Abstract
Recreational water monitoring can be challenging due to the highly variable nature of pathogens and indicator concentrations, the myriad of potential biological hazards to measure for, and numerous access points, both official and unofficial, that are used for recreation. The aim of this study was to develop, deploy, and assess the effectiveness of a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) community-based monitoring (CBM) program for the assessment of bacterial and parasitic hazards in recreational water. This study developed methodologies for performing qPCR ‘in the field,’ then engaged with water management and monitoring groups and tested the method in a real-world implementation study to evaluate the accuracy of CBM using qPCR both quantitatively and qualitatively. This study found high reproducibility between qPCR results performed by non-expert field users and expert laboratory results, suggesting that qPCR as a methodology could be amenable to a CBM program.
Highlights
Community-based monitoring is routinely used for conservation and environmental monitoring [1]
Interclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated to compare community-based monitoring (CBM) partner DNA extracts run on the Chaibio Open quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) machine, and our laboratory ABI 7500/QuantStudio 3
Any CBM program should support and empower communities to answer monitoring and research questions they are interested in. This is the first study to comprehensively test the accuracy of a CBM qPCR water monitoring approach in a real-world context
Summary
Community-based monitoring is routinely used for conservation and environmental monitoring [1]. Citizen science describes both a methodology of conducting large-scale research by recruiting volunteers and refers to the process by which citizens are involved in scientific investigation as researchers. Citizen science can include community-based monitoring (CBM) as a process of collaboration between government, industry, academia, and local community groups to monitor, track, and respond to issues [2,3,4]. The earliest incarnations of citizen science and CBM relied on volunteers as data collectors, but the discipline of CBM has grown and evolved. Recent arguments in favour of CBM suggest the field move away from a paradigm of “using citizens to do science” to an equal power.
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