How do marine and coastal citizen science experiences foster environmental engagement?

Utilising tourist-generated citizen science data in response to environmental challenges: A systematic literature review

There has been a proliferation of studies that have examined the impacts of public participation in Citizen Science (CS) that respond to environmental challenges and the recovery of ecosystems, endangered species or other important natural assets. However, comparatively few studies have explored how tourists may play a critical role in the generation of CS data and thus it has been posited that many potential opportunities remain unrealised. By systematically analysing studies that have utilised tourist-generated data in response to environmental challenges or issues, this paper seeks to establish an appraisal of what has so far been established in extant literature and to identify future possibilities for the inclusion of tourists in CS. Via our literature search, a total of 45 peer-reviewed studies were identified via the PRISMA search protocol. Our findings reveal numerous positive outcomes were reported that highlight the significant, yet largely untapped, potential of tourist integration in CS, with studies also offering a range of recommendations on how tourists could be included more effectively to expand scientific knowledge. Notwithstanding, several limitations were observed, and it is critical that future CS projects that utilise tourists for data collection purposes are acutely aware of the challenges they may encounter.

Kolb's experiential learning theory and marine debris education: Effects of different stages on learning

Marine debris is a vital issue in ocean governance. While education outreach can promote individual learning and develop pro-environmental behavior, research on marine debris education remains scarce. Kolb's experiential learning theory may provide a holistic model for marine debris education; therefore, this study developed an experiential-learning based marine debris (ELBMD) beach cleanup curriculum and analyzed the participants' performance during Kolb's four-stage cycle. The results revealed that (1) the ELBMD curriculum deepened the participants' understanding of marine debris, created a sense of responsibility, and increased their confidence in analytical skills and intention to act responsibly. (2) Reflection (Stage II) encouraged participants to think deeply about the human-environment relationship, which induced pro-environmental behavior and awareness of political engagement (Stage IV). (3) Peer discussion (Stage III) induced participants to refine their conception architecture, form values, and practice pro-environmental behavior (Stage IV). The results may aid the development of future marine debris education.

Sustainable Management of the African Great Lake Coastal Areas: Motivations and Perspectives of Community Citizen Scientists

The long-term sustainability of the African Great Lakes is strongly connected to the management and monitoring of their coastal areas. Yet, the communities that live in these areas are rarely involved in monitoring and have limited influence on key management issues. Furthermore, regulatory activities and knowledge sharing in these transnational ecosystems are strongly limited by funding and infrastructure limitations. Citizen science has great potential to advance both scientific and public understanding of the state of the environment. However, there remains a limited understanding of participants' motivations and expectations, especially in developing countries, where citizen science has great potential to complement regulatory monitoring. The present study explores the motivations of citizen scientists in villages along Lake Tanganyika's northern coast and their potential to take a more active role in lake management. Motivations were examined through qualitative interviews, focus groups, and quantitative surveys with 110 citizen scientists and 110 non-citizen scientists from participating villages. Key motivational factors identified were the desire to contribute to scientific research and local knowledge, as well as aspects of financial compensation. The results confirm that participation in citizen science provides many benefits to participants beyond their role as data aggregators and final knowledge users. However, the incentives to participation varied to those typically considered in citizen science programs conducted in developed countries. To create sustainable long-term community based environmental monitoring, these motivations should be incorporated in the program design and participant recruitment.

Who engages with science, and how? An empirical typology of Europeans' science engagement

This article seeks to expand the literature on science attitudes by developing an empirical typology of people's engagement choices and investigating their sociodemographic characteristics. Public engagement with science is gaining a central role in current studies of science communication, as it implies a bidirectional flow of information, which makes science inclusion and knowledge co-production realizable goals. However, research has produced few empirical explorations of the public's participation in science, especially considering its sociodemographic characteristics. By means of segmentation analysis using Eurobarometer 2021 data, I observe that Europeans' science participation can be distinguished into four types, disengaged, the largest group, aware, invested, and proactive. As expected, descriptive analysis of the sociocultural characteristics of each group suggests that disengagement is most common among people with lower social status. In addition, in contrast to the expectations from existing literature, no behavioral distinction emerges between citizen science and other engagement initiatives.

