Open Air Laboratories Research Articles

Reducing hydro-meteorological risks through nature-based solutions: A comprehensive review of enabling policy frameworks in the European Union

The international community, particularly across the European Union (EU), is increasingly recognizing and promoting Nature-based Solutions (NBS) as long-term and sustainable measures against hydro-meteorological hazards such as flooding, coastal erosion, heat waves and landslides. Yet, scaled implementation of NBS at EU and global level presently remains a challenge due to often complex and lengthy permitting procedures. While efforts have been made to highlight the explicit and implicit role of NBS in major global and European policy frameworks, uncertainty remains when it comes to the level of coherence across government levels, from international to national and local scale. This paper attempts to address this gap by introducing an open-access online policy catalogue pertaining to the implementation of 740 NBS projects globally to mitigate the impact of hydro-meteorological phenomena. Based on a policy screening of 88 NBS projects in Europe and an in-depth analysis of the NBS permitting paths across seven Open-Air Laboratories in European countries, we examine the linkages between European and national legislation and policies. Understanding these linkages will help promote NBS mainstreaming as the NBS agenda is set at EU and global level while implementation is heavily dependent on national-scale governance. We identify a common permitting path for NBS paved by the EU in several directives, as well as some divergence in the implementation of these directives at national level which can pose significant challenges to the uptake of NBS. The NBS policy catalogue provides a valuable resource for further analysis of the NBS policy context from local to global levels towards increasing uptake and acceptance of NBS in Europe and beyond.

A nature-based solution selection framework: Criteria and processes for addressing hydro-meteorological hazards at open-air laboratories across Europe

Nature-based solutions (NbS) can be beneficial to help human communities build resilience to climate change by managing and mitigating related hydro-meteorological hazards (HMHs). Substantial research has been carried out in the past on the detection and assessment of HMHs and their derived risks. Yet, knowledge on the performance and functioning of NbS to address these hazards is severely lacking. The latter is exacerbated by the lack of practical and viable approaches that would help identify and select NbS for specific problems. The EU-funded OPERANDUM project established seven Open-Air Laboratories (OALs) across Europe to co-develop, test, and generate an evidence base from innovative NbS deployed to address HMHs such as flooding, droughts, landslides, erosion, and eutrophication. Herein, we detail the original approaches that each OAL followed in the process of identifying and selecting NbS for specific hazards with the aim of proposing a novel, generic framework for selecting NbS. We found that the process of selecting NBS was overall complex and context-specific in all the OALs, and it comprised 26 steps distributed across three stages: (i) Problem recognition, (ii) NbS identification, and (iii) NbS selection. We also identified over 20 selection criteria which, in most cases, were shared across OALs and were chiefly related to sustainability aspects. All the identified NbS were related to the regulation of the water cycle, and they were mostly chosen according to three main factors: (i) hazard type, (ii) hazard scale, and (iii) OAL size. We noticed that OALs exposed to landslides and erosion selected NbS capable to manage water budgets within the soil compartment at the local or landscape scale, while OALs exposed to floods, droughts, and eutrophication selected approaches to managing water transport and storage at the catchment scale. We successfully portrayed a synthesis of the stages and steps followed in the OALs’ NbS selection process in a framework. The framework, which reflects the experiences of the stakeholders involved, is inclusive and integrated, and it can serve as a basis to inform NbS selection processes whilst facilitating the organisation of diverse stakeholders working towards finding solutions to natural hazards. We animate the future development of the proposed framework by integrating financial viability steps. We also encourage studies looking into the implementation of the proposed framework through quantitative approaches integrating multi-criteria analyses.

DNA metabarcoding unveils the effects of habitat fragmentation on pollinator diversity, plant-pollinator interactions, and pollination efficiency in Maldive islands.

