Dataset Information

Fossil Atmospheres: a case study of citizen science in question-driven palaeontological research.

ABSTRACT: Palaeontologists increasingly use large datasets of observations collected from museum specimens to address broad-scale questions about evolution and ecology on geological timescales. One such question is whether information from fossil organisms can be used as a robust proxy for atmospheric carbon dioxide through time. Here, we present the citizen science branch of 'Fossil Atmospheres', a project designed to refine stomatal index of Ginkgo leaves as a palaeo-CO2 proxy by involving citizen scientists in data collection through the Zooniverse website. Citizen science helped to overcome a barrier presented by the time taken to count cells in Ginkgo samples; however, a new set of challenges arose as a result. A beta-testing phase with Zooniverse volunteers provided an opportunity to improve instructions to ensure high fidelity data. Exploration of citizen scientists' estimates shows that volunteer counts of stomata are accurate with respect to counts made by the project's lead scientist. However, counts of epidermal cells have a wide range, and mean values tend to underestimate expert counts. We demonstrate a variety of approaches to reducing the inaccuracy in the calculated stomatal index that this variation causes. Zooniverse serves as an ideal tool for collection of palaeontological data where the distribution of fossils would be impossible, but where specimens can be easily imaged. Such an approach facilitates the collection of a large palaeontological dataset, as well as providing an opportunity for citizens to engage with climate research.This article is part of the theme issue 'Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the Anthropocene'.

SUBMITTER: Soul LC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6282081 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Fossil Atmospheres: a case study of citizen science in question-driven palaeontological research.

Soul Laura C LC Barclay Richard S RS Bolton Amy A Wing Scott L SL

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 20181119 1763

Palaeontologists increasingly use large datasets of observations collected from museum specimens to address broad-scale questions about evolution and ecology on geological timescales. One such question is whether information from fossil organisms can be used as a robust proxy for atmospheric carbon dioxide through time. Here, we present the citizen science branch of 'Fossil Atmospheres', a project designed to refine stomatal index of <i>Ginkgo</i> leaves as a palaeo-CO<sub>2</sub> proxy by invol ...[more]

PMID: 30455206

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Project description:Although much work has linked the human microbiome to specific phenotypes and lifestyle variables, data from different projects have been challenging to integrate and the extent of microbial and molecular diversity in human stool remains unknown. Using standardized protocols from the Earth Microbiome Project and sample contributions from over 10,000 citizen-scientists, together with an open research network, we compare human microbiome specimens primarily from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia to one another and to environmental samples. Our results show an unexpected range of beta-diversity in human stool microbiomes compared to environmental samples; demonstrate the utility of procedures for removing the effects of overgrowth during room-temperature shipping for revealing phenotype correlations; uncover new molecules and kinds of molecular communities in the human stool metabolome; and examine emergent associations among the microbiome, metabolome, and the diversity of plants that are consumed (rather than relying on reductive categorical variables such as veganism, which have little or no explanatory power). We also demonstrate the utility of the living data resource and cross-cohort comparison to confirm existing associations between the microbiome and psychiatric illness and to reveal the extent of microbiome change within one individual during surgery, providing a paradigm for open microbiome research and education. IMPORTANCE We show that a citizen science, self-selected cohort shipping samples through the mail at room temperature recaptures many known microbiome results from clinically collected cohorts and reveals new ones. Of particular interest is integrating n = 1 study data with the population data, showing that the extent of microbiome change after events such as surgery can exceed differences between distinct environmental biomes, and the effect of diverse plants in the diet, which we confirm with untargeted metabolomics on hundreds of samples.

Dataset Information

Fossil Atmospheres: a case study of citizen science in question-driven palaeontological research.

Publications

Fossil Atmospheres: a case study of citizen science in question-driven palaeontological research.

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