Citizen Science and Marine Conservation: Are You Interested in Research Collaboration in Reef Keeping?

[Peace River]

Citizen science has been described as "the active engagement of the general public in scientific research tasks. Citizen science is a growing practice in which scientists and citizens collaborate to produce new knowledge for science and society" (Vohland et al., 2021, p. 1). Based on this definition, would you be interested in actively participating in citizen science efforts related to reef keeping? This type of collaboration has the potential to lead to improved coral reef conservation. Whether it is a program like Ocean Rescue Alliance's Coral Rangers program or information gathering in your own tank, would you be interested in learning more about the possibilities of participating in citizen science? If you are a scientist or a marine professional, how do you feel about the potential for citizen science in reef keeping? Let us know your thoughts in the thread below.

While you are thinking about the possibility of citizen science, research, and reef keeping, please take a look at the R2R Reef Hobbyist Experiments and Research Forum or one of the research-based R2R articles on reef chemistry entitled, "How We Use ICP-OES Results of Unknown Accuracy and Precision".



Additionally, you can find the link to the entire PDF of the Science of Citizen Science book by Vohland et al. here.

 

[revhtree]

This could be something that is really interesting for hobbyists to participate in and at the same time further the science of reef keeping in general.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I am absolutely willing to do this. Conservation and the advancement of reefing is very important to me. Thank you for sharing this!

 

[725196]

I am going to look into this, this is fascinating.

 

[wolfen281]

Not sure where this poll question is going, but I have access to a microscopes (confocal, upright) and flow cytometers (sorters. analyzers). I have actually done flow on coral before. Just some PI staining (propidium iodide aka viability stain) for proof of concept for a student at the oceanography school.
Anyways, hit me up if that is something that might help out.

 

[jabberwock]

In theory, I like this.

As a scientist, my observation is, most "scientists", including the ones that I work with, don't do science correctly.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

This has to be one of the least responsive ?'s in a while. I have a few acquaintances in the marine biology/scientific field. I like bouncing ideas off of each other. I excelled in lab, not in lecture. I am all about experimenting with practicals, but with others they prefer to stick to the white board.
Back to the ? at hand. A lot of marine science depends on "volunteers" to get the job done, but I think there is a section of the scientific community that feel that they are above the "Hobbyists". So I think that has a long way to go before we can become relevant.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Really cool!

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Really cool!

What is?... Or did you just say that to bring it back to the top? LOL

 

[Daniel@R2R]

What is?... Or did you just say that to bring it back to the top? LOL

I think the conversation and concept are very cool and worth considering. Conservation (in particular what we as reefers have to offer as hobbyists to the cause of conservation) is something that I really enjoy learning about. I think the application of the citizen science concept is a very worthwhile conversation, and I'm interested in following the conversation and seeing what thoughts others may contribute.