How can marine and coastal citizen science provide opportunities for communities while contributing to scientific knowledge and its application? Our research on marine and coastal CCS has examined the unique challenges of working in this environment, and developed insights that can be applied across many different contexts.

Examining the Role of Community and Citizen Science in Marine Protected Areas

The UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science is launching a project aimed at understanding the contributions of CCS programs to the first decade of MPA implementation, which can inform the 2022 decadal review of California MPAs, and subsequent planning and implementation. We are working with state partners, including the California Ocean Protection Council and Department of Fish and Wildlife, and CCS practitioners and participants to assemble data and develop insights that cut across the many different projects that have contributed to MPAs over the last 10 years.

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MPA Watch Data Analysis

Citizen science plays a crucial role in conserving and managing California’s ocean and coastal habitats. Thousands of volunteers, working on more than 10 different projects, have played a role in collecting monitoring data along California’s marine protected areas (MPAs). 

One of these is MPA Watch, which recruits and trains local volunteers to collect scientifically rigorous data to improve our understanding of how MPAs are being used by the public, what ecosystem services they are providing, and their effectiveness in providing healthy habitat for wildlife. This citizen science initiative monitors human use of coastal natural resources and helps communities collect relevant, accurate, and broadly accessible data.

To join in this effort, the Center for Community and Citizen Science is collaborating with the Ocean Protection Council, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Resource Legacy Fund, and MPA Watch to analyze data recorded by MPA Watch volunteers over the past decade. Dr. Michael Dobbins, a quantitative and spatial ecologist, is leading the analysis by incorporating novel and interdisciplinary analytical methods to better understand the drivers of human use and consumption along California’s coast. Watch this space for more news about our work with MPA Watch and California’s thriving coastal citizen science community!

Publications

Co-edited by Dr. John Cigliano and our Faculty Director, Heidi Ballard, Citizen Science for Coastal and Marine Conservation provides a broad range of case studies exploring the utility and feasibility, as well as limitations, of using marine and coastal citizen science for conservation to leverage these resources and address these tensions. The book also provides critical considerations (i.e., which questions and systems are best suited for citizen science), and presents recommendations for best practices for successful marine and coastal citizen science projects.
 

Freiwald, J., Meyer, R., et al. (2018). Citizen science monitoring of marine protected areas: case studies and recommendations for integration into monitoring programs. Marine Ecology.

Meyer, R., Meyer, E., Sievanen, L., and Freitag, A. (2017). Using citizen science to inform ocean and coastal resource management. In J. A. Cigliano & H. L. Ballard (Eds.), Citizen Science for Coastal and Marine Conservation. Routledge (Taylor & Francis).

Freitag, A., Meyer R., and Whiteman, L. (2016). Strategies Employed by Citizen Science Programs to Increase the Credibility of Their Data. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice. 1(1): 1-11

Cigliano, J. A., Meyer, R., Ballard, H. L., Freitag, A., Phillips, T. B. & Wasser, A. (2015). Making Marine and Coastal Citizen Science Matter. Ocean and Coastal Management. 115: 77-87

Past Projects

Scaling Up Effectiveness for Coastal Citizen Science

Over the course of their lives, people learn most of the science they know outside of school, in informal educational contexts of their own choosing. This project examined such “free-choice learning” in the context of COASST — a successful and long-running citizen science program spanning much of the West Coast of North America. Researchers used quantitative and qualitative approaches to advance understanding of how learning and engagement work for COASST volunteers, and what that means of the success of the program in terms of engagement and retention of volunteers, and broader outcomes related to scientific knowledge and its application. Researchers at the Center collaborated with the University of Washington and Oregon State University, with funding from NOAA Sea Grant.