There are many benefits to using citizen science in scientific research, however, there are several perceived limitations. One being that citizen science data are often viewed as inferior or unusable by the broader science community. A primary concern to the usability and accuracy of this data depends on the level of training a participant receives. Another limitation is the recruitment and retention of volunteers participating in the data collection process. To further understand how training level affects the accuracy of citizen science and how demographics may influence participation, this study evaluated 73 volunteers trained in two different marine debris data collection protocols. This exploration allowed for the determination of best practices in recruiting and training future citizen scientists to collect litter data that yields the most accurate, time-effective, and cost-effective results. Training level, recruitment motivations, and retention factors all had statistically significant impacts on their respective variables.

A collection of reference maps for volunteers to use during data collection. Each map provides a detailed (zoomed in .5x1 mi.) view of where this particular section ends.

Scientists now recognize how quickly environmental conditions are changing, yet to monitor and understand these spatially distributed changes more dispersed quantitative and qualitative data are needed than ever before. The need for more comprehensive and robust data has created the burgeoning field of citizen science, which engages volunteers to monitor environmental changes and report this information to scientists. Precipitation monitoring networks like RainLog.org are considered one of the oldest types of citizen science with many networks in existence for over 100 years. RainLog.org is a more modern version of these original networks and was developed in response to a need to better characterize precipitation events and provide stakeholders with more robust precipitation totals and distributions throughout Arizona.RainLog.org is a statewide precipitation monitoring network that relies on volunteers across Arizona to report daily precipitation into an online reporting system. To ensure that these data are reliable, a quality assurance and quality control analysis (QA/QC) was completed on a subset of gauges in the Tucson area. Results indicate that although there are many errors inherent with any precipitation network, whether volunteer or scientist driven, these errors are for the most part identified using basic interpolation methods. This paper analyzes a range of user reporting and gauge type errors, discusses the significance of each error type and provides recommendations for mitigating reporting errors in any citizen science network.

Urbanization is a worldwide trend resulting in loss of bird habitat, dominance of invasive species and higher densities of some predatory species. However, cities provide new opportunities for birds because of warmer winter climates and sources of artificial food. Proper management of urban habitat is significant for maintaining diverse bird communities and raising conservation awareness among city dwellers. This study aimed at identifying important urban bird habitats as well as their characteristics in Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. Fourteen local birders outlined bird habitats on maps, and the information was compiled and presented using GIS. In total, 28% of the study area was indicated as key habitat for urban birds. By comparing the GIS data with existing conserved areas, coastal areas, marine habitat and urban wetlands were found to be under-represented in conserved areas. Following from the research findings, recommendations for improving habitat identification and management are made.

Advances in computer technology have enabled the collection, digitization and automated processing of huge archives of bioacoustic sound. Many of the tools previ- ously used in bioacoustics work well with small to medium-sized audio collections, but are challenged when processing large collections of tens of terabytes to petabyte size. In this thesis, a system is presented that assists researchers to listen to, view, anno- tate and run advanced audio feature extraction and machine learning algorithms on these audio recordings. This system is designed to scale to petabyte size. In addition, this system allows citizen scientists to participate in the process of annotating these large archives using a casual game metaphor. In this thesis, the use of this system to annotate a large audio archive called the Orchive will be evaluated. The Orchive contains over 20,000 hours of orca vocalizations collected over the course of 30 years, and represents one of the largest continuous collections of bioacoustic recordings in the world. The effectiveness of our semi-automatic approach for deriving knowledge from these recordings will be evaluated and results showing the utility of this system will be shown. / Graduate / 0984 / sness@sness.net

