Abstract
The aim of this research is to set a successful strategy for engaging citizen marine scientists and to obtain reliable data on marine species. The case study of this work is the bearded fireworm Hermodice carunculata, a charismatic species spreading from the southern Mediterranean probably in relation to global warming. To achieve research objectives, some emerging technologies (mainly social platforms) were combined with web ecological knowledge (i.e., data, pictures and videos about the target species published on the WWW for non-scientific purposes) and questionnaires, in order to invite people to collect ecological data on the amphinomid worm from the Adriatic Sea and to interact with involved people. In order to address future fruitful citizen science campaigns, strengths and weakness of each used method were illustrated; for example, the importance of informing and thanking involved people by customizing interactions with citizens was highlighted. Moreover, a decisive boost in people engagement may be obtained through sharing the information about citizen science project in online newspapers. Finally, the work provides novel scientific information on the polychete’s distribution, the northernmost occurrence record of H. carunculata in the Mediterranean Sea and new insights on predatory behavior on other living benthic species.
Highlights
In order to measure variations in biodiversity [1], to track spatiotemporal distribution of thermophilus species [2] and to set indicators for benthic invertebrates within the concepts of essential biodiversity variables (EBVs, [3]) and essential ocean variables (EOVs, [4]), it is indispensable to fill data gaps through monitoring activities and collection of occurrence records.Marine conservation initiatives involving volunteers thrived in the last decade [5] and were mainly focused on marine litter, invasive species, seabirds, marine mammals and turtles [6,7]
Most papers (42%) focus on (i) non-indigenous species (NIS) or invasive alien species (IAS), such as gastropods (Aplysia dactylomela, Siphonota geographica), algae (Caulerpa cylindracea), jellyfish (Phyllorhiza punctata) and numerous species of fish; (ii) marine litter (16%); (iii) endangered species (13%) such as sharks, limpets and the bivalve Pinna nobilis; only 5% of the studies are about habitat-forming corals (Figure 4A)
Results in this study show a rapid increase in use of emerging technologies [39], web ecological knowledge and local ecological knowledge which could be exploited together with citizen science and scuba diving to develop cross-program synergies to foster marine conservation goals and to enhance public awareness
Summary
In order to measure variations in biodiversity [1], to track spatiotemporal distribution of thermophilus species [2] and to set indicators for benthic invertebrates within the concepts of essential biodiversity variables (EBVs, [3]) and essential ocean variables (EOVs, [4]), it is indispensable to fill data gaps through monitoring activities and collection of occurrence records.Marine conservation initiatives involving volunteers (marine citizen science) thrived in the last decade [5] and were mainly focused on marine litter, invasive species, seabirds, marine mammals and turtles [6,7]. Citizen scientists may contribute to conservation by detecting target species [8], taking samples or by collecting biodiversity data following standardized protocols [9]; in any case the involvement of citizens greatly speeds up and improves the acquisition of information allowing the extension of the geographical scale and the temporal range of studies with a relatively limited investment [10,11,12,13]. In addition to collecting biodiversity data (occurrence, abundance and other eco-ethological information), one of the main outcomes of citizen science projects is the enhanced knowledge and consciousness of the public about marine environment [14,15,16,17]. Attractive topics and a strong motivation are necessary to foster participation in citizen science projects [18,19].
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