Citizen Science Reports
Research student Tamara Pinkerton of the University of Western Australia, studying disability impediments for citizen science, has allowed QSN to reproduce a brief list of resources for facilitating disabled participation in scientific activities.
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On 3 October 2022, citizen science networks and practitioners from around the world welcomed the formation of the Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP), a newly established association which seeks to promote and advance citizen science for a sustainable world.
The partnership’s mission is to coordinate the collaboration of existing citizen science practitioners with international organisations and governments, and support the use of citizen science data and tools as a key contributor to the global effort towards sustainable development. It will establish diverse and inclusive partnerships across geographies, cultures, and research domains, promoting citizen science as a unifying, enabling, and multiplying force for change.
At the partnership’s core is a network-of-networks of six citizen science associations that cover most of the globe: the Australian Citizen Science Association (ACSA), Citizen Science Africa Association, CitizenScience.Asia, the US-based Citizen Science Association (CSA), the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA), and the Ibero-American Network of Participatory Science (RICAP).
The CSGP is incorporated as a non-profit association in Austria hosted by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) with secretariat in Vienna. The elected Chair of the Board is Martin Brocklehurst, representing ECSA, and the Vice Chair is Libby Hepburn, representing ACSA.
“We are seeing the birth of a major change in the way global environmental challenges are tackled. Through citizen science, every person on the planet will have the opportunity to be part of the solution,” notes Martin Brocklehurst.
Reproduced from https://www.miragenews.com/citizen-science-goes-global-868506/. See also citizenscienceglobal.org .
QSN congratulates Libby Hepburn on behalf of ACSA for her pivotal role in facilitating this global movement and in taking up a leadership position.
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The Australian Citizen Science Association is pleased to announce the formal launch of ACSA Consulting. ACSA Consulting specialises in developing citizen science strategies and strategic work pieces for organisations wanting best practice advice, design and implementation of citizen science in Australia.
ACSA Consulting operates on a fee for service model and builds on ACSA’s existing collaborations, such as with the Minderoo Fire and Flood Initiative (where ACSA helped build citizen science as an integral component of disaster monitoring, recovery and resilience).
ACSA Consulting offers services in the fields of:
- Citizen Science Strategy Development and Implementation
- Citizen Science Project Design, Management and Evaluation
- Best Practice Citizen Science Advice
- Capacity Building Workshops (Project Management and Evaluation)
ACSA is a non-profit organisation. Proceeds of its consulting services work are used to advance citizen science in Australia.
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Western Sydney University and the University of New England have set up a Citizen Science Project called the Dead Tree Detective.
The aim of the project is to collect observations of dead or dying trees around Australia. It sounds a bit grim, but knowing where and when trees have died will help us to work out what the cause is, identify trees that are vulnerable, and take steps to protect them.
This project will allow people Australia-wide to report observations of tree death. In the past, there have been many occurrences of large-scale tree death that were initially identified by concerned members of the public such as farmers, bushwalkers, bird watchers and landholders. Collecting these observations is an important way to monitor the health of trees and ecosystems.
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Shellfish reefs (oysters, mussels etc.) are “the lungs” of healthy estuaries, providing various “ecosystem engineering” services including filtering to clean the water, nutrient uptake, shoreline stabilisation and food and shelter for fish and crabs.
However, today less than 5% of historical shellfish populations remain in Pumicestone Passage, off northern Moreton Bay, due mainly to declining water quality which disrupts their breeding cycle.
“Restore Pumicestone Passage” is a group of community people with the aim of scientifically examining the best methods of restoring subtidal shellfish reefs in Pumicestone Passage and quantifying their effects on improving water quality and fish habitat in the Passage and Moreton Bay. The group’s website has a wealth of accessible information about shellfish reef restoration in Australia and internationally.
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The Australian Citizen Science Project Finder has been designed to help people learn about citizen science projects and provide opportunities to volunteer or become otherwise involved.
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The Hut Environmental and Community Association held a forum on Saturday, 11 August 2018 at Pullenvale.
The keynote address was by Prof Ian Lowe, member of The Royal Society of Queensland on “The role of citizen science in modern Australia“.
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Salticidae Opisthoncus sexmaculatus Cooloola Bio Blitz 25 Aug 2108 Seary’s Creek RJMW-055 close to sexmaculatus but somewhat different…
The Rainbow Beach based BioBlitz lured 15 experienced scientists and about 80 keen volunteers to scan the sky and treetops, shake branches and grasses over 24-26 August 2018 then again on 17-19 May 2019 to search for unknown species of plants, animals, birds and fish. But the issue that has grabbed national and international media attention has been the discovery of a variety of miniscule invertebrates from moths to spiders.
Access the summary report
Update June 2019
Subsequent processing of the records from the BioBlitz reveal 25 new, undescribed species with a likely additional 11 awaiting confirmation.
Two of these were already found in Cooloola on the previous BioBlitz making 34 new species for this survey, totalling 71 new species in the past two surveys.
A surprisingly small overlap with August 2018 meant the running total is extraordinarily high for a survey of this type. This due to the special habitats surveyed on this occasion (bymien, old growth rainforest; and fens, stable mature freshwater wetland).
Contributing member group
The Royal Society of Queensland
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The Rainbow Beach based BioBlitz lured 15 experienced scientists and about 80 keen volunteers to scan the sky and treetops, shake branches and grasses over August 24 to 26 to discover the unknown species of pants animals, birds and fish. But the issue that has grabbed national and international media attention has been the discovery of a variety of miniscule invertebrates from moths to spiders.
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Keynote address by Prof Ian Lowe to the forum “Citizen Science: Challenges and Benefits for Biodiversity Conservation” on Saturday 11 August 2018. Prof Lowe AO is Emeritus Professor, Centre for Environment and Population, Health, Technology and Society at Griffith University.