Habitat fragmentation affects biodiversity, but with unclear effects on pollinators and their interactions with plants in anthropized landscapes. Islands could serve as open air laboratories, suitable to disentangle how land-use alteration impacts pollination ecology. In Maldive islands we investigated how pollinator richness, plant-pollinator interactions and pollination efficiency are influenced by the green area fragmentation (i.e., gardens and semi-natural patches). Moreover, we considered the mediating role of pollinator body size and the plant trait of being invasive in shaping interactions. To do this, we surveyed pollinator insects from 11 islands representing a gradient of green area fragmentation. A DNA metabarcoding approach was adopted to identify the pollen transported by pollinators and characterize the plant-pollinator interactions. We found that intermediate levels of green area fragmentation characterized pollinator communities and increased their species richness, while decreasing interaction network complexity. Invasive plants were more frequently found on pollinator bodies than native or exotic noninvasive ones, indicating a concerningly higher potential for pollen dispersal and reproduction of the former ones. Intriguingly, pollinator body size mediated the effect of landscape alteration on interactions, as only the largest bees expanded the foraging diet in terms of plant richness in the transported pollen at increasing fragmentation. In parallel, the pollination efficiency increased with pollinator species richness in two sentinel plants. This study shows that moderate landscape fragmentation of green areas shapes many aspects of the pollination ecosystem service, where despite interactions being less complex and mediated by pollinator body size, pollinator insect biodiversity and potential plant reproduction are supported.

Open air laboratories: Amazonian home gardens as sites of experimentation, collaboration, and negotiation across time

In this article, we make the case for home gardens to be understood as “open-air” laboratories— sites of experimentation, collaboration, and negotiation both among humans and non-humans. Our examination specifically draws on case studies from Amazonia to highlight the deep history of concentrated human activities in gardens (or garden-like environments) as well as their ongoing importance for contemporary agrobiodiversity management, historical memory, and socio-cultural continuity in the face of modernization and environmental change. We discuss how Amazonian home gardens have evolved over time and how they serve to challenge Euro-American conceptions of gardens. Through an examination of both ethnobotanical and archaeological research, we show that Amazonian home gardens are manifestations of deeply rooted histories of experimentation with the diversity of Amazonian life.

On the Management of Nature-Based Solutions in Open-Air Laboratories: New Insights and Future Perspectives

The adoption of Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs) represents a novel means to mitigate natural hazards. In the framework of the OPERANDUM project, this study introduces a methodology to assess the efficiency of the NBSs and a series of Open-Air Laboratories (OALs) regarded as a proof-of-concept for the wider uptake of NBSs. The OALs are located in Finland, Greece, UK, Italy, and Ireland. The methodology is based on a wide modeling activity, incorporated in the context of future climate scenarios. Herein, we present a series of models’ chains able to estimate the efficiency of the NBSs. While the presented models are mainly well-established, their coupling represents a first fundamental step in the study of the long-term efficacy and impact of the NBSs. In the selected sites, NBSs are utilized to cope with distinct natural hazards: floods, droughts, landslides, salt intrusion, and nutrient and sediment loading. The study of the efficacy of NBSs to mitigate these hazards belongs to a series of works devoted to the implementation of NBSs for environmental purposes. Our findings prove that land management plays a crucial role in the process. Specifically, the selected NBSs include intensive forestry; the conversion of urban areas to grassland; dunes; marine seagrass; water retention ponds; live cribwalls; and high-density plantations of woody vegetation and deep-rooted herbaceous vegetation. The management of natural resources should eventually consider the effect of NBSs on urban and rural areas, as their employment is becoming widespread.

How Effective Are Citizen Scientists at Contributing to Government Tree Health Public Engagement and Surveillance Needs-An Analysis of the UK Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) Survey Model.

Simple SummaryThe impact on tree health from insect pests and microbial diseases that have moved across country borders has been increasing in recent years. This poses a significant challenge to government authorities, and a number of countries have been examining how effective volunteers from the general public can be in supporting tree health surveillance. Our paper describes a project led by the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) in the United Kingdom which tested the extent to which the public were motivated to participate in tree health surveillance. It also examined whether ‘citizen scientists’ could provide information which would be of genuine use to officials and scientists responsible for national tree health. The results suggest that there was considerable engagement from the public, who completed over 2800 surveys covering more than 4500 trees. Nevertheless, despite designing the OPAL survey specifically for untrained individuals, the results were only partially of value to tree health specialists. The paper discusses the results and concludes that involving citizens with some existing expert knowledge is probably the most effective way to generate more reliable data. Lay citizens can contribute effectively at critical times when additional surveillance capacity is needed, provided that suitable guidance and support are given.The incidence of tree disease has been increasing in the UK in recent years as a result of a range of alien tree pests and pathogens new to the country. In the early 2010s government staff resources to monitor, identify and eradicate these pathogens were limited, so we tested the efficacy of “citizen scientists” to support these needs. The Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) is a successful citizen science programme launched in 2007, which at that time of launch involved over 650 thousand people in a range of environmental surveys. In 2012–2013, the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) and Forest Research staff worked with OPAL and its partners to launch a citizen science tree health survey in Great Britain and this was extended to cover Northern Ireland until it closed in 2019. Over 2800 surveys were completed including records on more than 4500 trees, the majority from urban areas. This paper discusses the results of the survey and their value for the assessment of tree health. It also considers the implications of engagement with the general public for the future of tree health surveillance. Recommendations are made for further development of the OPAL “model” and more generally for the role of citizen science in this important area.

