a showcase from Austria Helfried Scheifinger 1 , Benjamin Dauth 2 , - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria Helfried Scheifinger 1 , Benjamin Dauth 2 , Florian Heigl 2 , Thomas Hübner 1 , Susanne Käfer 3 , Elisabeth Koch 1 , Klaus Wanninger 4 , Daniel Wuttej 4 , Ursula Weiser 1 , Johann Zaller 2 1 ZAMG, 2 Univ. for Natural Resources & Life Sciences, 3 ÖKOLOG, 4 LACON - Landschaftsplanung u. Consulting: all Vienna, Austria www.naturverrueckt.at www.phenowatch.at

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 2 Overview  CS definition  CS history & recent development  NaturVerrückt  Farbverrückt  Lessons learned

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 3 CS definition ( SOCIENTIZE Consortium, 2013)  Citizen Science refers to the general public engagement in scientific research activities when citizens actively contribute to science either with their intellectual effort or surrounding knowledge or with their tools and resources.  Citizen scientists provide experimental data and facilities for researchers, raise new questions and co- create a new scientific culture  Citizen scientists acquire new learning and skills , and deeper understanding of the scientific work in an appealing way

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 4 CS definition ( SOCIENTIZE Consortium, 2013)  As a result of this open, networked and trans-disciplinary scenario, science-society-policy interactions are improved leading to a more democratic research based on evidence-informed decision making

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 5 Some history of CS & phenology Prior the late 19th century nearly all scientific research was conducted by amateurs, who were not paid as scientists. Members of the public have for most of recorded history investigated scientific questions or recorded observations (Miller-Rushing et al., 2012). Farmers, hunters and amateur naturalists for instance, often kept records of phenological events, like grape harvest dates in various parts of Europe (in France over 640 years, Chuine et al., 2004; Switzerland since 15th century1480, Meier et al., 2007; Austria since the 16th century, Maurer et al., 2009) or court diarists noted the flowering dates of cherry blossoms in Japan for over 1200 years (Yasuyuki and Kazui, 2007).

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 6 Recent development CS  Recently CS projects have been proliferating into hundreds in various scientific disciplines, mostly centering around ecological questions for instance monitoring biodiversity extending to weather (National Weather Service Cooperative NWS – COOP) and climate (Old Weather), phenology (Open the book of Nature – Switzerland, NaturVerrückt, Austria and many others) or even palaeontology (Paleo Quest)

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 7 Recent development CS Internet & Crowd sourcing Three factors responsible for the great “explosion” of activity Easy available technical tools for dissemination of information about projects and gathering data from the public The increasing realisation among professional scientists that the public represent a free source of labour, skills, computational power and even finance If we want to continue to spend taxpayers’ money, it is in scientists’ own interest to make sure that the public appreciates the value of what they are paying for. Undoubtedly the best way for the public to understand and appreciate science is to participate in it.

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 8 NaturVerrückt Impact of weather and climate on the phenology of indigenous woody plants Students from 5 agricultural schools in Lower Austria track the seasonal development of 11 native plants and its . weather/climate dependence. Main objectives of this project:  Observation of phenological events from ecological important native plants  Study of the weather/climate impact on seasonal development  Development of new methods for data acquisition - Apps The timing of seasonal activities of animals and plants is perhaps the simplest process in which to track changes in the ecology of species in response to climate change” (IPCC 2007).

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 9 NaturVerrückt Involvement of teachers and students Planting of the hedge 1 year before

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 10 NaturVerrückt Involvement of teachers and students Workshop teachers/scientific team

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 11 NaturVerrückt Involvement of teachers and students Logo competition

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 12 NaturVerrückt Involvement of teachers and students Weather station

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 13 NaturVerrückt Involvement of teachers and students Workshop with students twice a semester

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 14 NaturVerrückt Involvement of teachers and students Workshop with students twice a semester

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 15 NaturVerrückt Involvement of teachers and students Phenological observations

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 16 NaturVerrückt Impact of weather and climate on the phenology of indigenous woody plants Students from 5 agricultural schools in Lower Austria track the seasonal development of 11 native plants and its weather/climate dependence. Main objectives of this project:  Observation of phenological events from ecological important native plants  Study of the weather/climate impact on seasonal development  Development of new methods for data acquisition - Apps The timing of seasonal activities of animals and plants is perhaps the simplest process in which to track changes in the ecology of species in response to climate change” (IPCC 2007).

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 17

Phänologie 30.10.2015 Folie 18

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 19 FarbVerrückt

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 20 FarbVerrückt

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 21 FarbVerrückt

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 23 Lessons learned  Apps much more time needed for development and approval than estimated -> demotivation of students  Motivation of teachers is essential  Mass campaign app shoould be more self explaining -> data lack quality  Other resp. more plants (agricultural schools …), siting of the hedge  KISS

Citizen Science and Phenology a showcase from Austria 30.10.2015 Folie 24 www.naturverrueckt.at www.phenowatch.at