MIO-ECSDE's MEDITERRANEAN ACTION DAY 2019 “Participatory

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MIO-ECSDE’s MEDITERRANEAN ACTION DAY 2019 On

“Participatory science: Your chance to take part in scientific research, fill in the data gaps and contribute to effective environmental decision making”

In the framework of:

The Annual Programme of MIO-ECSDE and the Mediterranean Action Day supported by the LIFE+ Operating Grant for NGOs

Final report template

▪ Name of NGO: Not for profit Non-governmental Organisation for the Preservation of the Aquatic Ecosystems, iSea

▪ Country: Greece

▪ Name of person in charge of reporting: Ioannis Giovos Tel.: +302313090696, +306945880415 e-mail: [email protected]

▪ Title of activity: Marine Biodiversity Citizen Science Summer School

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Table of contents Objectives of the activity ...... 2 Description of the activity: implementation actions ...... 3 Next steps ...... 4 Assessing the impact ...... 4 Outreach of the activity ...... 4 Participants’ feedback ...... 9 Overall evaluation ...... 9 Financial Report ...... 11 Annex 1 ...... 12

Objectives of the activity The aim of the proposed activity was to familiarize students of different Greek Universities with the concept of Citizen Science and the use of participatory science for monitoring biodiversity. During a 5days summer school, students worked in the field and participated in lectures by different scientists and citizen science practitioners in order to understand citizen science and how they can use it in the future for producing research and monitor biodiversity.

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Description of the activity: implementation actions During the summer school the students were visited 5 different areas in Chalkidiki Peninsula, for monitoring biodiversity using different applications and platforms. In addition, they attended presentations via Skype.

More Specifically:

1st Day

We visited the beach of “Nea Skioni”, the marine area of the EU - Natura 2000 site (PALIOURI - AKROTIRI (SiteCode: GR1270008)), for monitoring marine and coastal biodiversity using iNaturalist application. A discussion followed, providing insights about the application uses, and modules. The discussion and demonstration of the application initiated by Mr. Christos Taklis the co-founder of Biodiversity.gr and complemented by staff of iSea. The same day the first BioBlitz in Greece started in the context of the activity. In the afternoon, Mr Taklis gave a presentation about the different types of copyrights and under which conditions, photos from citizen scientists can be used for publishing research articles.

2nd Day

We visited the Island of Kelifos for monitoring the local underwater biodiversity by snorkeling. In addition, photos of marine organisms were collected. In the afternoon, the species identification took place facilitated by iSea Staff. The students were also familiarized with the IUCN Med-MIS platform for monitoring invasive alien species in the marine protected areas of the Mediterranean.

3rd Day

We visited the Vourvourou area, a coastal area with an extended laggon that belongs to the EU - Natura 2000 site OROS ITAMOS - SITHONIA (SiteCode: GR1270002), for monitoring the local biodiversity using the MyNatura2000 application and iNaturalist. The two applications were presented to the students by iSea staff. Moreover, Mr Taklis demonstrated to students how to operate an ROV as a tool for recording the underwater biodiversity. In the afternoon Dr. Sven Schade, the geospatial information scientist of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), provided more insights regarding the MyNatura2000 application and the Invasive Alien Species Europe application, as well as about the use of Citizen Science within the European Union policy.

4th Day

We visited Stratoni village Dr. Vasileios Papathanasiou and Dr. Soultana Tsioli from the Fisheries Research Institute presented the importance of seagrass and seaweed for the marine ecosystems, familiarized students with the most common seaweed and seagrass species. In addition a herbarium was made by Dr. Soultana Tsioli. In the afternoon, Mrs. Eleana Touloupaki from MEDASSET presented

MEDITERRANEAN INFORMATION OFFICE FOR ENVIRONMENT, CULTURE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (MIO-ECSDE)

the project ( “Fishermen, Sea turtles and Sharks: Alliance for Survival” and the SEAlly application, a crowd sourcing application for recording sharks and sea turtles.

5th Day

The last day started with the presentation of Dr. Dimitris Bouziotis, who presented the state of the marine environmental and possible pathways towards its sustainability. Then the area of Porto Koufo was visited, a coastal area included in the EU - Natura 2000 site (CHERSONISOS SITHONIAS (SiteCode: GR1270014). The local biodiversity was monitored , using different applications, while a short presentation regarding the identification of sharks followed.

After the completion of the summer school, students were requested to respond to a short questionnaire for evaluating the activities and then a certificate of participation was send to them.

Next steps The 3 students with the most records of species in the BioBlitz set up for the context of the summer school were invited by iSea to participate in final event of the Marine ECOMED Summer School to share their experience with students from other Mediterranean countries.