What Is Public Engagement, and What Is It for? A Study of Scientists’ and Science Communicators’ Views

The “Open Air Laboratories” (OPAL) is a large, England-wide environmental public engagement (PE) project based on the “citizen science” model. It is designed to involve people of all backgrounds and abilities in the production of environmental science and in the process to educate and raise awareness and enthusiasm about nature and its importance. This article draws on a series of interviews with scientists and science communicators involved in the project to explore their motivations and aims for the project and what they see as the goals of public engagement generally. We find a varied and nuanced array of motivations and aims that interviewees cite for taking part in the project, pointing toward a reevaluation of traditional ways of understanding the value of public engagement, policy relevance, and dialogue within public engagement. Especially relevant in relation to thinking about the policy relevance of PE is our conclusion that there are many different ways of thinking about the value of PE, characterized in this article as “the neglected middle.”

Surveying the citizen science landscape: an exploration of the design, delivery and impact of citizen science through the lens of the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) programme.

BackgroundThis paper provides a short introduction to the topic of citizen science (CS) identifying the shift from the knowledge deficit model to more inclusive, participatory science. It acknowledges the benefits of new technology and the opportunities it brings for mass participation and data manipulation. It focuses on the increase in interest in CS in recent years and draws on experience gained from the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) programme launched in England in 2007.MethodsThe drivers and objectives for OPAL are presented together with background information on the partnership, methods and scales. The approaches used by researchers ranged from direct public participation in mass data collection through field surveys to research with minimal public engagement. The supporting services focused on education, particularly to support participants new to science, a media strategy and data services.ResultsExamples from OPAL are used to illustrate the different approaches to the design and delivery of CS that have emerged over recent years and the breadth of opportunities for public participation the current landscape provides. Qualitative and quantitative data from OPAL are used as evidence of the impact of CS.ConclusionWhile OPAL was conceived ahead of the more recent formalisation of approaches to the design, delivery and analysis of CS projects and their impact, it nevertheless provides a range of examples against which to assess the various benefits and challenges emerging in this fast developing field.

Initiating and continuing participation in citizen science for natural history.

BackgroundNatural history has a long tradition in the UK, dating back to before Charles Darwin. Developing from a principally amateur pursuit, natural history continues to attract both amateur and professional involvement. Within the context of citizen science and public engagement, we examine the motivations behind citizen participation in the national survey activities of the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) programme, looking at: people’s experiences of the surveys as ‘project-based leisure’; their motivations for taking part and barriers to continued participation; where they feature on our continuum of engagement; and whether participation in an OPAL survey facilitated their movement between categories along this continuum. The paper focuses on a less-expected but very significant outcome regarding the participation of already-engaged amateur naturalists in citizen science.ResultsOur main findings relate to: first, how committed amateur naturalists (already-engaged) have also enjoyed contributing to OPAL and the need to respect and work with their interest to encourage broader and deeper involvement; and second, how new (previously-unengaged) and relatively new participants (casually-engaged) have gained confidence, renewed their interests, refocussed their activities and/or gained validation from participation in OPAL. Overall, we argue that engagement with and enthusiasm for the scientific process is a motivation shared by citizens who, prior to participating in the OPAL surveys, were previously-unengaged, casually-engaged or already-engaged in natural history activities.ConclusionsCitizen science has largely been written about by professional scientists for professional scientists interested in developing a project of their own. This study offers a qualitative example of how citizen science can be meaningful to participants beyond what might appear to be a public engagement data collection exercise.

To have your citizen science cake and eat it? Delivering research and outreach through Open Air Laboratories (OPAL).

