Volunteer Monitoring Program Research Articles

Informing Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Program Design and Watershed Planning: Case Study of StreamSmart Data Analysis in the Upper White River Basin, Arkansas

AbstractThe watershed group H2Ozarks founded the StreamSmart Citizen Science Program to establish baseline and long‐term water quality data for the Upper White River Basin, Arkansas. StreamSmart volunteers collect water samples and conduct habitat and macroinvertebrate community assessments at >20 sites across a land use‐land cover (LULC) gradient. Since 2020, H2Ozarks has adaptively assessed the program to ensure that the investment in water quality data meets core goals, with particular interest in planning tools and aligning expectations of volunteer effort with the level of training and support. Study objectives were to use StreamSmart data to 1) facilitate understanding of water quality response to stressors in the basin using a range of methods (Spearman rank correlation, non‐parametric changepoint analysis, and categorical and regression tree analysis) and 2) explore implications for program design and watershed planning. Water chemistry‐LULC relationships were in‐line with prior regional studies, as well as global patterns. Detected thresholds and hierarchy provide potential targets for managing LULC change to protect water quality, but further analysis is warranted to refine these relationships. Macroinvertebrate stressor‐response was most detectable for sensitive and less sensitive taxa and for habitat index components, suggesting potential to streamline these programmatic elements. Study findings for StreamSmart should also be informative for other small‐scale volunteer monitoring programs with limited resources, but which actively evaluate the types of data and program activities that yield a maximum scientific return on investment.

Citizen science and land use data provide insight into the invasive riparian plant composition of the Hudson River Valley watershed

AbstractInvasive plants in the riparian zone can negatively affect the characteristics and quality of a watershed. To support the development of a watershed management plan and foster public appreciation of the value of the riparian zone, Mohonk Preserve established a volunteer monitoring program surveying sites for invasive species. Between 2017 and 2019, citizen scientists repeatedly surveyed 20 sites in the Hudson River Valley in New York for 10 invasive plant species: purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.), common reed [Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud], multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora Thunb.), garlic mustard [Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb.) Cavara & Grande], dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis L.), Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum Siebold & Zucc.), wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius Maxim.), barberry (Berberis spp.), Japanese stiltgrass [Microstegium vimineum (Trin.) A. Camus], and Asiatic bittersweet (oriental bittersweet, Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.). We found that the number of target species detected was higher on sites closer to paved roads and with increasing drainage area size, while lower with higher percentages of forested land in the basin. Our analysis results highlight variation in the presence of target invasive species across the Hudson River Valley region, highlighting sites and areas to monitor for future introductions and take action to prevent species’ invasions. Our results highlight differences in the most relevant abiotic factors for hydrophytes and non-hydrophyte species, underscoring the importance of considering species’ life-history traits before the development of management plans for invasive plant species in the riparian zone. Our case study of community-collected data in the Hudson River Valley region using a relatively simple monitoring protocol can provide a road map for other regions fostering volunteer engagement with invasive plants.

Early Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Volunteer Water Monitoring Programs in the United States and Canada.

ABSTRACTVolunteer water monitoring programs generate new scientific knowledge, contribute data to decision‐making processes, and increase social networks, technical knowledge, and skills of participants. Declaration of the COVID‐19 pandemic threatened the ability of these programs to continue to engage volunteers to achieve such outcomes. A national water monitoring network hosted a brainstorming webinar to facilitate communication across programs to identify potential solutions to pandemic‐influenced challenges. Following that webinar, a survey of United States and Canadian volunteer monitoring programs that was conducted about 3 months into the pandemic revealed that 72% of 80 responding programs planned to carry on through the 2020 field season despite most having experienced delayed starts. Other common program modifications implemented in the first months of the pandemic included adding COVID‐19 safety information to program guidance, changing field team composition, monitoring timing and logistics, and adopting new communications strategies. Most programs reported loss or anticipated loss in number of data observations (74%) and volunteers (66%), while 44% reported known or anticipated losses in funding. Seventeen percent of responding programs were able to swiftly develop distance learning tools to train participants, which led to increased program capacity to reach broader audiences.