Monitoring the dynamics of the productivity of ocean water and how it affects fisheries is essential for management. It requires data on proper spatial/temporal scales, which can be provided by operational ocean colour satellites. However, accurate productivity data from ocean colour imagery is only possible with proper validation of, for instance, the atmospheric correction applied to the images. In situ water reflectance data is of great value due to the requirements for validation and it is traditionally measured with the Surface Acquisition System (SAS) solar tracker system. Recently, an application, 'HydroColor', was developed for mobile devices to acquire water reflectance data. We examine the accuracy of the water reflectance acquired by HydroColor with the help of trained and untrained citizens under different environmental conditions. We used water reflectance data acquired by SAS solar tracker and HydroColor onboard the BC ferry Queen of Oak Bay from July to September 2016. Monte Carlo permutation F-tests were used to assess whether the differences between measurements collected by SAS solar tracker and HydroColor with citizens were significant. Results showed that the HydroColor measurements collected by 447 citizens were accurate in red, green, and blue bands, as well as red/green and red/blue ratios under different environmental conditions. Piecewise models were developed for correcting HydroColor blue/green water reflectance ratios based on the SAS solar tracker measurements. In addition, we found that training and environmental conditions had impacts on the data quality. A trained citizen obtained higher quality HydroColor data especially under clear skies at noon run (12:50-2:30 pm). / Graduate

Masters of Science / Monitoring of groundwater levels provides a basis for assessing the availability of water in aquifers, thereby informing the decisions on abstraction and uses of such water for various purposes. It provides an understanding of anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic influences on aquifer, on temporal and spatial dimensions In South Africa and on a global scale, the lack of adequate implementation plan for the monitoring of groundwater levels has resulted in the lack of data and information on groundwater levels. Resultantly, preventing managers from making practical and appropriate decisions on how groundwater needs to be governed. Currently, there is a growing acknowledgement that adequate monitoring of groundwater levels depends on an implementation plan whereby citizens or local communities are considered crucial partners in generating data and information on groundwater levels. An important contribution of the thesis is the method used is aimed at understanding the current challenges in terms of the implementation of the monitoring of groundwater levels within the institutional setting and to what extent can citizen science lead to the planning of a more collaborative plan for monitoring of groundwater levels. Adopting of the Integrated Water Resource Management framework, in South Africa, further position citizens (community) at the crux of effective monitoring of groundwater levels. This is important to ensuring that groundwater is governed through a bottom-up approach, whereby groundwater resource is managed at local level where groundwater resides, is used and can be best managed. However, this position citizens as ‘citizen scientist” and further demand that they participate collaboratively with other stakeholders such as the Department of Water and Sanitation, Municipalities, Consultants amongst others. In effect, an adequate implementation plan needs to be developed based on the understanding of the involvement of citizens in science, in addition to collaboration between citizens and institutions responsible for the monitoring of groundwater levels. Such implementation plan must clearly defined roles and responsibilities based on the contextual institutional framework. Thus, the study making use of an exploratory qualitative approach, established current practices of monitoring of groundwater levels based on the institutional arrangement and determined current gaps and barriers in term of the implementation of monitoring of groundwater levels. Furthermore, the study and collective management to develop a collaborative action plan for the monitoring of groundwater levels. These drivers were identified as fundamental to collaboration in groundwater resource management, good groundwater governance and within the context of the Integrated Water Resource Management that drive management of groundwater in South Africa. The study identified the lack of adequate participation and collaboration between institutions responsible for the monitoring of groundwater levels. It further revealed that the current institutional setting contrast the bottom-up approach as anticipated under the Integrated Water Resource Management framework. In term of implementation of the monitoring of groundwater levels, challenges identified included the complexity of hydrogeological setting, limited scientific knowledge of the aquifers in West Coast, lack of adequate capacity, vandalism, poor access, lack of adequate funding and poor community participation. Currently, these challenges are aggravated as a result of the lack of collaboration as well as institutional voids due to inactive Catchment Management Agencies. Citizen Science have been acknowledge in hydrological monitoring, as an effective means of project design, data collection, verification of data, community engagement and collaboration between citizen and relevant institutions. Thus, the study recommended a citizen science approach for developing a collaborative monitoring of groundwater levels plan, as it doesn’t not only aligns with the Integrated Water Resource Management Framework but aligns and strengthens the bottom-up approach that is fundamental to Integrated Water Resource Management and good governance of groundwater resources. Based on the amalgamation of the citizen science framework with collaborative drivers, a collaborative action plan was developed. The plan outlined and defined roles and responsibilities for successful collaboration. The recommendations included the need for the development of the Catchment Management Agencies to enable the integration of stakeholders in the management of groundwater resource. Additionally, there is a need to develop a community of knowledge and the integration of Water Users into groundwater resource management. / 2021-04-30