BackgroundThe vast array of citizen science projects which have blossomed over the last decade span a spectrum of objectives from research to outreach. While some focus primarily on the collection of rigorous scientific data and others are positioned towards the public engagement end of the gradient, the majority of initiatives attempt to balance the two. Although meeting multiple aims can be seen as a ‘win–win’ situation, it can also yield significant challenges as allocating resources to one element means that they may be diverted away from the other. Here we analyse one such programme which set out to find an effective equilibrium between these arguably polarised goals. Through the lens of the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) programme we explore the inherent trade-offs encountered under four indicators derived from an independent citizen science evaluation framework. Assimilating experience from the OPAL network we investigate practical approaches taken to tackle arising tensions.ResultsWorking backwards from project delivery to design, we found the following elements to be important: ensuring outputs are fit for purpose, developing strong internal and external collaborations, building a sufficiently diverse partnership and considering target audiences. We combine these ‘operational indicators’ with four pre-existing ‘outcome indicators’ to create a model which can be used to shape the planning and delivery of a citizen science project.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that whether the proverb in the title rings true will largely depend on the identification of challenges along the way and the ability to address these conflicts throughout the citizen science project.

Quality control in public participation assessments of water quality: the OPAL Water Survey.

BackgroundPublic participation in scientific data collection is a rapidly expanding field. In water quality surveys, the involvement of the public, usually as trained volunteers, generally includes the identification of aquatic invertebrates to a broad taxonomic level. However, quality assurance is often not addressed and remains a key concern for the acceptance of publicly-generated water quality data. The Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) Water Survey, launched in May 2010, aimed to encourage interest and participation in water science by developing a ‘low-barrier-to-entry’ water quality survey. During 2010, over 3000 participant-selected lakes and ponds were surveyed making this the largest public participation lake and pond survey undertaken to date in the UK. But the OPAL approach of using untrained volunteers and largely anonymous data submission exacerbates quality control concerns. A number of approaches were used in order to address data quality issues including: sensitivity analysis to determine differences due to operator, sampling effort and duration; direct comparisons of identification between participants and experienced scientists; the use of a self-assessment identification quiz; the use of multiple participant surveys to assess data variability at single sites over short periods of time; comparison of survey techniques with other measurement variables and with other metrics generally considered more accurate. These quality control approaches were then used to screen the OPAL Water Survey data to generate a more robust dataset.ResultsThe OPAL Water Survey results provide a regional and national assessment of water quality as well as a first national picture of water clarity (as suspended solids concentrations). Less than 10 % of lakes and ponds surveyed were ‘poor’ quality while 26.8 % were in the highest water quality band.ConclusionsIt is likely that there will always be a question mark over untrained volunteer generated data simply because quality assurance is uncertain, regardless of any post hoc data analyses. Quality control at all stages, from survey design, identification tests, data submission and interpretation can all increase confidence such that useful data can be generated by public participants.

Differences between urban and rural hedges in England revealed by a citizen science project.

BackgroundHedges are both ecologically and culturally important and are a distinctive feature of the British landscape. However the overall length of hedges across Great Britain is decreasing. Current challenges in studying hedges relate to the dominance of research on rural, as opposed to urban, hedges, and their variability and geographical breadth. To help address these challenges and to educate the public on the importance of hedge habitats for wildlife, in 2010 the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) programme coordinated a hedge-focused citizen science survey.ResultsResults from 2891 surveys were analysed. Woody plant species differed significantly between urban and rural areas. Beech, Holly, Ivy, Laurel, Privet and Yew were more commonly recorded in urban hedges whereas Blackthorn, Bramble, Dog Rose, Elder and Hawthorn were recorded more often in rural hedges. Urban and rural differences were shown for some groups of invertebrates. Ants, earwigs and shieldbugs were recorded more frequently in urban hedges whereas blowflies, caterpillars, harvestmen, other beetles, spiders and weevils were recorded more frequently in rural hedges. Spiders were the most frequently recorded invertebrate across all surveys. The presence of hard surfaces adjacent to the hedge was influential on hedge structure, number and diversity of plant species, amount of food available for wildlife and invertebrate number and diversity. In urban hedges with one adjacent hard surface, the food available for wildlife was significantly reduced and in rural hedges, one adjacent hard surface affected the diversity of invertebrates.ConclusionsThis research highlights that urban hedges may be important habitats for wildlife and that hard surfaces may have an impact on both the number and diversity of plant species and the number and diversity of invertebrates. This study demonstrates that citizen science programmes that focus on hedge surveillance can work and have the added benefit of educating the public on the importance of hedgerow habitats.