The evolution of ocean literacy: A new framework for the United Nations Ocean Decade and beyond

First introduced in the early 2000s, the concept of ocean literacy has evolved in recent years, not least since its inclusion as a mechanism for change within the United Nations Ocean Decade's goals. Building on early definitions of ocean literacy, there has been increasing recognition of a range of additional dimensions which contribute to an individual or collective sense of 'ocean literacy'. Drawing on existing research, and parallel and supporting concepts, e.g., marine citizenship, ocean connectedness, and public perceptions research, this paper proposes ten dimensions of ocean literacy: knowledge, communication, behaviour, awareness, attitudes, activism, emotional connection, access and experience, adaptive capacity and trust and transparency, and recommends expanding previously recognised dimensions, in a bid to ensure that ocean literacy encompasses diverse knowledges, values and experiences. The paper provides a useful framework for ongoing ocean literacy research, and highlights aspects of ocean literacy which have received limited focus to date.

Connection is key when there's no planet B: The need to innovate environmental science communication with transdisciplinary approaches

As anthropogenic damage to the environment continues worldwide, effective science communication has never been more important. Despite this there are numerous barriers between traditional science communication (e.g. journal articles to news media) and the goal of encouraging more sustainable behaviours. Connections between public groups, science communicators and the environment, are all key to overcome barriers in intergroup communication. It is vital science communication adapts with transdisciplinary approaches to become more effective in its purpose. As such training of environmental science communicators must change. This endeavour will be supported by the enrichment of academic institutions through becoming more active in expediting cooperation between STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and HASS (humanities, arts and social science) disciplines. Modern dissemination of misinformation must be tackled with holistic approaches to bridge outgroups and enable the formation of trust.

Coral restoration and adaptation in Australia: The first five years

While coral reefs in Australia have historically been a showcase of conventional management informed by research, recent declines in coral cover have triggered efforts to innovate and integrate intervention and restoration actions into management frameworks. Here we outline the multi-faceted intervention approaches that have developed in Australia since 2017, from newly implemented in-water programs, research to enhance coral resilience and investigations into socio-economic perspectives on restoration goals. We describe in-water projects using coral gardening, substrate stabilisation, coral repositioning, macro-algae removal, and larval-based restoration techniques. Three areas of research focus are also presented to illustrate the breadth of Australian research on coral restoration, (1) the transdisciplinary Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP), one of the world's largest research and development programs focused on coral reefs, (2) interventions to enhance coral performance under climate change, and (3) research into socio-cultural perspectives. Together, these projects and the recent research focus reflect an increasing urgency for action to confront the coral reef crisis, develop new and additional tools to manage coral reefs, and the consequent increase in funding opportunities and management appetite for implementation. The rapid progress in trialling and deploying coral restoration in Australia builds on decades of overseas experience, and advances in research and development are showing positive signs that coral restoration can be a valuable tool to improve resilience at local scales (i.e., high early survival rates across a variety of methods and coral species, strong community engagement with local stakeholders). RRAP is focused on creating interventions to help coral reefs at multiple scales, from micro scales (i.e., interventions targeting small areas within a specific reef site) to large scales (i.e., interventions targeting core ecosystem function and social-economic values at multiple select sites across the Great Barrier Reef) to resist, adapt to and recover from the impacts of climate change. None of these interventions aim to single-handedly restore the entirety of the Great Barrier Reef, nor do they negate the importance of urgent climate change mitigation action.

Discovering marine biodiversity in the 21st century

We review the current knowledge of the biodiversity of the ocean as well as the levels of decline and threat for species and habitats. The lack of understanding of the distribution of life in the ocean is identified as a significant barrier to restoring its biodiversity and health. We explore why the science of taxonomy has failed to deliver knowledge of what species are present in the ocean, how they are distributed and how they are responding to global and regional to local anthropogenic pressures. This failure prevents nations from meeting their international commitments to conserve marine biodiversity with the results that investment in taxonomy has declined in many countries. We explore a range of new technologies and approaches for discovery of marine species and their detection and monitoring. These include: imaging methods, molecular approaches, active and passive acoustics, the use of interconnected databases and citizen science. Whilst no one method is suitable for discovering or detecting all groups of organisms many are complementary and have been combined to give a more complete picture of biodiversity in marine ecosystems. We conclude that integrated approaches represent the best way forwards for accelerating species discovery, description and biodiversity assessment. Examples of integrated taxonomic approaches are identified from terrestrial ecosystems. Such integrated taxonomic approaches require the adoption of cybertaxonomy approaches and will be boosted by new autonomous sampling platforms and development of machine-speed exchange of digital information between databases.

