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New technologies and approaches for Citizen Science Deborah Procter Senior Monitoring Ecologist deborah.procter@jncc.gov.uk www.jncc.defra.gov.uk/surveillance Citizen Science Working Group

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outline Whiz through some existing approaches & techniques Pose 4 questions

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outline Whiz through some existing approaches & techniques Pose 4 questions

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UK Species Surveillance Schemes Wintering Birds WeBS (BTO, JNCC, RSPB, WWT) 2000 wetlands, over 100 species recorded since1947 Bats - National Bat Monitoring Programme (BCT, JNCC, NE) 2500 sites, long term trends of 11 of UKs 17 bat species Other mammals National Gamebag Census (GWCT, JNCC) Data for 16 mammal species from 600 estates. Breeding Birds - Breeding Bird Survey (BTO, JNCC, RSPB) >3,000 1km squares, 2,500 volunteers, 3 times a year Seabirds - Seabird Monitoring Programme (JNCC,CEH, SNH, CCW, NE,NIEA.NTS,RSPB,SG,SOTEAG) 26 species monitored since 1986 Butterflies - UK BMS (BC, CEH, JNCC, NRW, Defra, NE, NIEA, FC, SGov, SNH) 1,000 transects, annual, many 100s volunteers, 16 (or 2) times a year Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey Collating presence data (distributions) Biological Records Centre and National Biodiversity Network 41,287 species 57+ million observations from 1,000s of volunteers

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Indicators and Assessments

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Monitoring change Sample systematically Same method At the same sampling sites (ideally - randomly selected) Applied repeatedly (10+ years) But not many examples covering few taxa BTO bird schemes (BBS, WeBS, etc) Butterfly Monitoring Scheme Rothamsted insect survey Seabird monitoring programme National Bat Monitoring Programme

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There are about 80 National Recording Schemes They cover about 12,500 terrestrial and freshwater species Many have runs of data from 1980 or earlier (30+ years) The data is increasingly available via NBN Gateway

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Trend from ad hoc recording data Trends in British Biodiversity since 1970. Nick Isaac, Tom August, Gary Powney. figshare. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.778698 Retrieved Oct 16,figshare http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.778698

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http://www.batsurvey.org/

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Invasive Non-Native Species UK NNSIP Policy need Volunteer recorders Linking to professional intervention

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What tech do we have?

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Widespread terrestrial species with inadequate surveillance to show status and trends at UK (GB) level GB Great Crested Newt surveillance plan Crown copyright and database rights 2011 Ordnance Survey [100017955]

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eDNA detection method Photo: Robert ChapmanPicture: www.vectorarts.net Biggs J, Ewald N, Valentini A, Gaboriaud C, Griffiths RA, Foster J, Wilkinson J, Arnett A, Williams P and Dunn F 2014. Analytical and methodological development for improved surveillance of the Great Crested Newt. Defra Project WC1067. Freshwater Habitats Trust: Oxford.

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Citizen science delivers Distribution data Population data Observation data species interaction behaviour For nature conservation Site designation Habitat condition Species protection Biodiversity targets Ecosystem services INNS detection Pollinator Strategy

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outline Whiz through some existing approaches & techniques Pose 4 questions

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New technologies and approaches for Citizen Science 1. What new approaches to biodiversity monitoring will work for citizen scientists? 2. What technologies work best and why? 3. What new technologies are being developed? 4. Which of your biodiversity monitoring questions could best be tackled by citizen scientists?