Analyzing long-term water quality of lakes in Rhode Island and the northeastern United States with an anomaly approach.

Addressing anthropogenic impacts on aquatic ecosystems is a focus of lake management. Controlling phosphorus and nitrogen can mitigate these impacts, but determining management effectiveness requires long-term datasets. Recent analysis of the LAke multi-scaled GeOSpatial and temporal database for the Northeast (LAGOS-NE) United States found stable water quality in the northeastern and midwestern United States; however, sub-regional trends may be obscured. We used the University of Rhode Island’s Watershed Watch Volunteer Monitoring Program (URIWW) dataset to determine if there were sub-regional (i.e., 3000 km2) water quality trends. URIWW has collected water quality data on Rhode Island lakes and reservoirs for over 25 yr. The LAGOS-NE and URIWW datasets allowed for comparison of water quality trends at regional and sub-regional scales, respectively. We assessed regional (LAGOS-NE) and sub-regional (URIWW) trends with yearly median anomalies calculated on a per-station basis. Sub-regionally, temperature and chlorophyll a increased from 1993 to 2016. Total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and the nitrogen:phosphorus ratio (N:P) were stable. At the regional scale, the LAGOS-NE dataset showed similar trends to prior studies of the LAGOS-NE with chlorophyll a, total nitrogen, and N:P all stable over time. Total phosphorus did show a very slight increase. In short, algal biomass, as measured by chlorophyll a in Rhode Island lakes and reservoirs increased, despite stability in total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and the nitrogen to phosphorus ratio. Additionally, we demonstrated both the value of long-term monitoring programs, like URIWW, for identifying trends in environmental condition, and the utility of site-specific anomalies for analyzing for long-term water quality trends.

Assessing the Accuracy of Nitrate Concentration Data for Water Quality Monitoring Using Visual and Cell Phone Quantification Methods

In this methodological project we tested the accuracy of two systems used to quantify results obtained using the Hach© nitrate strip for water quality volunteer monitoring programs. The test strip determines nitrate concentration in accordance with the Lambert-Beer law as increased nitrate concentrations result in greater color intensity on the strip’s sampling pad. In this study, first-time volunteers estimated nitrate concentrations with the test strip, either visually or using the Deltares Nitrate App, a smartphone application that uses the phone’s camera as a spectrometer. Results from two different series of tests indicate that volunteers using visual methods produce the more accurate results. Although cell phone apps might have the potential to increase data quality for colorimetric assays such as the one employed by the Hach© nitrate test strip, the current technology was not an improvement relative to visual interpolation.

Development of a Metric of Aquatic Invertebrates for Volunteers (MAIV): A Simple and Friendly Biotic Metric to Assess Ecological Quality of Streams

Citizen science activities, involving local people in volunteer-supported and sustainable monitoring programs, are common. In this context, the objective of the present work was to develop a simple Metric of Aquatic Invertebrates for Volunteers (MAIV), including a user-friendly tool that can be easily accessed by volunteers, and to evaluate the efficiency of a volunteer monitoring program following an audit procedure. To obtain MAIV values, macroinvertebrate communities were reduced to 18 surrogate taxa, which represented an acceptable compromise between simplicity, efficiency, and reproducibility of the data, compared to the regular Water Framework Directive monitoring. When compared to results obtained with the National Classification System of Portugal, MAIV accurately detected moderate, poor, and bad ecological status. Thus, MAIV can be used by volunteers as a complement to the official monitoring program, as well as a prospective early warning tool for local problems related to ecological quality. Volunteers were students supervised by their teachers. Results obtained by volunteers were compared to results obtained by experts on macroinvertebrate identification to measure the efficiency of the procedure, by counting gains and losses on sorting, and identification. Characteristics of groups of volunteers (age and school level) did not influence significantly the efficiency of the procedure, and generally results of volunteers and experts matched.