This was the second year that iSea and Biodiversity.gr conducted a Citizen Science summer school for students. iSea plans next year to conduct the Third Citizen Science Summer School.

Assessing the impact

Outreach of the activity

The communication strategy had two phases. Initially, a poster was distributed in social media of iSea and via email to the mail list of the organization promoting the event and asking students to apply for participating in the summer school through a form hosted in the website of iSea in the tab of the initiative. The second phase, was related to posts on the social media channels of iSea regarding the summer school and the visits in the field. Some measurable indicators are:

1st phase:

• Number of students applying: 50

• Number of emails send promoting the activity: 120 • Facebook: 2 posts for promoting the activity o Post 1: § 63 post likes § 9244 post reach § 1479 post engagements

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§ 40 shares o Post 2 § 34 post likes § 4165 post reach § 401 post engagements § 11 shares

• Twitter: 1 tweet for promoting the activity o Tweet 1: § 1 link click § 1 retweet § 3 likes

2nd Phase: Workshops, field visits, tours, happenings, etc.: - # of media present in the event and relevant coverage

§ 5 Field visits (Nea Skioni beach, Island of Kelifos, Vourvourou area, Stratoni village, Porto Koufo area) § 11 workshops (3 presentations by iSea staff, 3 presantations by Mr. Christos Taklis, 1 presantation by Dr. Sven Schade, 1 presentation by Mrs. Eleana Touloupaki, 1 presentation by Dr. Vasilis Papathanasiou, 1 presentation by Dr. Soultana Tsioli, 1 presentation by Dr. Dimitris Bouzioutis) § 2 posts for promoting the activity § 2 tweets for promoting the activity § 3 posts of field daily activity on facebook § 3 tweets of field daily activity on Twitter

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Promotional materials (printed): - # distributed § 9 Company Flyers per person and printed material from different iSea projects

Twitter: 4 tweets for promoting the daily activity - # of clicks - # of retweets - # of likes - # of comments - # of visitors and geographic distribution (if available)

o Tweet 2:1 profile click § 1 retweet § 8 likes

o Tweet 3: § 1 retweet § 8 likes

o Tweet 4 § 3 profile clicks § 1 retweet § 3 likes

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o Tweet 5: § 1 link click § 4 retweets § 9 likes

Facebook: 4 posts for promoting the daily activity - # of post likes - # of post reach - # of post engagements - # of shares

o Post 3

§ 102 post likes § 6915 post reach § 1813 post engagements § 24 shares

o Post 4 § 69 post likes § 3140 post reach § 353 engagements § 7 shares

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o POST 5

§ 89 post likes § 6279 post reach § 1398 post engagements § 12 shares o POST 6 § 191 post likes § 17764 post reach § 2149 post engagements § 90 shares

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Participants’ feedback (Include in this section the reactions and the feedback collected from the participants if any: Is this the first time they participate in a Participatory Science activity? What was his/her impression? Will she/he participate in similar activities? etc.)

The Biodiversity Citizen Science Summer school was an inspiration for the students.

They showed great enthusiasm and their attendance triggered them to discover new things.

Overall evaluation (How would you as the organiser assess your activity? Was it successful? Did it meet its objectives? Were there any challenges that should be highlighted? Will you organize similar participatory science activities? What would you do differently? …..)

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Generally the main goals of activity were achieved. The students learned about the citizen science applications and how to use them to record the biodiversity.

We dealt with the problem of poor marine biodiversity and the low temperature of water which was a limiting factor for diving. Another part of summer school which needs improvement is the management of meals and the schedule of the field work and presentations.

It is planned to run a similar summer school the next year. We will change the location and the period of summer school. Possibly the summer school will take place in Crete at late summer because of higher biodiversity, the presence of alien species and the warmer waters. Also we will give greater emphasis in the hospitality sector (meals, accommodation) and more structured program.

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Financial Report

Activity/purchase per item Num. of MIO-ECSDE NGO’s Total (in EUR) items contribution contribution FOOD 100% 45.50 GAS/OIL 100% 18.99 GAS/OIL 100% 47.00 GAS/OIL 100% 84.00 FOOD 100% 61.36 FOOD 100% 8.50 FOOD 100% 84.00 FOOD 100% 50.40 FOOD 100% 15.10 FOOD 100% 11.20 GAS/OIL 100% 31.58 GAS/OIL 100% 20.00 GAS/OIL 100% 15.00 FOOD 100% 4.50 FOOD 100% 2.60 FOOD 100% 2.50 FOOD 100% 186.60 FOOD 100% 72.50 RENT A CAR 100% 375.00 ENVELOPES 100% 8.91 DIVING CENTER 100% 280.00 HOTEL 100% 440 GRAPHICS 100% 62.00 Total 998.54 928.70 1927.24

