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The Arctic is undergoing large-scale changes that are likely to accelerate in future decades such as introductions and expansions of invasive species. The Arctic is in a unique position to prevent new introductions and spread of existing invasive species by adopting policies and actions aimed at early detection. Responding to threats from invasive species to minimize impacts to ecosystems, communities, food security, and northern economies will necessitate extensive observations and monitoring, but resource managers often face decisions without having adequate data and resources at hand. Local observing programs such as citizen science and community-based monitoring programs present attractive methods for increasing observing capacity that span contributory and co-created approaches while raising awareness of an issue among stakeholders. While the co-created model has been widely applied and encouraged in the Arctic context, contributory citizen science programs offer an additional tool for addressing observing needs in the Arctic. We showcase three contributory citizen science programs related to freshwater, terrestrial, and marine environments that have supported the objectives of the Alaska Invasive Species Partnership. We discuss criteria for achieving ARIAS priority actions at the participant scale related to participants’ motivation and participants’ understanding of the value of their contributions, at the programmatic scale, for example promoting accessible, reciprocal, and transparent knowledge exchange, and at the policy and science scale where management action is data driven. The approach is aimed at successful integration of citizen science into Arctic policy making. Finally, we discuss challenges related to broader global data collection and future directions for contributory citizen science within Arctic observing networks.
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The Complexities of Counting Fish: Engaging Citizen Scientists in Fish Monitoring
Data gathered by citizen scientists can help ecologists understand long-term trends and can improve the quality and quantity of data about a resource. In Maine and Massachusetts, numerous citizen science programs collect data on river herring, anadromous fish that migrate each spring from the ocean to spawn in rivers and lakes. In collaboration with state and local resource managers and academic institutions, these programs aim to protect and restore river herring, improve local watersheds, and in some cases, support commercial harvesting. To better understand how programs are run and how data are used by managers, we interviewed program coordinators and resource managers. Interviews revealed that resource managers consider citizen science–generated river herring data in decision making, but that their concerns about data quality affect if and how data are used. Although not without challenges, standardizing monitoring approaches could improve data collection and use. We offer six considerations related to standardization for managers.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1539071
- PAR ID:
- 10103976
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Maine policy review
- Volume:
- 26
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1064-2587
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 9-18
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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