Citizens in the Lab: Performance and Validation of eDNA Results
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Citizens in the Lab : Performance and Validation of eDNA Results. / Tøttrup, Anders P.; Svenningsen, Lea; Rytter, Maria; Lillemark, Marie Rathcke; Møller, Peter; Knudsen, Steen Wilhelm.
In: Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, Vol. 6, No. 1, 35, 2021.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Citizens in the Lab
T2 - Performance and Validation of eDNA Results
AU - Tøttrup, Anders P.
AU - Svenningsen, Lea
AU - Rytter, Maria
AU - Lillemark, Marie Rathcke
AU - Møller, Peter
AU - Knudsen, Steen Wilhelm
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Citizen Science has traditionally been applied in biodiversity monitoring, as the approach holds the potential for conducting large-scale data collections. However, involving citizens in more than data collection is still in its infancy. In this paper, we present the results of an ongoing citizen science project that expands the partnership between citizens and researchers by involving citizens in several parts of the scientific process. In the project, citizens first conduct sampling in the field, followed by analysis of their samples in our university laboratory. Finally, participants are interpreting the results of the laboratory analyses in collaboration with the researcher. The project aims to evaluate the presence of marine animals by monitoring the DNA left behind by the organisms in the environment (eDNA), using samples from the years 2017 and 2018. We found that citizens can carry out eDNA surveillance with an average success rate of 72% (where the success rate is defined as passing both the negative and positive control test) and that their data is of similar quality as a trained researcher and concur with known species distributions. Engaging and training citizen scientists in advanced laboratory analysis, such as the monitoring of eDNA in water samples, has promising applications for large-scale national monitoring of marine species that can be used in governmental mapping and monitoring efforts.
AB - Citizen Science has traditionally been applied in biodiversity monitoring, as the approach holds the potential for conducting large-scale data collections. However, involving citizens in more than data collection is still in its infancy. In this paper, we present the results of an ongoing citizen science project that expands the partnership between citizens and researchers by involving citizens in several parts of the scientific process. In the project, citizens first conduct sampling in the field, followed by analysis of their samples in our university laboratory. Finally, participants are interpreting the results of the laboratory analyses in collaboration with the researcher. The project aims to evaluate the presence of marine animals by monitoring the DNA left behind by the organisms in the environment (eDNA), using samples from the years 2017 and 2018. We found that citizens can carry out eDNA surveillance with an average success rate of 72% (where the success rate is defined as passing both the negative and positive control test) and that their data is of similar quality as a trained researcher and concur with known species distributions. Engaging and training citizen scientists in advanced laboratory analysis, such as the monitoring of eDNA in water samples, has promising applications for large-scale national monitoring of marine species that can be used in governmental mapping and monitoring efforts.
KW - Citizen science
KW - Data credibility
KW - EDNA
KW - Marine species
KW - Monitoring
U2 - 10.5334/CSTP.382
DO - 10.5334/CSTP.382
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85122781111
VL - 6
JO - Citizen Science: Theory and Practice
JF - Citizen Science: Theory and Practice
SN - 2057-4991
IS - 1
M1 - 35
ER -
ID: 298155579