Combining citizen science and public engagement: the Open AirLaboratories Programme

Citizen Science (or “Public Participation in Scientific Research”), has attracted attention as a new way of engaging the public with science through recruiting them to participate in scientific research. It is often seen as a win-win solution to promoting public engagement to scientists as well as empowering the public and in the process enhancing science literacy. This paper presents a qualitative study of interviews with scientists and communicators who participated in the “OPAL” project, identifying three potential flashpoints where conflicts can (though not necessarily do) arise for those working on citizen science professionally. We find that although participation in the CS project was generally valued, it does not seem to overcome continuing (and widely reported) concerns about public engagement. We suggest that enthusiasm for win-win situations should be replaced with more realistic expectations about what scientists can expect to get out of CS-style public engagement.

Vegetation influence on soil formation rate in a proglacial chronosequence (Lys Glacier, NW Italian Alps)

Climate change has huge impacts on alpine ecosystems. One of the most visible effects in the Alps is glacier retreat since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA), which caused the exposure of previously glaciated surfaces. These surfaces are open-air laboratories, verifying theories regarding ecosystem and soil development.In order to increase our knowledge on the effects of time and vegetation primary succession on soil development in proglacial areas, we sampled soils and surveyed plant communities on stable points in the proglacial area of the Lys glacier, in the Italian north-western Alps (Valle d'Aosta Region). The sampling points were located on dated sites (based on literature and/or historical photographs).Glacial till is attacked by weathering processes immediately after deposition and stabilization, with a consequent loss of soluble compounds, decrease of pH and primary mineral weathering. The speed of these processes was largely increased after the establishment of a continuous vegetation cover, thanks to the organic matter accumulation caused by litter input and root decomposition below the soil surface.On sialic glacial tills, below timberline and under a quasi-climax larch–Rhododendron forest, fast and steady decrease in pH values, increase in organic matter content and horizon differentiation were observed. In particular, genetic eluvial horizons formed in approximately 60years, while diagnostic albic horizons were developed after ca. 90years, pointing to an early start of the podzolization processes. Cheluviations of Fe and, secondarily, Al were analytically verified. However, illuviations of Fe, Al and organic matter in incipient B horizons were not sufficient to obtain diagnostic spodic horizons on LIA materials.Under grazed grassland below timberline and alpine prairie above timberline, acidification and weathering were slightly slower, and no redistribution with the depths of Fe and Al oxi-hydroxides was observed. A cambic Bw horizon developed on the oldest LIA moraines.Therefore it seemed that this fast onset of the podzolization process in comparison to other proglacial chronosequences in the Alps was mainly driven by vegetation properties rather than by specific climatic conditions.

Teaching botanical identification to adults: experiences of the UK participatory science project ‘Open Air Laboratories’

Taxonomic education and botany are increasingly neglected in schools and universities, leading to a ‘missed generation’ of adults that cannot identify organisms, especially plants. This study pilots three methods for teaching identification of native plant species to forty-three adults engaged in the participatory science project ‘Open Air Laboratories’ (OPAL). The three teaching methods (dichotomous key, word association exercise based on a mnemonic approach and pictorial card game) proved equally effective in teaching plant identification to participants for the groups of plants used. The dichotomous key is an established method for teaching transferrable identification skills, whilst the other two methods could be useful tools for stimulating initial interest and awareness in novices. The reasons for the decline in botanical knowledge are discussed, alongside the importance of using appealing identification resources and making botany relevant to people’s lives.

Public Participation in Soil Surveys: Lessons from a Pilot Study in England

In many countries there are policies in place that impact on soils, but very few legislative or policy tools specifically for the protection of soil. Recent EU legislative proposals on soil protection have been met with opposition on the grounds of excessive cost and resource demands. With the need for evidence based policy, and recognition that involving the public in environmental monitoring is an effective way of increasing understanding and commitment, there has been growing interest in soil surveys. In addition, it is accepted that the success of environmental policies depends greatly on how effectively scientists, regulators, stakeholders, and society communicate. This paper presents the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) Soil and Earthworm Survey as an example of public participation in soil surveys that aims to integrate the above. It is demonstrated how such surveys generate data that can be used to prioritise soil assessment, in order to address some of the concerns and objections to soil protection policies. Lessons from this pilot study in England highlight that with strategic planning of civic participation activities, this approach can deliver improvements in the quality of the evidence collected and allow for effective public involvement in policymaking and implementation, on top of direct educational benefits.