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COVID-19 pandemic drives changes in participation in citizen science project "City Nature Challenge" in Tokyo.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way large citizen science events can be carried out-reducing gatherings of large groups and shifting toward individual, small-group, and online participation. This paper aims to describe changes in participant engagement in the City Nature Challenge (CNC) in Tokyo. The CNC is a four-day international event held in April to document biodiversity in cities using an online citizen science platform, iNaturalist. To assess the impact of COVID-19, we compared the number of participants, observations, species, and identification rates in 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (during the pandemic). We also used cluster analysis to elucidate participation patterns, and we assessed changes in the geographical distribution of observation sites. The results showed: (1) the number of participants and observations decreased by 63% and 68%, respectively; however, the number of species was almost the same in the two years, and the identification rate increased 154% in 2020 relative to 2019. (2) The most enthusiastic participants contributed in similar amounts in 2019 and 2020, but participation by less enthusiastic volunteers drastically declined. (3) The spatial distribution of observation sites changed from cluster-like to scattered. Understanding participant engagement during the pandemic could help to improve data quality, reduce geographical bias in observations, maintain records, and recruit more users in future years. Online citizen science could provide opportunities for many citizens to get outside and participate in conservation science during and after the pandemic.

SUBMITTER: Kishimoto K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8455166 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundBiodiversity is being lost rapidly and its conservation is thus one of the most urgent tasks today. For biodiversity conservation to be successful, the public needs to gain an awareness and understanding of biodiversity and its importance. Moreover, species experts are needed who have the skills necessary for identifying and recording biodiversity. Previous research showed that citizen science projects can contribute to educating the public about biodiversity. However, it is still unclear how project characteristics connect to participants' knowledge and skills and how citizen science projects should be designed if they are to foster participants' learning.AimWe aimed to investigate specific characteristics of biodiversity citizen science projects that could potentially influence participants' learning. We explored the following project characteristics from both the project coordinators' and the participants' perspectives: information and training provided to participants, social interaction among participants, contact between participants and staff, and feedback and recognition provided to participants.Methods and resultsIn order to examine the extent to which these project characteristics are connected to participants' gains in knowledge and skills, we conducted a comprehensive study across 48 biodiversity citizen science projects in Europe and Australia. We found that participants' perceived gains in knowledge and skills were significantly related to the five project characteristics as reported by the participants: information received by the participants, training received by the participants, social interaction among participants, contact between participants and staff, and feedback and recognition received by the participants.ConclusionWe conclude that by deliberately designing citizen science projects to include features such as interaction and feedback, these projects could achieve higher learning outcomes for the participants. Thereby, suitable modes of communication between projects and their participants are crucial. We provide specific suggestions for the design of biodiversity citizen science projects and for future research on project characteristics and participant outcomes.

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COVID-19 pandemic drives changes in participation in citizen science project "City Nature Challenge" in Tokyo.

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