Use of a Volunteer Monitoring Program to Assess Water Quality in a TMDL Watershed Utilized for Recreational Use, Pickens County, South Carolina

Municipalities, regulatory agencies, and resource advocacy organizations are often tasked with the enormous responsibility of monitoring water quality and implementing management strategies for vast areas within their jurisdictions. A potential means for addressing the resulting sampling shortfall is the use of volunteer monitoring programs. The project reported herein demonstrates the use of QA/QC protocols developed by Georgia Adopt-a-Stream (AAS) to monitor water quality issues for Twelve Mile Creek located in Pickens County, SC. The Twelve Mile watershed has a storied past as a U.S. EPA Superfund site due to industrial PCB contamination. Recent mitigation efforts involving the removal of two concrete dams have resulted in the creation of a nearly two-mile section of whitewater which is used by the local paddling community and is being marketed as a recreational destination. However, the Twelve Mile watershed also has a TMDL Implementation Plan in place due to chronic impairment from fecal coliform bacteria. Using sampling and monitoring methods developed by AAS, this project determined that E. coli levels increase significantly during high-flow discharges due to storm events and there were no significant differences in E. coli concentrations among sites located along a longitudinal gradient following the proposed Twelve Mile Creek Blueway. Ironically, the popularity of this area for paddling increases during periods of high discharge, thus recreational users are likely exposed to unhealthy levels of bacteria under these “desirable” conditions. Volunteer monitoring programs like AAS exhibit tremendous potential for gathering water quality data that may not be possible if left solely up to other stakeholders. Appropriately managed volunteer monitoring programs have the capability to increase the resolution, reach, and efficiency of existing monitoring programs and serve to benefit a variety of stakeholders.

Exotic aquatic plant watch: development of a volunteer monitoring program for invasive species in Michigan lakes

Exotic aquatic plant watch: development of a volunteer monitoring program for invasive species in Michigan lakes

Comparing monitoring data collected by volunteers and professionals shows that citizen scientists can detect long-term change on coral reefs

Citizen science is increasing and can complement the work of professional scientists, but the value of citizen data is often untested. We therefore compared the long-term changes to coral reefs that were detected by a professional and volunteer monitoring program, operated by University of Rhode Island (URI) staff and Reef Check volunteers, respectively. Both groups monitored reefs in the British Virgin Islands from 1997 to 2012 but mostly monitored different sites (URI 8 sites and Reef Check 4 sites). When URI staff visited the Reef Check sites to perform a side-by-side to comparison, Reef Check fish density estimates were consistently higher than those made by URI observers but benthic indicators showed better agreement. When long-term trends were compared, the two programs detected qualitatively similar trends in the % cover of live coral and coral rubble, but temporal changes in the cover of other benthic indicators were less consistent. The URI program detected a widespread increase in parrotfish densities and a decline in snappers, whereas the Reef Check surveys detected no consistent changes in any fish density indicators. Overall, site-specific temporal trends revealed by the URI program were more often statistically significant than those from Reef Check (twice as often for benthic taxa, and five times as often for fish taxa), which implies greater precision of the scientists’ counts. Nonetheless, volunteers were able to detect important changes in benthic communities and so have a valuable role to play in assessing change on coral reefs.

Integrating freshwater science and local management through volunteer monitoring partnerships: the Michigan Clean Water Corps

AbstractThousands of local watershed organizations and lake associations are actively involved in protection and management of freshwater systems throughout the USA. These nonprofit organizations may or may not have paid staff and rarely employ trained scientists or natural resource managers. Thus, they face challenges, including lack of access to technical assistance to support their lake and river assessment and management initiatives, and may struggle to convince decision makers of the validity of their efforts. Meanwhile, researchers and managers within academia and agencies are challenged by lack of access to long-term data sets, field sites, funding, and personnel, and sometimes struggle to demonstrate real-world application of research results and to build support for freshwater research and management programs. The Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps) volunteer monitoring program is a partnership-based program involving state and regional organizations and local volunteers that has met the above c...

