Research team

.

Emma Squire – University of Exeter

Lewis Elliot – University of Exeter

Rebecca Lovell – University of Exeter

Kevin J Gaston – University of Exeter

.

Partners

.

Aims

Citizen science plays an important role in the provision of biodiversity data in the UK. However, there are certain limitations on the quantity and biases in the data gathered in this way in terms of when and where it is collected, and what types of species are recorded. Therefore we need to encourage a broader range of individuals to provide more data on a great diversity of species across a wider array of habitats. 

This PhD research aims to:  

• Understand the existing communication methods used by biodiversity recording apps
• Understand the values and attitudes of citizen scientists using biodiversity recording apps
• Trial communication approaches to engage with more diverse users in biodiversity recording citizen science.

.

Approach

Data gathered through citizen science is an important part of the picture when it comes to our understanding of biodiversity. Monitoring species and their habitats provides the data to assess the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity. This data feeds into reports such as State of Nature Reports, Environmental Impact Assessments, Wildlife Management Plans and global reports such as the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). These reports are then used to inform future policy and planning relating to ecosystem protection, biodiversity conservation and renewal planning. 

Due to a lack of funding for species monitoring, government agencies, scientific researchers and conservation organisations increasingly turn to citizen science-collected data to understand the state of biodiversity. However, this data is incomplete. There are biases in terms of when and where data is gathered, and what type of data it is (e.g. birds are overrepresented, and insects are underrepresented). While scientists can model to control for these biases the approaches are inevitably limited and improving the actual species recording data would help better inform decision-making.   

There is also a lack of research on how behavioural psychology theories could improve messaging to influence people’s actions in ways that help biodiversity. These theories could be used to further understand if, how and why individuals participate in biodiversity recording citizen science and what behaviour change approaches could be used to improve participation to help overcome recording bias. 

This PhD research ultimately aims to increase the biodiversity data gathered through citizen science. By trialling different communications focused on different user groups we hope to encourage more people to record more data. This may also have incidental health and wellbeing benefits, by encouraging more people to connect with nature.  

There are three parts to this research.

.

Firstly, we will carry out a content analysis of 20 biodiversity recording apps to uncover the ways in which these apps persuade people to record biodiversity and what strategies they may be missing.

Next, we will survey users of iNaturalistUK, a publicly available platform for reporting wildlife sightings. By querying iNaturalist users’ environmental attitudes, values, beliefs, and identities, we will uncover distinct psychological profiles associated with different user behaviour patterns which should help tailor future persuasive communications

Finally, we will design and test different types of communication tailored towards these different groups of users. By linking it to actual recording behaviour, we will be able to see if these communications succeed in increasing or diversifying participation.

.

“The value of data from citizen science is increasingly recognised by governments and funders and participation is growing due to the many apps and websites that are now available. However, we don’t really understand why people are motivated to record or how we could encourage even more people to get involved. This research will be incredibly useful in helping us to understand current participants, to show how we can engage even more people and how we can encourage people to record a wider variety of species. We are delighted to be part of this research and will be very excited to read the findings”.

Lisa Chilton (Chief Executive Officer at National Biodiversity Network Trust)

Next steps

This work is being carried out with National Biodiversity Network Trust and iNaturalist UK, and is potentially relevant for a wide range of citizen science applications. We hope that findings from this research will help to better engage with citizen scientists and encourage more diverse recording behaviours to improve biodiversity data for future biodiversity policy and planning.