Designing local citizen science projects to address scientific questions and contribute to collaborative conservation efforts

Abstract

Citizen science allows volunteers to actively participate in the scientific inquiry process and as a discipline has increased in recent years. Many citizen science efforts work across broad spatio-temporal scales, making it possible to address questions that typically cannot be assessed through single studies due to budgetary, time, and scale constraints. Citizen science provides an opportunity to collect data that would otherwise not be collected, contributes to knowledge of ecological and management topics, and involves citizens in ecological science and management issues. Citizens often are eager to participate in scientific efforts but may lack experience with design and implementation of rigorous monitoring programs. We present a general framework for designing a citizen science project to address scientific and management questions. We outline important steps in designing a smaller regional scale (confined to single locations or multiple locations within a region) citizen science effort, including selecting objectives that could be achieved with expected data, and conducting a pilot study to gauge volunteer workload and identify technical challenges. The Madrean Archipelago contains rich plant and wildlife communities as a biodiversity hotspot and supports a large population of engaged citizens. In our discussion, we describe how two citizen science case studies (i.e., partnering with a local nongovernmental organization to sample Arizona Sky Island birds, BioBlitzes) can contribute to collaborative conservation efforts.

Parent Publication

• Collaboration Now for the Future: IV Conference on the Biodiversity and Management of the Madrean Archipelago

Citation

Sanderlin, Jamie S.; Iniguez, Jose M.; Ganey, Joseph L.; Strohmeyer, Brenda E.; Block, William M. 2022. Designing local citizen science projects to address scientific questions and contribute to collaborative conservation efforts. In: Neary, D. G.; Gottfried, G. J., eds. Collaboration Now for the Future: IV Conference on the Biodiversity and Management of the Madrean Archipelago. Proceedings RMRS-P-79. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 341-349.