Multi-Phase Environmental Impact Assessment of Marine Ecological Restoration Project Based on DPSIR-Cloud Model

In order to achieve a comprehensive evaluation of the environmental impact of ecological restoration projects (ERP) under the current destruction and restoration of coastal ecological areas, this paper takes into account the impact of positive and negative indicators on the environment; analyzes the positive and negative benefits of ERP; and establishes a comprehensive environmental impact index system for marine ERP from ecological, economic, and social perspectives through the DPSIR model. On this basis, the cloud model and Monte Carlo simulation are used to obtain the comprehensive assessment grade of the construction period, short-term operation, and long-term operation in the project life cycle. The results show that the benefits of ERP, considering the impact of negative factors, are significantly reduced, and the benefits of ERP will increase remarkably in the long-term operation period. In engineering practice, the environmental pressure factor caused by excessive human activities during construction and operation periods is a key negative factor affecting the overall benefits of ERP. For project decision makers and other stakeholders, the comprehensive assessment grade considering negative impacts is more practical. At the same time, decision makers should take active response measures in the framework of long-term sustainable development, set a tolerance threshold for negative pressure indicators, and strengthen the management of ERP.

Citizen science in marine litter research: A review

Citizen science (CS) can help to tackle the emerging and worldwide problem of marine litter (ML), from collecting data to engaging different stakeholders. We reviewed what and how the scientific literature is reporting CS on ML to identify possible gaps to be improved. The 92 search results (separate occasions when 48 different CS initiatives were discussed across 85 publication records) revealed an under-representation of studies in developing regions. Most search results focused on the science of ML, whilst information regarding citizen scientists was commonly vague or missing, preventing critical analysis of good practices on this aspect. The studies concentrated on the shoreline and did not harmonize types and sizes of items collected, thus precluding data meta-analyses. The standardisation of CS methods and approaches and the detailed report of aspects related to citizen scientists are essential to support the science we need for the advances in CS efforts to face ML.

Citizen science as a tool for enhancing recreation research in protected areas: Applications and opportunities

As the popularity of nature-based recreation and tourism grows, protected area (PA) managers around the world are faced with escalating monitoring and management challenges across spatial and temporal scales. Citizen science, an emerging research approach which involves active public participation and collaboration with scientists in the scientific process, is an innovative tool that could help managers address these challenges. This study applied the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review Recommendations (PRISMA) protocol to review published studies that utilized citizen science methods in recreation research, examining the extent and nature of such applications and identifying future opportunities. We identified 20 peer-reviewed journal articles from the Web of Science, most of which were published since 2015. These studies utilized different citizen science approaches to examine recreation patterns, behaviors, and impacts in terrestrial and marine PAs. We found that citizen science was used most often in marine PAs, with specialized recreationists (e.g., SCUBA divers) as the most frequent contributors. The types of volunteers recruited differed by their sources (i.e., general public, recreation specialists, and organizational affiliates) and roles (i.e., volunteers as agents of data collection and volunteers as research subjects), with innovative technology (e.g., participatory GIS) creating new engagement opportunities. Despite these benefits, the accuracy and reliability of citizen science data remain important considerations for managers. Our review demonstrates how citizen science can inform management and enhance public participation in PA stewardship activities, and it reveals the need for more research to explore applications of citizen science in different recreation contexts.

Differences in behavior, engagement and environmental knowledge on waste management for science and social students through the campus program

It is proven that the educational environment contributes to increasing knowledge about waste. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the environmental education process in higher institutions with various policies and programs in good waste management. It focuses on the behavior, engagement, and environmental knowledge of students in the science and social department at Syiah Kuala University, Indonesia. Furthermore, it examines the differences in behavior, engagement, and environmental knowledge of waste management through campus programs. This study collected data from 279 social science and science students with characteristics of 123 males and 156 females with an average age of 18.4 years from 18-20 years spread across Syiah Kuala University, Indonesia. The study data were collected through a questionnaire involving 279 students related to environmental behavior, engagement, and knowledge in waste management. Data analysis used descriptive and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) one-way using SPSS version 23 application for windows. The results showed that the students have good environmental attitudes, engagement, and knowledge in waste management with various existing policies and programs. Generally, the average score majoring in social and science from the behavioral variables is [(3,71), (3,62)], engagement is [(3,39), (3,52)] and environmental knowledge is [(3,43), (3,67)] for waste management. Their environmental behavior majoring in social science was higher. Similarly, in environmental engagement and knowledge, students majoring in science were higher than in social science. These results provide an understanding that programs and policies related to environmental conservation have a significant impact on environmental behavior, engagement, and knowledge for sustainable development free of waste. Therefore, institutions at all levels should provide education on environmental conservation with various policies and programs to support a free waste environment.

