Citizen-science (a.k.a. crowd-source science) efforts are becoming increasingly common. The rise in popularity of this data collection partnership between trained scientists and non-scientist volunteers has been accompanied by advancements in technology that place an increasingly sophisticated array of sensors in the hands of the public. The typical cell phone, for example, now includes GPS, magnometer, accelerometer, barometer, and more. While a large volunteer workforce equipped with the latest technology may potentially provide ecologists with massive amounts of data, we should be aware that the democratization of science necessitates greater care in data Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC). Here, we describe how this challenge was met in a citizen science research project mapping the distribution of mangroves afflicted with stem gall disease in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Results/Conclusions
We found that, with minimal training, volunteers’ estimates of the intensity of stem gall infection at points within the mangroves seldom differed from an “expert” assessment by more than 20%. In addition, it was necessary to remove only one-percent of data points from the data set prior to analysis due to obvious disregard for the sampling protocol (revealed by a “trap” question in the cell phone application survey). The dropped data and the apparent observer inaccuracy did not substantially displace interpolation-generated hot and cold spots of infection within the Bay. Our results indicate that the use of robust measures, simple protocols, and means to detect non-compliance by volunteers can ensure the big data of citizen science has a place in ecology.