Citizen-science for monitoring marine invasions and stimulating public engagement: a case project from the eastern Mediterranean

Giovos, Ioannis; Kleitou, Periklis; Poursanidis, Dimitris; Batjakas, Ioannis Ε.; Bernardi, Giacomo; Crocetta, Fabio; Doumpas, Nikolaos; Kalogirou, Stefanos; Kampouris, Thodoros E.; Keramidas, Ioannis; Langeneck, Joachim; Maximiadi, Mary; Mitsou, Εleni; Stoilas, Vasilis‐Orestis; Tiralongo, Francesco; Romanidis-Kyriakidis, Georgios; Xentidis, Nicholas-Jason; Zenetos, Argyro; Katsanevakis, Stelios

doi:10.1007/s10530-019-02083-w

Cited by 87 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Share it!!!" has gathered a vast amount of information regarding the distribution and establishment of species, including several first records, as well as expansion evidences [20]. We found that, based on current literature ( Supplementary Table S1), the reported number of individuals in this study contributed 21.6% of the reports the species in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and 27.3% to the total number of reports during the last decade.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…However, spatial and temporal variations in the distribution of rare species might provide relevant signs of climate and environmental change [23,24]. Until recently, the scarce communication between researchers and citizens entailed the loss of an important part of available information on these species, while the recent increase in the use of social networks allowed for a closer communication that can result in an increase of records of rare and non-native species [20,[25][26][27][28]. To date, the project "Is it Alien to you?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Citizen science is emerging as a key component for the exploration of marine biodiversity, being widely acknowledged by scientists, policy-makers, and conservationists, due to its capacity to address conservation issues that are related to rare species, climate change, and coastal systems [15][16][17]. Currently, there is an increasing number of citizen science efforts in the Mediterranean Sea t focused on various topics that are related to the marine environment [18][19][20]. This provides high potential for addressing data gaps related to least studied species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Filling the Gap of Data-Limited Fish Species in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: A Contribution by Citizen Science

Spyridopoulou¹,

Langeneck

Bouziotis³

et al. 2020

JMSE

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The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea is rapidly changing due to anthropogenic activity and the recent increase of seawater temperature. Citizen science is escalating as an important contributor in the inventory of rare and data-limited species. In this study, we present several records of five data-limited native fish species from the eastern Mediterranean Sea: Alectis alexandrina (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817), Ranzania laevis (Pennant, 1776), Dalatias licha (Bonnaterre, 1788), Lophotus lacepede (Giorna, 1809), and Sudis hyalina (Rafinesque, 1810). All of the records were collected by a participatory process involving fishers and validated by associated taxonomic experts of the citizen science programme “Is it Alien to you? Share it!!!”. This study fills an important gap for the distribution of the reported species and signifies the important role of citizen participation as a tool for extending marine biodiversity knowledge and fisheries management in an area with several gaps of knowledge on targeted and non-targeted species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Filling the Gap of Data-Limited Fish Species in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: A Contribution by Citizen Science

Spyridopoulou¹,

Langeneck

Bouziotis³

et al. 2020

JMSE

Self Cite

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“…Addressing this problem with the general public, and especially with the younger generations, is of tremendous importance. Studies have shown that the inclusion of citizen science in the monitoring of IAS (e.g., using smartphone apps, online platforms) can significantly improve the database and also the knowledge of the overall IAS abundance and spread (Freiwald et al, 2018;César de Sá et al, 2019;Giovos et al, 2019). Ocean literacy initiatives have been shown to be effective and to have positive effects on behavior changes of citizens, who then take direct and sustainable actions toward sustainable solutions for marine environments (Ashley et al, 2019).…”

Section: Recognizementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Innovative solutions under the 8Rs categories that are designed to mitigate the problems of non-indigenous species. Invasive Alien Species Europe' smartphone application where citizens can report 49 invasive aquatic species of EU concern, but with no marine species included yetFreiwald et al, 2018;César de Sá et al, 2019;Giovos et al, 2019 Citizen science assistance for invasive aquatic species monitoring (model tested for plants in Portugal) and marine invasive species in eastern Mediterranean avvistAPPItalian smartphone application for tracing marine organisms, including the non-native M. leidyi Effective solution for M. leidyi invasion in the Black Sea, where the introduced Beroe ovata fed on M. leidyi biomass, which allowed slow recovery of the ecosystem…”

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confidence: 99%

Non-indigenous Species in the Mediterranean Sea: Turning From Pest to Source by Developing the 8Rs Model, a New Paradigm in Pollution Mitigation

et al. 2020

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For mitigation of the effects of pollution, the media, policy makers and, in turn, the scientific community and industry each provide contributions through development of a sense of urgency, and with guidelines and solutions. For non-indigenous species (NIS) that can frequently have negative impacts on the native biota, this is often conveyed in an emotive way to the general public, who are typically keen to help and to get personally involved. This might be through organization of cleaning campaigns, influence on the media, or collaboration with scientists, to inform them of the local presence and abundance of NIS. Alternatively, they might proactively develop technological solutions themselves. To assess the current state of affairs, we reviewed the presence and effects of NIS in the Mediterranean Sea. As so often, any well-planned and successful activity is directly linked to financing, or a lack thereof, and this leads to sometimes untargeted and sporadic measures that are developed within a project or over a limited timeframe, without any sustainability measures. Therefore, we also assessed the activities and strategies that have been financed in this area of NIS mitigation. Based on this review of the presence and impact of NIS, and previous and ongoing activities, we propose a new paradigm to mitigate such pollution: the 8Rs model (i.e., Recognize, Reduce, Replace, Reuse, Recycle, Recover/Restore, Remove, and Regulate). This model extends from the more traditional 3Rs model (i.e., Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) that is often used and promoted for innovative waste management strategies. Importantly, the 8Rs model can be applied sequentially, for either prevention of NIS introduction, or preparation of mitigation measures. The 8Rs model was constructed based on Mediterranean NIS, although we believe it can be applied to other sources of pollution and other geographic areas. Importantly, the 8Rs model represents a general framework to organize and categorize future pollution mitigation strategies. This approach is essential for development of any action plan to influence the administrative and financial decision makers who essentially enable these activities, and therefore who have important roles in the guarantee of sustainability of these actions, and the creation of innovative societies.

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Invasive Alien Species of Greece

Korakaki¹,

Legakis

Katsanevakis

et al. 2021

Invasive Alien Species

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Citizen-science for monitoring marine invasions and stimulating public engagement: a case project from the eastern Mediterranean

Cited by 87 publications

References 58 publications

Filling the Gap of Data-Limited Fish Species in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: A Contribution by Citizen Science

Filling the Gap of Data-Limited Fish Species in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: A Contribution by Citizen Science

Non-indigenous Species in the Mediterranean Sea: Turning From Pest to Source by Developing the 8Rs Model, a New Paradigm in Pollution Mitigation

Invasive Alien Species of Greece

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