Environmental Management in the Peri-urban Region: Psychological and Contextual Factors Influencing Private Land Conservation Actions

Peri-urban areas, defined as the region between urban and rural settlements, are heterogeneous, dynamic regions experiencing rapid land use change in cities around the world. Ongoing development and land use change has resulted in the fragmentation, degradation and loss of natural assets, threatening biodiversity, and ecosystems within the peri-urban region. With much of this land privately owned, the actions of landholders have considerable opportunity to deliver environmental outcomes, yet an understanding of this diverse group of landholders is challenging. Through a survey of landholders (N = 184) in Australian peri-urban regions we sought to understand motivations and barriers to engagement in environmental management. Factors influencing willingness to engage in environmental management included perceived personal capacity to act, feeling that actions were helpful, and community participation. We discuss how engagement strategies could incorporate these findings by focussing on improving capacity and environmental knowledge with hands on, face-to-face extension activities, encouraging simple actions, and fostering greater community interaction.

Nudging and citizen science: The effectiveness of feedback in energy-demand management

Nudging is a framework for directing individuals toward better behavior, both for personal and societal benefits, through heuristics that drive the decision-making process but without preventing any available choice. Considering the Grand Challenges that our society faces today, nudging represents an effective framework to tackle some of these pressing issues. In this work, we assessed the effectiveness of informational nudges in the form of detailed, customized feedback, within an energy-demand-management project. The project aligns energy production and demand, thereby reducing greenhouse gases and pollutant emissions to mitigate climate change. We also offered evidence that this kind of feedback is efficacious in involving individuals as citizen scientists, who volunteer their efforts toward the success of the environmentally-related aim of the project. The results of this research - based on surveys, electroencephalography measurements and online participation measures - indicate that feedback can be an effective tool to steer participants' behavior under the libertarian paternalistic view of nudging, increase their motivation to contribute to citizen science, and improve their awareness about environmentally-related issues. In so doing, we provide evidence that nudging and citizen science can be jointly adopted toward the mitigation of pressing environmental issues.

Achieving conservation impact by shifting focus from human attitudes to behaviors

Attitudes have been a commonly used psychological measure of program effectiveness in conservation social science research. The major limitation of this approach is that attitudes do not always translate into behavior and therefore may not provide an accurate assessment of program success. Given that achieving conservation goals generally relies on understanding and changing human behavior, we argue for the need to assess behavior rather than attitudes as an indicator of conservation outcomes. Psychological theory shows that attitudes and behavior are distinct, but related, concepts. Measuring conservation behaviors involves identifying the target behavior or behaviors and the optimal time to measure and then selecting the most appropriate method of measurement (i.e., direct observation, objective indicators, self-reported behavior, and behavioral intentions) that considers the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. We call for conservation programs to focus on influencing behavior rather than attitudes alone and encourage conservation practitioners and researchers to collect high-quality behavioral data to more effectively inform policy and programs.

Landholder typologies illuminate pathways for social change in a deforestation hotspot

