'Citizen scientists' explain mysterious die-offs, trace oil spills back to surprising culprits

Sol Katzman and Stew Perlman are spending a sunny Saturday morning on Scott Creek Beach leaning over a rotting sea lion carcass.

The body has lost its moisture and begun to flatten into the sand. The two men manage not to grimace as they measure the pungent heap from nose to tail and tie green twine around the rear flipper to show it's been counted.

Katzman, 60, and Perlman, 64, are "citizen scientists," part of a volunteer project that collects information about beach-cast marine mammals, birds and turtles along 40 miles of Monterey Bay coastline, from Davenport to Carmel.

The BeachCOMBERS project, which turned 15 this year, has explained mysterious die-offs, exposed harmful fishing practices and traced oil spills back to surprising culprits. The project's goal is to determine how much animal mortality is normal on various beaches, enabling year-to-year comparisons.

Project Manager Hannah Nevins, a seabird biologist with Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, said marine mammals and birds reflect the health of the whole environment they live in. Their population numbers mirror those of the species they eat, including forage fish such as anchovies and sardines, which are hard to count or monitor directly.

MercuryNews.com - www.mercurynews.com

03 Jan 2013

K Servick

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Citizen science can produce reliable data

Citizen science occurs when data for scientific research is collected by members of the public in a voluntary capacity. Public participation in environmental projects, in particular, has been described as a global phenomenon.

But there is a stigma associated with these types of projects. The data collected are often labelled untrustworthy and biased. Research in this area continues to show however, that data collected by what is essentially a non-professional workforce, are comparable to those collected by professional scientists.

Provided steps are in place to deal with data integrity, we have much to gain by putting more trust in citizen scientists.

Across the globe thousands of people collect data on everything from counts of stars in distant galaxies to the timing of flowering events. Volunteers have long been collecting data on the health of coral reefs, and ornithologists encourage volunteers to collect data on bird migration.

Citizen science has benefits for scientists – including an inexpensive and potentially large labour force – and citizens, who get knowledge and fulfilment. These schemes expose people to the environment and develop the stewardship ethic.

But what motivates my interest in this area is the potential to create a more scientifically literate society; building the capacity for people to take information they receive in their everyday lives and then being able to make informed choices based on the what they have learned. Those choices could be anything from the products they buy as consumers or the political parties they support.

The Conversation -  theconversation.edu.au

07 Jan 2013

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Can Citizen Scientists Be Our First Line Of Defense In Environmental Disasters?

It can be months before the true experts finally get into an area affected by disasters like oil spills, but there are thousands of concerned citizens interested in documenting what’s happened. The problem is: We never use their data.

How do you assess the impact of a large oil spill? Not easily, says Sabrina McCormick. If it’s like the Gulf disaster, the oil will have spread far and wide, and the effects will be lingering and insidious. It’ll take scientists years to take readings, and even then, their conclusions are likely to miss a lot.

McCormick, an associate professor at George Washington University, has studied the scientific response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. She says most reports tend to downplay the effects on the environment and human health because of a lack of good data for many areas.

Instead of traditional data-gathering, McCormick thinks disaster responders should turn to citizen-scientists, who can provide more timely, granular information. "The data collected through crowd-sourcing is generally more time-sensitive. It’s able to fill a gap in the data-collection process that otherwise wouldn’t get filled," she says.

Co.Exist - www.fastxoexist.com 

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Printable Data Form - Memory Aid

What was that I saw again...?


Having trouble remembering the details for your report before you get home?  Want to have a paper form to take notes on about the event?  Download the document below to help you take notes on paper in the field.  Simply print them out, fold up a copy in your backpack or hip-sack, and you're ready whenever you come across an event.

WHER Data Entry Aid

Are you wondering what the data field definitions are?  Here is a document which lists of the fields and a brief description for each.  Still have questions unanswered about the data entry process or field descriptions?  Contact us - wher [at] wdin.org or use the Feedback link at the bottom of every WHER page.

WHER Data Field Descriptions

How Do I Create a WHER Account?

How to Set Up an Account

Do you want to get involved and help researchers gain a better understanding of wildlife disease?  Follow these simple steps to create and confirm an account in WHER.

1. Go to http://www.whmn.org/wher/users/add
2. Enter the required fields and optional fields where you like.
3. If you're signing up for a volunteer group, check the box next to the group name. If you're just joining as an individual, you can skip this step.
4. Click the Save button to save your account details.
5. Go check your email! You should receive an email from wher@wdin.org with a link to click to confirm your account.

Need some troubleshooting help?
If the confirmation email never arrives, email us at wher@wdin.org to help get your account activated. Sometimes your email spam folder is routed important messages on accident; check in this folder if your email provider auto-filters your spam.

Notification to WHER Users: Create New Accounts Now Fixed

Late last week the Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER) was experiencing some technical problems, which was preventing users from creating new accounts. This problem has now been fixed.

WHER is still in beta development and we expect other minor problems to arise as people use the system. If you are experiencing difficulties or having questions about WHER, please contact us at wher@wdin.org

The WHER Team

Notification to WHER Users: Unable to Create New Accounts

Currently, the Wildlife Health Event Reporter (WHER) is experiencing some technical problems. The system is unable to complete creating new accounts. If a user attempts this, they will get the following message:

* An error was encountered when we tried to send you an account confirmation error message.

The WHER team is working on the problem and will resolve it as quickly as possible. When it is fixed, we will post another announcement.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

The WHER Team