Engaging the Broader Community in Biodiversity Research: the Concept of the COMBER Pilot Project for Divers in ViBRANT

Overview

Journal Zookeys

Date 2011 Dec 31

PMID 22207815

Citations 8

Authors

Christos Arvanitidis

Sarah Faulwetter

Georgios Chatzigeorgiou

Lyubomir Penev

Olaf Banki

Thanos Dailianis

Evangelos Pafilis

Michail Kouratoras

Eva Chatzinikolaou

Lucia Fanini

Aikaterini Vasileiadou

Christina Pavloudi

Panagiotis Vavilis

Panayota Koulouri

Costas Dounas

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This paper discusses the design and implementation of a citizen science pilot project, COMBER (Citizens' Network for the Observation of Marine BiodivERsity, http://www.comber.hcmr.gr), which has been initiated under the ViBRANT EU e-infrastructure. It is designed and implemented for divers and snorkelers who are interested in participating in marine biodiversity citizen science projects. It shows the necessity of engaging the broader community in the marine biodiversity monitoring and research projects, networks and initiatives. It analyses the stakeholders, the industry and the relevant markets involved in diving activities and their potential to sustain these activities. The principles, including data policy and rewards for the participating divers through their own data, upon which this project is based are thoroughly discussed. The results of the users analysis and lessons learned so far are presented. Future plans include promotion, links with citizen science web developments, data publishing tools, and development of new scientific hypotheses to be tested by the data collected so far.

Citing Articles

Citizen science provides valuable data to evaluate elasmobranch diversity and trends throughout the French Polynesia's shark sanctuary.

Seguigne C, Mourier J, Clua E, Buray N, Planes S PLoS One. 2023; 18(3):e0282837.

PMID: 36947523 PMC: 10032523. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282837.

Stirring the strategic direction of scuba diving marine Citizen Science: A survey of active and potential participants.

Lucrezi S, Milanese M, Palma M, Cerrano C PLoS One. 2018; 13(8):e0202484.

PMID: 30114250 PMC: 6095588. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202484.

Testing the robustness of Citizen Science projects: Evaluating the results of pilot project COMBER.

Chatzigeorgiou G, Faulwetter S, Dailianis T, Smith V, Koulouri P, Dounas C Biodivers Data J. 2017; (4):e10859.

PMID: 28174507 PMC: 5267550. DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.4.e10859.

CIGESMED for divers: Establishing a citizen science initiative for the mapping and monitoring of coralligenous assemblages in the Mediterranean Sea.

Gerovasileiou V, Dailianis T, Panteri E, Michalakis N, Gatti G, Sini M Biodivers Data J. 2016; (4):e8692.

PMID: 27932909 PMC: 5136673. DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.4.e8692.

Citizen surveillance for environmental monitoring: combining the efforts of citizen science and crowdsourcing in a quantitative data framework.

Welvaert M, Caley P Springerplus. 2016; 5(1):1890.

PMID: 27843747 PMC: 5084151. DOI: 10.1186/s40064-016-3583-5.

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