AppEAR: A citizen science mobile app to map the habitat quality of continental waterbodies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.18.28.2.0.686Abstract
Citizen science, or participatory science, is the process by which the general public actively contributes with scientifc projects. Citizen science projects have proliferated in the few last decades thanks to the Internet and are proving to be a great complement to the more “traditional” environmental monitoring efforts. AppEAR (an app to evaluate the aquatic habitats) states as its main objective to map the status of the habitat of continental waterbodies, with a primary focus on its shores and coasts, within a citizen science framework. It consists of a free mobile app that allows users to evaluate the habitat quality of rivers, streams, lakes and estuaries from their mobile devices, by means of questionnaires and photographs. The app also includes educational material and games, related to the characteristics and caring of the continental waterbodies. In its frst year, the AppEAR project incorporated about 460 users who sent information of nearly 131 sampling sites throughout the country. Through their efforts, citizen scientists reported as their main environmental concerns the degradation of the land use around the sites, the quality of the riparian vegetation and the presence of debris or garbage. Even though it is important to recognize the limitation of these digital tools for massive data recollection for scientific purposes, they should be considered as a complement for the more traditional monitoring efforts, that can enrich the different stages in research projects.
https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.18.28.2.0.686
References
Anbumozhi, V., J. Radhakrishnan, and E. Yamaji. 2005. Impact of riparian buffer zones on water quality and associated management considerations. Ecological Engineering 24:517-523.
Belmar, O., D. Bruno, F. Martínez-Capel, J. Barquín, and J. Velasco. 2013. Effects of flow regime alteration on fluvial habitats and riparian quality in a semiarid Mediterranean basin. Ecological Indicators 30:52-64.
Bowser, A., D. Hansen, J. Preece, Y. He, C. Boston, and J. Hammock. 2014. Gamifying citizen science. Proceedings of the companion publication of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work and social computing - CSCW Companion 14:137-140.
Burke, J., D. Estrin, M. Hansen, A. Parker, N. Ramanathan, S. Reddy, and M. B. Srivastava. 2006. Participatory Sensing.
Cardinale, B. J., M. A. Palmer, C. M. Swan, S. Brooks, and L. Poff. 2010. The Influence of Substrate Heterogeneity on Biofilm Metabolism in a Stream. America 83:412-422.
Carpenter, S. R., V. H. S. N. F. Caraco, D. L. Correll, R. W. Howarth, A. N. Sharpley, N. F. Caracco, D. L. Correll, R. W. Howarth, A. N. Sharpley, and V. H. Smith. 1998. Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus and nitrogen. Ecological Applications 8:559-568.
Ceccaroni, L., and J. Piera. 2017. Analyzing the Role of Citizen Science in Modern Research.
Cochero, J., A. Cortelezzi, A. S. Tarda, and N. Gómez. 2016. An index to evaluate the fluvial habitat degradation in lowland urban streams. Ecological Indicators 71.
Cohn, J. P. 2008. Citizen Science: Can Volunteers Do Real Research? BioScience 58:192-197.
Conrad, C. C., and K. G. Hilchey. 2011. A review of citizen science and community-based environmental monitoring: Issues and opportunities. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 176:273-291.
Conrad, C. T., and T. Daoust. 2008. Community-Based Monitoring Frameworks: Increasing the Effectiveness of Environmental Stewardship. Environmental Management 41:358-366.
Cooper, C. B., J. Dickinson, T. Phillips, and R. Bonney. 2007. Citizen science as a tool for conservation in residential ecosystems. Ecology and Society 12.
Le Coz, J., A. Patalano, D. Collins, N. F. Guillén, C. M. García, G. M. Smart, J. Bind, A. Chiaverini, R. Le Boursicaud, G. Dramais, and I. Braud. 2016. Crowdsourced data for flood hydrology: Feedback from recent citizen science projects in Argentina, France and New Zealand. Journal of Hydrology 541:766-777.
Daniels, R. B., and J. W. Gilliam. 1996. Sediment and Chemical Load Reduction by Grass and Riparian Filters. Soil Science Society of America Journal 60:246.
