How world’s tour operators are helping citizen scientists do vital research
From the Arctic and Antarctica to southern Africa, travel companies are fostering efforts by their clients to contribute data for studies of the environment and wildlife populations
Amateurs have been playing growing roles in research projects as the notion of citizen science spreads and data-gathering becomes more sophisticated.
Scientists have roped in diving enthusiasts in the US to monitor star fish die-offs and upload the information to databases; even tribespeople in Botswana and Namibia have used an app to record observations of wildlife behaviour.
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In 2014, scientists from Oxford University and the Australian Antarctic Division started a project called Penguin Watch, giving volunteers access to images from their 50 automated cameras installed across the South Pole.
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The idea is that citizen scientists can help them gauge bird numbers (evidence suggests that some species are in decline), and extract details about such things as how penguin families develop, track the condition of various colonies and how they weather the Antarctic winter.
WATCH: BBC TV presenter and Earthwatch ambassador Paul Rose discusses with scientists Dr William Megill and Dr Chris Newman how citizen science can make a difference in the field of environmental research