Birds and people: Tracking population change with citizen science data

We are delighted to announce that the next EGI seminar will be given by Professor Alison Johnston from the University of St Andrews at 15:30 on Friday 13th November (Lecture Theatre 2).

Citizen science data have transformed how we observe the natural world over the past couple of decades. Millions of people contribute sightings of birds to global datasets, creating many new opportunities to track biodiversity changes and connect people with nature. However, the data collection can be messy and highly heterogeneous. The flexibility in protocols that is required to engage many people, can create statistical trip hazards for analysts. I’ll investigate the potential and pitfalls of citizen science, through eBird, the largest ecological citizen science project in the world. I’ll describe some of the interesting complexities of these biases and how understanding people and our interactions with nature are key to unlocking the power of these data. This opens up new opportunities to track biodiversity at fine scales and to increase our understanding of ecological systems.

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