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https://theconversation.com/citizen-scientists-can-help-save-australias-threatened-species-if-we-give-them-more-direction-231606>
"Across Australia and around the world, citizen scientists are protecting
species by recording sightings, surveying landscapes and collecting samples. No
job is too big or too small. As wildlife ecologists, we are indebted to this
army of volunteers.
Citizen scientists are everyday people, who are not necessarily experts but who
conduct scientific research. There are more than 100,000 citizen scientists in
Australia alone. As a nation, we’re the third-biggest contributor to the global
citizen science platform iNaturalist. This is staggering considering our
relatively small population.
We wanted to find out how citizen science data contributes to decisions by
governments and conservation organisations about which species are at risk of
extinction, and how they can be conserved.
One of the main ways to help conserve biodiversity is through species
extinction risk assessments. These allow scientists and decision-makers to
determine how threatened a species is and the best ways to protect it.
Because citizen scientists collect so much data on biodiversity, this
information could dramatically improve our ability to accurately assess
species. But how useful is citizen science data in achieving this goal? Our new
research set out to answer this question.
While we found room for improvement, it’s important to recognise and celebrate
the immense value of citizen science data. We would be lost without it."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
