The role of citizen science in ornithology

Abstract

ORNITHOLOGY AND CITIZEN SCIENCE For many reasons, the study of wild birds has played a pioneering role in the development of modern biology. Although birds were included as examples in the major syntheses before the 20th century (including the theory of natural selection), their special position strengthened along with the broad change of biology from describing patterns towards explaining processes. In the first half of the 20th century, it was recognized that the bird is a well-suited subject for studies into the problems of functional morphology, physiology, behaviour, and orientation of animals (Haffer, 2007). Since then, birds have provided some of the most significant model systems for testing general hypotheses regarding speciation and in the diverse fields of ecology, including population and community ecology, evolutionary and behavioural ecology (Gill, 2007). Another distinct feature of ornithology is that, because of the attractiveness of birds, amateurs have always assisted (and outnumbered) professional ornithologists (Greenwood, 2007). In the modern world, such 'citizen science' (the involvement of volunteers in research) provides two great opportunities. First, it enables to widen both the spatial and the temporal scale of field studies beyond the limited reach of individual researchers and short-term project funding. A respectable part of current ornithology--bird surveys involving broad public participation--thus provides pivotal data for developing conservation science and macroecology, and for detecting long-term changes in wild populations, communities, and the wider environment (Greenwood, 2007; Dickinson et al., 2010; Magurran et al., 2010). Secondly, public participation and direct contact with researchers serve as an educational tool for raising awareness about environmental issues and the scientific method (Brossard et al., 2005; Bonney et al., 2009; Devictor et al., 2010). By that, and by increasing public support, the citizen-science part of ornithology is useful for clever applications of ecological knowledge, particularly in conflict situations of biodiversity conservation. THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES Together with its opportunities, a reliable and self-sustaining citizen-science system presents special challenges. One is that managing the contact with the public requires administering capacity and special skills, such as extensive communication and the development of online data storage systems (Bell et al., 2008). Other challenges are methodological: a prerequisite for the inclusion of a large number of volunteers is a clear and simple protocol of data recording, while the data collected will nevertheless be heterogeneous and probably biased for several reasons. Therefore, proper management and analysis of volunteer-collected data typically require professional statisticians to handle the complex sampling designs, error sources, and data structure (Dickinson et al., 2010). These challenges are best addressed by large non-governmental organizations governed by their (amateur) members but employing professional staff to organize the work; and there are many advantages to having a single national organization at least in the case of ornithology (Greenwood, 2007). As exemplified by the European experience, organized citizen-science approaches can greatly increase study effort and reduce the costs of biodiversity monitoring projects (Schmeller et al., 2009). In Estonia, citizen ornithology started to organize on 1 May 1921, when 15 persons, led by Professors Johannes Piiper and Henrik Koppel (Rector of the University of Tartu), formed the Estonian Ornithological Society (EOS). Despite being re-organized several times, the society soon became the centre of volunteer-assisted ornithological projects in Estonia with distinct peaks of its activity in the 1930s, 1950s, and 1970s (Kumari, 1976; Mand, 1992; Leibak et al., 1994). The two last peaks are largely related to the activity of Professor Eerik Kumari, who organized professional teams, published the first field identification guides in Estonian and, in particular, prepared a so far unsurpassed textbook for amateur researchers (Kumari, 1963). …