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Annex 1

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Annex 2 (Include in this section data collected, etc.) Species Records Area Abracia lixula 3 Island of Kelifos Acetabularia 2 acetabulum Island of Kelifos Acetabularia calyculus 1 Vourvourou Actinia mediterranea 3 Stratoni Actinia mediterranea 1 Vourvourou Anemonia viridis 1 Vourvourou Angiospermae 1 Nea skioni Anthozoa 1 Vourvourou Aplysina aerophoba 2 Island of Kelifos Aplysina aerophoba 1 Nea Skioni Aplysina aerophoba Island of Kelifos Arbacia lixula 6 Island of Kelifos Atherina hepsetus 1 Vourvourou Bellis perennis 1 Metaggitsi Caenogastropoda 1 Vourvourou Callinectes sapidus 1 Vourvourou Carduinae 1 Nea skioni Carpobrotus 6 acinaciformis Nea Skioni Carpobrotus acinaciformis Nea skioni Carpobrotus chilensis 1 Nea skioni Carpobrotus chilensis 1 Nea skioni Cerastoderma edule 4 Nea Skioni Cerastoderma edule 1 Nea skioni Chlorophyta 1 Nea skioni Chromis chromis 1 Kelifos Convolvulaceae 1 Nea Skioni Coris julis 1 Nea Skioni Coris julis 1 Island of Kelifos Cottus gobio 1 Vourvourou Cucujiformia 1 Nea Skioni Cymodocea nodosa 1 Metaggitsi Cystoseira compressa 1 Island of Kelifos Cytisus scoparius 2 Vourvourou Dasya corimbifera 1 Nea Skioni Delichon urbicum 1 Vourvourou

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Dictyota dichotoma 2 Stratoni Dictyota dichotoma 1 Metaggitsi Diplodus sargus 1 Island of Kelifos Echinidea 1 Nea Skioni Egretta garzetta 1 Vourvourou Eobania vermiculata 2 Nea Skioni Genus acetabularia 1 Vourvourou Genus Astropecten 1 Stratoni Genus Astropecten 1 Vourvourou Genus Haliotis 1 Nea Skioni Genus Malva 1 Metaggitsi Genus Posidonia 1 Nea Skioni Genus Serapias 1 Vourvourou Glaucium flavum 6 Nea Skioni Glaucium flavum 1 Nea skioni Haliotis turbeculata 1 Nea Skioni Harmonia axyridis 1 Akti Salonikiou Helicidae 2 Nea Skioni Hexaplex trunculus 2 Porto Koufo Hirschfeldia incana 1 Nea Skioni Holothuria leucospilota 1 Island of Ammouliani Holothuria poli 2 Vourvourou Holothuria poli 1 Island of Ammouliani Holothuriida 1 Island of Kelifos Holothuroidea 1 Island of Kelifos Ichtyaetus audouinii 1 Island of Kelifos Iphiclides podalirius 1 Stratoni Jania rubens 2 Island of Kelifos Lithognathus mormyrus 1 Vourvourou Littorinimorpha 1 vourvourou Lottioidea 1 Vourvourou Malephora crocea 1 Vourvourou Malva sylvestris 1 Nea skioni Malva sylvestris 1 Pyradikia Mediodactylus kotschyi 1 Metaggitsi Microcarbu pygmeus 1 Vourvourou Mugil cephalus 1 Island of Kelifos Oerobolus pectinatus 2 Vourvourou Padina pavonica 3 Island of Kelifos Papaver rhoeas 1 Nea Skioni Pilosella officinarum 1 Porto Koufo

MEDITERRANEAN INFORMATION OFFICE FOR ENVIRONMENT, CULTURE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (MIO-ECSDE)

Portumnus lysianassa 4 Vourvourou Posidonia oceanica 5 Nea skioni Posidonia oceanica 1 Island of Kelifos Posidoniaceae 1 Nea Skioni Raja radula 4 Stratoni Ranunculus muricatus 1 Metaggitsi Sabella spallanzanii 1 Vourvourou Sarpa salpa 1 Nea Skioni Sepia officinalis 1 Stratoni Serapias vomeracea 1 Vourvourou Serranus scriba 1 Island of Kelifos Spicara maena 1 Stratoni Taraxacum officinale 2 Nea Skioni Torpedo maromarata 4 Stratoni Ulva intestinalis 2 Stratoni Ulva intestinalis 1 Nea Skioni Ulva lactuca 2 Nea Skioni