The role of conservation partnerships between scientists and nonprofit agencies in freshwater science and management

The role of conservation partnerships between scientists and nonprofit agencies in freshwater science and management

A comparison between professionally (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) and volunteer (Florida LAKEWATCH) collected trophic state chemistry data in Florida

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) professional biologists and Florida LAKEWATCH volunteers sampled 27 Florida lakes simultaneously to measure the concentrations of total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and chlorophyll. Each program used their Standard Operating Procedures for both field and laboratory activities to determine data comparability. Results showed that LAKEWATCH data were nearly equivalent to FDEP's, which were collected using stringent quality assurance (QA) protocols and analyzed in a National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC)-certified laboratory in compliance with the state's QA rule. The R2 values for paired comparisons of total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and chlorophyll were 0.97, 0.90, and 0.97, respectively, indicating functionally equal values between programs. Properly trained volunteers should be viewed as partners, and volunteer monitoring can be embraced as a robust tool for obtaining credible, cost-effective data. Studies like this demonstrate that data collected by volunteer monitoring programs are suitable for regulatory decisions, if such programs and agencies work together to ensure necessary data quality and documentation.

Using mobile phones to engage citizen scientists in research

Mobile phone‐based tools have the potential to revolutionize the way citizen scientists are recruited and retained, facilitating a new type of “connected” citizen scientist—one who collects scientifically relevant data as part of his or her daily routine. Established citizen science programs collect information at local, regional, and continental scales to help answer diverse questions in the geosciences and environmental sciences. Hundreds of thousands of citizen scientists contribute to recurring research projects such as the Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count, which drew more than 60,000 observers in 2009, or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Volunteer Monitoring program, through which trained volunteers improve the monitoring of water quality in lakes and streams across the United States. These programs have relied on traditional recruiting techniques and written observations. New methods for engaging participants through technology, specifically, mobile applications, or apps, provide unprecedented ways for participants to have immediate access to their own and others' observations and research results.

Uses and Biases of Volunteer Water Quality Data

State water quality monitoring has been augmented by volunteer monitoring programs throughout the United States. Although a significant effort has been put forth by volunteers, questions remain as to whether volunteer data are accurate and can be used by regulators. In this study, typical volunteer water quality measurements from laboratory and environmental samples in Iowa were analyzed for error and bias. Volunteer measurements of nitrate+nitrite were significantly lower (about 2-fold) than concentrations determined via standard methods in both laboratory-prepared and environmental samples. Total reactive phosphorus concentrations analyzed by volunteers were similar to measurements determined via standard methods in laboratory-prepared samples and environmental samples, but were statistically lower than the actual concentration in four of the five laboratory-prepared samples. Volunteer water quality measurements were successful in identifying and classifying most of the waters which violate United States Environmental Protection Agency recommended water quality criteria for total nitrogen (66%) and for total phosphorus (52%) with the accuracy improving when accounting for error and biases in the volunteer data. An understanding of the error and bias in volunteer water quality measurements can allow regulators to incorporate volunteer water quality data into total maximum daily load planning or state water quality reporting.

Infra-estrutura básica de suporte para o estudo de ecossistemas aquáticos

Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The implementation of a water quality assessment and monitoring program is paramount to an efficient system of water regulation and management. These activities are, or should be, performed by official environmental protection agencies, but two major drawbacks hinder such actions: analytical methods used are often inappropriate to evaluate ecosystem health and the incapacity to attend the overwhelming growing demand. To solve these problems, Brazilian “Water Legislation” stimulates public participation in the management of water resources. As a contribution to this process, this study aims to develop a biotic index for volunteer monitoring and assessment of wadeable streams. The index (IBVol) is composed by tolerance values, which were attributed to macroinvertebrate groups based on their distribution in an anthropogenic impact gradient represented by 52 sites/occasions. The IBVol was correlated to environmental parameters as well as to Biochemical Oxygen Demand, indicating its ability to reflect both major ecosystem changes and the water quality. A test performed in Espirito Santo State indicated the index is robust enough to be used in other regions, in streams with similar ecological conditions to those where it was created. As a future perspective, the IBVol should be tested in volunteer monitoring programs.