Danielsen, F., N. D. Burgess, P. M. Jensen, and K. Pirhofer-Walzl. 2010. Environmental monitoring: The scale and speed of implementation varies according to the degree of peoples involvement. Journal of Applied Ecology 47:1166-1168.
Dawson, F. H., and U. Kern-Hansen. 1979. The Effect of Natural and Artificial Shade on the Macrophytes of Lowland Streams and the Use of Shade as a Management Technique. Internationale Revue der gesamten Hydrobiologie und Hydrographie 64:437-455.
Dickinson, J. L., B. Zuckerberg, and D. N. Bonter. 2010. Citizen Science as an Ecological Research Tool: Challenges and Benefits. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 41:149-172.
Dris, R., H. Imhof, W. Sánchez, J. Gasperi, F. Galgani, B. Tassin, and C. Laforsch. 2015. Beyond the ocean: contamination of freshwater ecosystems with (micro-)plastic particles. Environmental Chemistry 12:539.
Fitzpatrick, M. C., E. L. Preisser, A. M. Ellison, and J. S. Elkinton. 2009. Observer bias and the detection of low-density populations. Ecological Applications 19:1673-1679.
Francis, R. A., and S. P. G. Hoggart. 2009. Urban river wall habitat and vegetation: observations from the River Thames through central London. Urban Ecosystems 12:465-485.
Gómez, N., and J. Cochero. 2013. An index to assess the habitat quality in Southern Coastal Fringe of the Río de la Plata and its relations with other environmental indicators. Ecologia Austral 23.
González, M., and D. Tánago. 2011. Riparian Quality Index (RQI): A methodology for characterising and assessing the environmental conditions of riparian zones 29:235-254.
Haklay, M. 2015. Citizen Science and Policy: A European Perspective. Common Labs. Case Study Series 4:76.
Hupp, C. R. 1992. Riparian Vegetation Recovery Patterns Following Stream Channelization: A Geomorphic Perspective. Ecology 73:1209-1226.
Irwin, A. 1995. Citizen science: A study of people, expertise and sustainable development. Page Routledge.
Irwin, A. 2001. Constructing the scientific citizen: science and democracy in the biosciences. Public Understand Sci 10.
Kapp, K. M. 2012. The gamification of learning and instruction : game-based methods and strategies for training and education. Pfeiffer.
Klemann-Junior, L., M. A. Villegas Vallejos, P. Scherer-Neto, and J. R. S. Vitule. 2017. Traditional scientific data vs. uncoordinated citizen science effort: A review of the current status and comparison of data on avifauna in Southern Brazil. PloS one 12:e0188819.
Kruger, L. E., and M. A. Shannon. 2000. Getting to Know Ourselves and Our Places Through Participation in Civic Social Assessment. Society and Natural Resources 13:461-478.
Lake, P. S., M. A. Palmer, P. Biro, J. Cole, A. P. Covich, C. Dahm, J. Gibert, W. Goedkoop, K. Martens, and J. Verhoeven. 2000. Global change and the biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems: Impacts on linkages between above-sediment and sediment biota. BioScience 50:1099-1107.
Langhans, S. D., S. D. Tiegs, M. O. Gessner, and K. Tockner. 2008. Leaf-decomposition heterogeneity across a riverine floodplain mosaic. Aquatic Sciences 70:337-346.
Lavado Contador, J. F. 2005. Adaptive management, monitoring, and the ecological sustainability of a thermal-polluted water ecosystem: a case in SW Spain. Environmental monitoring and assessment 104:19-35.
Lepczyk, C. A., O. D. Boyle, T. L. Vargo, P. Gould, R. Jordan, L. Liebenberg, S. Masi, W. P. Mueller, M. D. Prysby, and H. Vaughan. 2009. Symposium 18: Citizen Science in Ecology: the Intersection of Research and Education. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 90:308-317.
Liddle, M. J., and H. R. A. Scorgie. 1980. The effects of recreation on freshwater plants and animals: A review. Biological Conservation 17:183-206.
Malmqvist, B., and S. Rundle. 2002. Threats to the running water ecosystems of the world. Environmental Conservation 29:134-153.
