Evaluating the data quality of iNaturalist termite records.

Citizen science (CS) contributes to the knowledge about species distributions, which is a critical foundation in the studies of invasive species, biological conservation, and response to climatic change. In this study, we assessed the value of CS for termites worldwide. First, we compared the abundance and species diversity of geo-tagged termite records in iNaturalist to that of the University of Florida termite collection (UFTC) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Second, we quantified how the combination of these data sources affected the number of genera that satisfy data requirements for ecological niche modeling. Third, we assessed the taxonomic correctness of iNaturalist termite records in the Americas at the genus and family level through expert review based on photo identification. Results showed that iNaturalist records were less abundant than those in the UFTC and in GBIF, although they complemented the latter two in selected world regions. A combination of GBIF and the UFTC led to a significant increase in the number of termite genera satisfying the abundance criterion for niche modeling compared to either of those two sources alone, whereas adding iNaturalist observations as a third source only had a moderate effect on the number of termite genera satisfying that criterion. Although research grade observations in iNaturalist require a community-supported and agreed upon identification (ID) below the family taxonomic rank, our results indicated that iNaturalist data do not exhibit a higher taxonomic classification accuracy when they are designated research grade. This means that non-research grade observations can be used to more completely map the presence of termite locations in certain geographic locations without significantly jeopardizing data quality. We concluded that CS termite observation records can, to some extent, complement expert termite collections in terms of geographic coverage and species diversity. Based on recent data contribution patterns in CS data, the role of CS termite contributions is expected to grow significantly in the near future.

A citizen science study of short physical activity breaks at school: improvements in cognition and wellbeing with self-paced activity.

BACKGROUND: School-based physical activity and running programmes, such as The Daily Mile™, are increasing in popularity globally. The aim of this research was to examine the acute impact of such classroom physical activity breaks on cognition and affective wellbeing. METHODS: A total of 5463 school pupils from 332 schools took part in a citizen science project with a repeated measures design. They completed tasks of cognition (inhibition, verbal, and visuo-spatial working memory) and the Children's Feeling Scale and Felt Arousal Scale before and after three different outdoor activities: a classroom break of 15 min of self-paced activity, a near maximal exhaustion activity (the bleep test), and a no-exercise control group where pupils sat or stood outside. Wellbeing and fitness were examined as mediators of the relationship between outdoor activity and cognition. RESULTS: Fifteen minutes of self-paced outdoor activity was beneficial for pupils' cognition and wellbeing in comparison to both other activities (Cohen's d effect sizes ranging from 0.04 to 0.22; small). The relationship with cognition was not mediated by participants' fitness level and was only partially mediated by wellbeing. Change scores for alertness were higher after the bleep test compared to the control activity but similar for all other outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Taking a break from the classroom to complete 15 min of self-paced physical activity should be considered a worthwhile activity by class teachers, school management, and policymakers. Additionally, more intense physical activity should not be considered to be detrimental.

"Hunting Down My Son's Killer": New Roles of Patients in Treatment Discovery and Ethical Uncertainty.

The past few years have witnessed several media-covered cases involving citizens actively engaging in the pursuit of experimental treatments for their medical conditions-or those of their loved ones-in the absence of established standards of therapy. This phenomenon is particularly observable in patients with rare genetic diseases, as the development of effective therapies for these disorders is hindered by the limited profitability and market value of pharmaceutical research. Sociotechnical trends at the cross-section of medicine and society are facilitating the involvement of patients and creating the digital infrastructure necessary to its sustainment. Such participant-led research (PLR) has the potential to promote the autonomy of research participants as drivers of discovery and to open novel non-canonical avenues of scientific research. At the same time, however, the extra-institutional, self-appointed, and, often, oversight-free nature of PLR raises ethical concern. This paper explores the complex ethical entanglement of PLR by critically appraising case studies and discussing the conditions for its moral justification. Furthermore, we propose a path forward to ensure the safe and effective implementation of PLR within the current research ecosystem in a manner that maximizes the benefits for both individual participants and society at large, while minimizing the risks.

Utility of citizen science data: A case study in land-based shark fishing.

Involving citizen scientists in research has become increasingly popular in natural resource management and allows for an increased research effort at low cost, distribution of scientific information to relevant audiences, and meaningful public engagement. Scientists engaging fishing tournament participants as citizen scientists represent ideal scenarios for testing citizen science initiatives. For example, the Texas Shark Rodeo has begun shifting to conservation-oriented catch-and-release practices, which provides a unique opportunity to collect data on a large scale for extended periods of time, particularly through tagging large numbers of sharks for very little cost compared to a directed scientific study. However, critics are somewhat skeptical of citizen science due to the potential for lack of rigor in data collection and validation. A major management concern for shark fisheries is the ability of anglers to identify species. We tested some of the assumptions and value of citizen-collected data by cross-verifying species identification. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of shark species identifications made by anglers fishing in the Texas Shark Rodeo using photographs that were submitted as a requirement for tournament participation. Using a confusion matrix, we determined that anglers correctly identified 97.2% of all shark catches submitted during the Texas Shark Rodeo from 2014-2018; however, smaller sharks and certain species, including blacknose and spinner sharks, were more difficult to identify than others. Most commonly confused with blacktip sharks, spinner sharks were most commonly identified incorrectly (76.1% true positive rate [TPR]) followed by blacknose (86.8% TPR), finetooth (88.0% TPR), and Atlantic sharpnose sharks (93.8% TPR). This study demonstrated that citizen scientists have the ability to identify sharks with relatively low error. This is important for science and management, as these long-term datasets with relatively wide geographic scope could potentially be incorporated into future assessments of sharks in the Gulf of Mexico.

Optimizing future biodiversity sampling by citizen scientists.

We are currently in the midst of Earth's sixth extinction event, and measuring biodiversity trends in space and time is essential for prioritizing limited resources for conservation. At the same time, the scope of the necessary biodiversity monitoring is overwhelming funding for professional scientific monitoring. In response, scientists are increasingly using citizen science data to monitor biodiversity. But citizen science data are 'noisy', with redundancies and gaps arising from unstructured human behaviours in space and time. We ask whether the information content of these data can be maximized for the express purpose of trend estimation. We develop and execute a novel framework which assigns every citizen science sampling event a marginal value, derived from the importance of an observation to our understanding of overall population trends. We then make this framework predictive, estimating the expected marginal value of future biodiversity observations. We find that past observations are useful in forecasting where high-value observations will occur in the future. Interestingly, we find high value in both 'hotspots', which are frequently sampled locations, and 'coldspots', which are areas far from recent sampling, suggesting that an optimal sampling regime balances 'hotspot' sampling with a spread across the landscape.

The Kaleidoscope of Citizen ScienceCommentary.

The narratives in this issue suggest six themes that merit further exploration: (1) the complexity of citizen science as a concept; (2) the potential to incorporate insights from the literature on team science; (3) the role of power and privilege in citizen science; (4) tensions over standardization, regulation, and quality control; (5) the nature and importance of local knowledge; and (6) the role of funding sources in citizen science initiatives. Taken together, these narratives and themes provide an image of citizen science that is like a kaleidoscope. They portray citizen science as a jumble of different kinds of activities that are in a constant state of flux. One of the most important tasks for the citizen science community going forward is to find ways to harness this energy and innovation while providing appropriate guidelines and standards.