Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
ORCID
0000-0003-3556-7616
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Frontiers in Marine Science
ISSN
2296-7745
Publication Date
11-2-2017
Keywords
Aquatic, Observations, Sampling, Recreation, Citizen science
Abstract
Accurate observations of the Earth system are required to understand how our planet is changing and to help manage its resources. The aquatic environment—including lakes, rivers, wetlands, estuaries, coastal and open oceans—is a fundamental component of the Earth system controlling key physical, biological, and chemical processes that allow life to flourish. Yet, this environment is critically undersampled in both time and space. New and cost-effective sampling solutions are urgently needed. Here, we highlight the potential to improve aquatic sampling by tapping into recreation. We draw attention to the vast number of participants that engage in aquatic recreational activities and argue, based on current technological developments and recent research, that the time is right to employ recreational citizens to improve large-scale aquatic sampling efforts. We discuss the challenges that need to be addressed for this strategy to be successful (e.g., sensor integration, data quality, and citizen motivation), the steps needed to realize its potential, and additional societal benefits that arise when engaging citizens in scientific sampling.
DOI
10.3389/fmars.2017.00351
Volume
4
Issue
351
First Page
1
Last Page
9
Additional Comments
Defra contract #s: MF1230, MI001
NSUWorks Citation
Robert J. W. Brewin, Kieran Hyder, Andreas J. Andersson, Oliver Billson, Philip J. Bresnahan, Thomas G. Brewin, Tyler Cyronak, Giorgio Dall'Olmo, Lee de Mora, George Graham, Thomas Jackson, and Dionysios E. Raitsos. 2017. Expanding Aquatic Observations Through Recreation .Frontiers in Marine Science , (351) : 1 -9. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/1027.
Comments
Copyright © 2017 Brewin, Hyder, Andersson, Billson, Bresnahan, Brewin, Cyronak, Dall’Olmo, de Mora, Graham, Jackson and Raitsos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.