abstract: Citizen Science programs create a bi-directional flow of knowledge between scientists and citizen volunteers; this flow democratizes science in order to create an informed public (Bonney et al. 2014; Brown, Kelly, and Whitall 2014). This democratization is a fundamental part of creating a science that can address today’s pressing environmental, economic, and social justice problems (Lubchenco 1998). While citizen science programs create an avenue for sharing knowledge between the public and scientists, the exact program details and dynamics leading to different outcomes have not been studied in detail. The current shortcomings in the literature fall into three categories. First, the concept of ‘volunteer’ is used as a catch-all without considering how different demographics (e.g. young, old, wealthy, poor, differently abled, local inhabitants, and visitors) affect both volunteer and scientific outcomes of citizen science. The second shortcoming: there are no standards to assess the quality of citizen science datasets. The third shortcoming: the volunteer and scientific outcomes of these programs are not routinely, or strategically, measured, or integrated into policy and planning (Brossard, Lewenstein, and Bonney 2005). This research advances the understanding of tourist volunteers in citizen science by examining these three shortcomings through a case-study in Denali National Park and Preserve. This case study included the development of the Map of Life-Denali citizen science program is a “tourist-friendly” program. Volunteers of the program use the Map of Life- Denali mobile application to record wildlife observations in the park. Research conducted on this program shows that tourists can be successful citizen science volunteers, and when compared to resident volunteers produce similar data, and have positive volunteer outcomes. The development of a fitness for use assessment, called STAAq is also a part of this research. This assessment is shown to be an effective method for assessing citizen science data quality. Throughout the development and launch of the program, stakeholders (the Park Service, and Aramark) were consulted. The Map of Life-Denali program will be integrated into the park’s shuttle and tour bus systems as an educational tool, however, the scientific merits of the program are still disputed. / Doctoral Dissertation Geography 2017

Woodpeckers create nesting cavities for other birds and animals in forests. This creates dynamic interactions between both woodpeckers and these other animals. Using video cameras, we documented direct behavioral interactions between nesting woodpeckers and other animals in the Eastern Washington Cascades during the 2015 and 2016 breeding seasons. Additionally, we offered 937 students in a General Biology laboratory course to participate in this original research opportunity and described and the impact the experience had on the participants as well as the researchers. In 2015, Western Blubebirds took over two active Black-backed Woodpecker nests by physically attacking the woodpeckers. In 2016, almost half of the woodpecker nests were reused by other animals, with Western Bluebirds being are most common SCU. We found that some nests we reused within minutes to hours of vacancy. However, we were not able to significantly predict nest reuse or the presence of other animals at the nest. Parent woodpeckers towards avian cavity nesters when compared to rodent, predators, and other woodpeckers. Our fine-scale analysis provides a new window into behavioral interactions at woodpecker nests and same-season nest reuse, but it is limited by its scope. Thus, we suggest for larger-scale video studies examining behavioral interactions around the nest. About 15% of students in the course participated in our research, and we found that students accurately recorded data approximately 90% of the time. Most students came away from the experience with a more positive attitude towards undergraduate research and were able to restate the main research question. However, many students had difficulty understanding their role as a data collector. We suggest making the experience mandatory to include all students and placing a greater emphasis on the process of science.

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