Applying Citizen Science in monitoring wild mammals at European scale
A partnership between different scientific and academic institutions in Europe and local science fans, working together on wildlife research, management, and conservation.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
THE PROJECT
MammalNet embodies a collective endeavor involving diverse European scientific and academic institutions alongside local wildlife enthusiasts. This initiative is committed to the research, management, and conservation of wildlife.
Its objective is to encourage collaboration between scientific researchers and the broader community to augment the understanding of mammal distributions in various regions.
Through the contributions of individual observations, the public plays a crucial role in monitoring wildlife across Europe. Such a collaborative approach offers more profound insights, facilitating the formulation of knowledgeable decisions in the realms of mammal management and conservation.
mammalnet species guide
What is citizen science?
The European Commission characterizes citizen science as the engagement of everyday people in scientific study endeavors, contributing their mental capacity, expertise, instruments, and resources. Contributors provide data gathered from their personal observations to the scientists, who then aggregate this information to formulate findings. Thus, citizen science presents a twofold advantage: volunteers gain new insights, acquiring skills and a more profound grasp of scientific methodology, whereas the scientific community benefits from a more democratic method of knowledge exchange between science and the broader society.
OBJECTIVES
The specific objectives of MammalNet are:
To engage citizen scientists in collecting data on geographic distribution and abundance of mammals in Europe using modern Information Technology (IT) systems, such as web-platform, tablets, smartphones or other devices.
To implement and promote metadata standards to support data sharing among CS projects on wild animal monitoring and data interoperability with open repositories, as GBIF, taking into account existing standards.
To propose and implement a method to assess the quality of data collected by citizen scientists on geographic distribution and abundance of wild boar population and to compare them with professionally collected data
To assess the feasibility of applying CS in monitoring wild animals at European scale, and to provide insight on potential limitations, advantages and added values, and best practices fostering data quality and participation.
Why?
The contributions of both researchers and citizens make Citizen Science a powerful tool for making evidence-based decisions about wildlife.
- Science: Gain additional knowledge to better understand real world problems about wildlife and biodiversity.
- Conservation: Promote data collection and research to improve European wildlife conservation.
- Management: Promote collaboration and evidence-based knowledge to help manage wildlife resources and potential risks.
- Citizens: Gain a better understanding about science and research, while improving your knowledge about biodiversity.