Milne, R., S. Rosolen, G. Whitelaw, and L. Bennett. 2006. Multi-party monitoring in Ontario: Challenges and emerging solutions. Environments 34:11-23
Miretzky, P., A. Saralegui, and A. F. Cirelli. 2004. Aquatic macrophytes potential for the simultaneous removal of heavy metals (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Chemosphere 57:997-1005.
Mishra, V. K., and B. D. Tripathi. 2008. Concurrent removal and accumulation of heavy metals by the three aquatic macrophytes. Bioresource Technology 99:7091-7097.
NABCI Canada. 2016. State of North America’s birds.
Nürnberg, G. K. 1996. Trophic State of Clear and Colored, Soft- and Hardwater Lakes with Special Consideration of Nutrients, Anoxia, Phytoplankton and Fish. Lake and Reservoir Management 12:432-447.
Steelink, C. 1977. Humates and Other Natural Organic Substances in the Aquatic Environment. Journal of Chemical Education 54:599-603.
Steinberg, C. 2013. Ecology of humic substances in freshwaters : determinants from geochemistry to ecological niches. Springer Science and Business Media.
Strayer, D. L. 2006. Challenges for freshwater invertebrate conservation. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 25:271-287.
Sullivan, B. L., T. Phillips, A. A. Dayer, C. L. Wood, A. Farnsworth, M. J. Iliff, I. J. Davies, A. Wiggins, D. Fink, W. M. Hochachka, A. D. Rodewald, K. V. Rosenberg, R. Bonney, and S. Kelling. 2017. Using open access observational data for conservation action: A case study for birds. Biological Conservation 208:5-14.
Sullivan, B. L., C. L. Wood, M. J. Iliff, R. E. Bonney, D. Fink, and S. Kelling. 2009. eBird: A citizen-based bird observation network in the biological sciences. Biological Conservation 142:2282-2292.
Tabacchi, E., L. Lambs, H. Guilloy, A.-M. Planty-Tabacchi, E. Muller, and H. Décamps. 2000a. Impacts of riparian vegetation on hydrological processes. Hydrological Processes 14:2959-2976.
Tabacchi, E., L. Lambs, H. Guilloy, A.-M. Planty-Tabacchi, E. Muller, and H. Décamps. 2000b. Impacts of riparian vegetation on hydrological processes. Hydrological Processes 14:2959-2976.
Theobald, E. J., A. K. Ettinger, H. K. Burgess, L. B. DeBey, N. R. Schmidt, H. E. Froehlich, C. Wagner, J. HilleRisLambers, J. Tewksbury, M. A. Harsch, and J. K. Parrish. 2015. Global change and local solutions: Tapping the unrealized potential of citizen science for biodiversity research. Biological Conservation 181:236-244.
Tulloch, A. I. T., H. P. Possingham, L. N. Joseph, J. Szabo, and T. G. Martin. 2013. Realising the full potential of citizen science monitoring programs. Biological Conservation 165:128-138.
US EPA. 1997. Volunteer Stream Monitoring: A Methods Manual. Page (US EPA, ed.). URL: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-06/documents/stream.pdf.
Wagner, M., C. Scherer, D. Alvarez-Muñoz, N. Brennholt, X. Bourrain, S. Buchinger, E. Fries, C. Grosbois, J. Klasmeier, T. Marti, S. Rodriguez-Mozaz, R. Urbatzka, A. D. Vethaak, M. Winther-Nielsen, and G. Reifferscheid. 2014. Microplastics in freshwater ecosystems: what we know and what we need to know. Environmental Sciences Europe 26:12.
Whitelaw, G., H. Vaughan, B. Craig, and D. Atkinson. 2003. Establishing the Canadian Community Monitoring Network. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 88:409-418.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Joaquin Cochero
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authors retain their rights as follows: 1) by granting the journal the right to its first publication, and 2) by registering the published article with a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which allows authors and third parties to view and use it as long as they clearly mention its origin (citation or reference, including authorship and first publication in this journal). Authors can make other non-exclusive distribution agreements as long as they clearly indicate their origin and are encouraged to widely share and disseminate the published version of their work.
