The Importance of Community Scientists and how it relates to the NET

Greetings iNaturalists!

For today’s post, I wanted to take a closer look at the importance of community scientists (that’s you!) in scientific data collection, conservation of our natural spaces, and the crucial role that you all play in our NET study.

Playing a direct role in scientific studies does not have to be limited to the principal investigators of a project. In fact, broadening participation to community members often increases the quality and quantity of data ¹, which in our case leads to more robust and accurate climate and plant phenology models. It is often the case that local users of the trail know the area better and have a deeper connection to the land than the people undertaking the study ². Scientists bring analytical and qualitative expertise, but the community is often more in-tune and aware of the nuances we aim to investigate ³.

The importance of your role as data collection specialists (and potentially curators) in this project cannot be understated. In the NET’s 215-mile length, it would be impossible for one person to collect enough data for a large or representative enough sample size to do meaningful analysis. The NET Nature Watch project would thus not be possible without your participation!

I’d like to give a shoutout to some of our most prolific iNaturalists – your contributions and effort spent on this project do not go unnoticed!

Our top 5 identifiers: @tsn, @lynnharper, @davidenrique, @amandammvt, @trscavo

Our top 5 observers: @drewdlestrudel, @lynnharper, @thomashulsey, @karro_frost, @genv

Lastly, if anyone is interested in becoming a curator for this project, please email me at lberrizbeitia@outdoors.org. Being a curator involves adding research grade identifications to observations within the project as well as accurately determining the phenophase of the observation.

Happy exploring!
Luis Berrizbeitia

Citations:

1. Killen, H., Chang, L., Soul, L. and Barclay, R., 2022. Combining Physical and Digital Data Collection for Citizen Science Climate Research. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 7(1), p.10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.422. Access: https://theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/articles/10.5334/cstp.422
2. Fraisl, D., Hager, G., Bedessem, B. et al. Citizen science in environmental and ecological sciences. Nat Rev Methods Primers 2, 64 (2022). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-022-00144-4. Access: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43586-022-00144-4
3. Maria Tengö and others, Creating Synergies between Citizen Science and Indigenous and Local Knowledge. BioScience, Volume 71, Issue 5, May 2021, Pages 503–518. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biab023. Access: https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/71/5/503/6238580?login=false

Posted on June 12, 2023 05:04 PM by luisberrizbeitia