Psychosocial factors determine individual and collective behaviours, and there is growing evidence of their influence on land management behaviours. Native vegetation management encompasses biophysical, economic, political, and cultural dimensions that are immensely complex, and a more thorough understanding of the personal and cultural dimensions of deforestation activity is required. We emphasise this interdisciplinary imperative using Queensland, Australia, as an exemplar case study, where the controversial Vegetation Management Act1999 has been met with significant scrutiny over its effects on private landholders and its ability to curb deforestation behaviours. We surveyed landholders across Queensland in order to identify different landholder typologies based upon (1) their recent tree clearing behaviours and (2) their psychosocial characteristics, mapped their distribution in the landscape, and determined the unique demographic and psychosocial factors associated with typology membership. We identified a heterogeneous mosaic of landholders in the clearing landscape, composed of four clearing typologies and five psychosocial typologies. Social norms, identity, trust, and security played crucial roles in distinguishing different types of landholders. The two most contrasting clearing typologies-active and inactive clearers-were primarily located in hot- and cold-spots of deforestation, respectively; in contrast, most psychosocial typologies could be found throughout the landscape, highlighting the potential benefit of complementing generalised state-wide psychosocial targets with localised behavioural targets. We discuss how conservation policy instruments can be regionally tailored, and relevant strategies for effective communication and engagement can be developed to create behaviour change by understanding the characteristics and distribution of these types of landholders. If modified top-down efforts (e.g. strategic messages, community-based communication) can be supplemented with more bottom-up approaches (e.g. collective learning, building network support), sustainable land management in deforestation hotspots around the world may be achievable.

Citizen-Science and Participatory Research as a Means to Improve Stakeholder Engagement in Resource Management: A Case Study of Vietnamese American Fishers on the US Gulf Coast

This study examines the engagement of Vietnamese American commercial fisheries stakeholders in the US Gulf Coast with state and federal agencies and the role that citizen science and participatory research may play in improving this engagement. Using a mixed methods study including surveys, interviews, and focus groups, findings highlight language, lack of trust, and outreach misfit as key barriers to engaging Vietnamese American stakeholders as demanded for collaborative resource management or co-management. However, findings also demonstrate the potential role for citizen science and participatory research that collaboratively engages stakeholders in research to overcome some of these barriers to engaging diverse fishing stakeholders.

A flood of information: Using Sentinel-3 water colour products to assure continuity in the monitoring of water quality trends in the Great Barrier Reef (Australia)

An operational method to assess trends in marine water composition and ecosystem health during flood periods has been developed for the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Queensland, Australia. This method integrates satellite water colour data with field water quality and ecosystem monitoring data and involves the classification of Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS satellite) pixels into six distinct water bodies using a "wet season" colour scale developed specifically for the GBR. Using this information, several monitoring and reporting products have been derived and are operationally implemented into a long-term water quality monitoring program for the GBR. However, MODIS sensors are aging and a long-term monitoring solution is needed. This study reviewed the water colour monitoring products currently used in the GBR. It tested the feasibility to transition these methods from historical MODIS satellite imagery to the new Sentinel-3 satellite of the European Space Agency and from the wet season colour scale to the historical Forel-Ule colour scale, using a freely-distributed Forel Ule (FU) Satellite Toolbox. Monitoring products derived from both satellites and colour scales showed very similar patterns across two case study regions of the GBR, the Wet Tropics and Burdekin marine regions, over the 2017-18 wet season. The results obtained in this study highlighted the potential of using FU Sentinel-3 imagery for the mapping of GBR marine water bodies, including flood conditions. Furthermore, the operational monitoring products and frameworks developed for the GBR are likely to provide valuable foundations for analysis of FU Sentinel-3 data in the future. Such satellite water colour datasets and frameworks will be instrumental to better understand the impact of floods and reduced water clarity on marine ecosystems, as well as to support water quality management and facilitate catchment management policy in the GBR and worldwide.

Who wants to be a citizen scientist? Identifying the potential of citizen science and target segments in Switzerland

Driven by the proliferation of digital media, citizen science - the involvement of non-scientists in scientific research - represents one of the most important recent developments in science communication as it brings science and the public closer together. So far, however, citizen science projects have mostly attracted people that are highly educated, mostly male and already have very positive attitudes towards science. Based on nationally representative survey data (N = 1051), our study explores the potential of citizen science in Switzerland. Using regression analysis, we show that attitudes towards science are significant antecedents of respondents' interest in participating in citizen science - but that gender and education are not. In addition, latent class analysis identifies five segments, representing over one-third of the Swiss population, who are interested in citizen science and could potentially be engaged: 'Free-Timers', 'Senior Sciencephiles', 'Young Sciencephiles', 'Intrigued Adolescents' and 'Fully Employed Parents'. Additional description suggests that previously overlooked segments are best addressed online via YouTube or offline in zoos or botanical gardens. Overall, our analysis suggests that citizen science's potential is far higher than previous projects were able to realize.