavioural effects in marine life and human health - the project provided recommendations to the Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability in designing a new marine policy and improved waste recovery strategies to support a greater circular economy.
In Nepal, for instance, the Small Mammal Conservation and Research Foundation (SMCRF), with the support of the Taronga Conservation Society Australia, delivered a program dedicated to Pangolin conservation efforts.
Chinese Pangolin. Photo Courtesy of Small Mammal Conservation and Research Foundation (SMCRF)
By funding capacity building workshops in three districts across Kathmandu, district and community forest groups as well as local women’s and children groups were able to learn more about the significance of the Pangolin, as well as the eco-tourism opportunities of their conservation.
The creation of the Pangolin Conservation Team (PCT), led by the trainees from the workshops, continues to engage local community groups and authorities on the impact that Pangolins have on the wider ecosystem across Nepal and beyond.
What’s more, citizen science has progressively become easier with the advent of digital technology. Through open source software and smartphones, the ability to aggregate data points has increased substantially.
A report by the Atlas of Living Australia illustrates how citizen scientists have been able to contribute an overwhelming portion of the official records (50% of 115 million records in 2023).
The ease in which participants can become involved in scientific research can be seen in programs such as Intreprid’s Citizen Science Program.
Based in the Southern Oceans and Antarctica, the team has designed initiatives in collaboration with other scientific bodies and academia, from NASA to Oxford University, to have travellers glean data from the natural world to illustrate real-time effects of climate change.
This data in turn enables organisations to advocate to politicians and regulatory bodies to inform better policies that can guide climate action.
Whilst it pays to note that citizen science is still met with some scepticism - particularly around the reliability of data collected and provided, including the diversity of its participants - one thing is certain.
Citizen science does challenge the long-held notion of how knowledge is made, who makes it, and where it happens.