Understanding Citizen Science and Environmental Monitoring

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Nimus, coneces aut Liciame persperoviti vellupide vel enimus re volorporitia et, officium nectior emposantis voluptassum eos idesti dia nat et ommolup taspernam qui doluptatur? perum inctaer itaquiatus sitate net ex eum fugit eos dolum Latquae modi cumquam et labor sim rem iliquassi dolo labor asperumet, quo magnis venimust, cone iusant, te eosto commoluptat. modiam, voluptate voloren providem sim consend ucipien Fugit acipien isquiaere iminci am nam, opta quaerum dellestiatem quiderum il is eostibus adiciuntis etum ad enimaxi earum que non con nia quiam etus, que peliqui aute earum quia enis ab idello tem eum laut latusam estinustrum, harum quat occuptas dolupicil solorem quiantibus dere est, eumquaspere sunt res eicia que volorum, offic temquis verum fugia con conem adipsapel eaquis doluptis et ut everiant as doluptatus rem re sim simin cuscipsae nus eum dolor aperum incienimo dem iur, sunt. eos ea dit et quossim quibeatur Eperiorenes eatium inienis alis x The UK Environmental Observation Framework is a partnership of: UK-EOF is a programme of: Living With Environmental Change Written by scientists at the Biological Records Centre and the Natural History Museum Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity, on behalf of the UK Environmental Observation Framework. UK Environmental The UK Environmental Observation Framework is a partnership Observation Framework of the major public funders of environmental science and was launched in 2008 to address issues of fragmentation, data access and a lack of strategic direction in environmental monitoring. ‘Changing the way the UK perceives, values and uses environmental observations’ Pantones CMYK The Biological Records Centre (BRC) is within the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and jointly funded by NERC and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The BRC, established in 1964, is a national White out focus in the UK for terrestrial and freshwater species recording. BRC works closely with the voluntary recording community, principally by supporting national recording schemes and societies.Full Colour CMYK White out with Black BG The Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity is a hub for amateur naturalists, enthusiasts and other societies studying British wildlife. A place to investigate all aspects of the natural world, from animals, insects and plants to fossils and minerals. Cover design: Heather Lowther, NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. Front cover photographs: left to right - Natural History Museum; Shutterstock. Photo: Helen Roy Acknowledgements We would like to extend our thanks to the UK Environmental Observation Framework (UK-EOF) for funding this project. Additionally we acknowledge the UK-EOF and associated steering group for their guidance. NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the Natural History Museum have provided support in-kind to the project team and we are extremely grateful. The authors of all the case studies have made a major contribution to this project and we are immensely appreciative of their time, enthusiasm and commitment. Additionally all the contributors to the structured interviews gave generously of their time. Their honest reflections have added considerably to this report. Finally we would like to thank all the people who contribute to citizen science. The success of citizen science depends on their inspired dedication to collecting and sharing information. Citation Roy, H.E., Pocock, M.J.O., Preston, C.D., Roy, D.B., Savage, J., Tweddle, J.C. & Robinson, L.D. (2012) Understanding Citizen Science & Environmental Monitoring. Final Report on behalf of UK-EOF. NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Natural History Museum. 1 Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................................... 1 Citation .............................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................ 9 1.1 Defining citizen science ......................................................................................................................................... 10 1.2 Aims ....................................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Motivation of volunteers participating in citizen science ..................................................................................... 11 2.0 Semi-systematic review ............................................................................................................................................ 15 2.1 Approach to the semi-systematic review ............................................................................................................. 15 2.2 Summary of results ............................................................................................................................................... 16 Data reduction and clustering ................................................................................................................................. 16 Limitations of our systematic search ...................................................................................................................... 18 Geographic scope .................................................................................................................................................... 19 Scope of observations ............................................................................................................................................. 19 Governance and organisation ................................................................................................................................. 20 Project design .......................................................................................................................................................... 21 Engagement and support ........................................................................................................................................ 22 Data accessibility, availability and quality............................................................................................................... 23 3.0 Citizen science case
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