<
https://theconversation.com/citizen-scientists-collect-more-nature-data-than-ever-showing-us-where-common-and-threatened-species-live-212372>
"Citizen science isn’t new anymore. For decades, keen amateur naturalists have
been gathering data about nature and the environment around them – and sharing
it.
But what is new is the rate at which citizen scientists are collecting and
sharing useful data. Last year, 10 million observations of species were
collected. Our new research shows 9.6 million of those came from citizen
scientists. It makes intuitive sense. There are only so many professional
researchers. But nearly everyone now has a smartphone.
But if anyone can contribute data, how do you know it’s reliable? Was it really
an antechinus, or was it a black rat? Despite the growing success in collecting
data, there has long been scepticism over how reliable the data are when used
to, say, estimate how abundant a threatened species is.
It turns out, citizen science is extremely useful – especially when paired with
professionally collected data."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