Volunteer Macroinvertebrate Monitoring: Assessing Training Needs through Examining Error and Bias in Untrained Volunteers

BRIDGES is a recurring feature of J-NABS intended to provide a forum for the interchange of ideas and information between basic and applied researchers in benthic science. Articles in this series will focus on topical research areas and linkages between basic and applied aspects of research, monitoring policy, and education. Readers with ideas for topics should contact Associate Editors Nick Aumen and Marty Gurtz. Citizen monitoring groups are an important source of data needed to assess the status of streams and rivers. Scientists and other resource management professionals are striving to increase the involvement of citizens, and to improve the quality of the data they collect. In this article, Nerbonne and Vondracek address the ability of volunteers to correctly sort and identify benthic macroinvertebrates. The authors demonstrate the effects that macroinvertebrate size and motility have on the results of volunteer efforts, and relate these results to the use of 2 different taxonomic keys available from volunteer monitoring programs. Specific recommendations are made to improve volunteer monitoring programs.

Volunteer Biological Monitoring: Can It Accurately Assess the Ecological Condition of Streams?

Government agencies have begun to use biological monitoring data collected by volunteers for official purposes, but questions have been raised regarding the validity of conclusions about ecological condition. We conducted a 2-yr study that assessed, modified, and validated the Virginia Save-Our-Streams (SOS) program, a popular volunteer monitoring program that emphasizes benthic macroinvertebrates. The study design consisted of sampling sites using accepted professional methods concurrently with volunteers using the SOS protocol. In addition, sites previously sampled by volunteers were re-sampled using professional methods. The numerical results from volunteer and professional samples were not correlated ( r = 0.46) and at times produced different conclusions about ecological condition (65% agreement). The Virginia SOS protocol consistently overrated ecological condition. We determined that the reason for the inaccuracy was the simplistic numerical analysis in the volunteer protocol, which was based solely on presence of taxa. We developed a quantitative multimetric index that was appropriate for use by volunteers, and the SOS sampling protocol was modified to obtain counts of macroinvertebrates in the various taxa. The modified SOS protocol was then evaluated with a different set of concurrent samples taken by volunteers and professionals. The modified SOS protocol proved feasible for volunteers, and the new multimetric index correlated well with a professional multimetric index ( r = 0.6923). The conclusions about ecological condition reached by the volunteer and professional protocols agreed very closely (96%). This study demonstrated that volunteer biological monitoring programs can provide reliable information about ecological condition, but every protocol needs to be validated by standard quantitative methods.

Quality Assurance Testing for a Large Scale Volunteer Monitoring Program: The Acid Rain Monitoring Project

Quality Assurance Testing for a Large Scale Volunteer Monitoring Program: The Acid Rain Monitoring Project

Collaborative evaluation of a volunteer monitoring program to improve group homes for adults with mental retardation.

This report describes an evaluation study of a volunteer monitoring program designed to improve the quality of life in group homes for adults with mental retardation. Special attention is given to the evaluation researchers' efforts to collaborate with the volunteer monitors to develop valid measures and a research design that would minimize the inherent threats to validity (e.g., selection biases). Initial results noted (a) the frequency in which 257 volunteers monitored 248 group homes in Michigan and (b) the homes that were visited three or more times over the course of this study had lower normalization levels than the home visited only once or twice. The impact of the program was tested using a repeated measures design with a subsample of 79 homes that were monitored on at least four occasions. The evaluation results suggested that frequent monitoring was associated with improvements in the homes' decor, the residents' appearance, and the social interaction styles in the homes.