Environmental citizen science practices in the ILTER community: Remarks from a case study at global scale

In the last decades, citizen science (CS) has experienced an increasing interest as apractice in which scientists and citizens collaborate to produce new knowledgefor science, society and policy. Environmental and ecological sciences are amongthe most active in proposing CS activities and new models for citizen participationin research. In addition to environmental dimensions, these fields necessarilyinclude social and cultural dimensions to confront the complex local and globalenvironmental challenges. This is particularly evident in the International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network, where the integration of socialsciences has become a recognized priority. ILTER offers a valuable landscapeto explore common CS features across a wide range of different cultural andsocio-ecological contexts, as well as worldviews of science-society interactions.In 2020, we surveyed scientists working at ILTER sites across the globe to identifykey features of CS initiatives in which they are/were involved and the levels ofparticipation of the volunteers. We consider these features in the context of theinternationally-developed "Ten Principles of Citizen Science" by examiningscientific outcomes and societal/policy impact, type of volunteers'involvement, and sharing of data/findings and feedbacks and acknowledgingvolunteers. Our results indicate that the ILTER community demonstrated agood predisposition toward environmentally-focused CS initiatives with diversescientific questions including biodiversity, water quality, ecosystem services andclimate change. Most of the respondents reported that the volunteers wereinvolved mainly in collecting samples or recording data; some other activities,such as dissemination of the project conclusions and discussion and translation ofthe results into action, were also mentioned. Volunteers were usually trained forthese initiatives and acknowledged in peer-reviewed publication, however datafrom the initiatives were only partially shared openly. We conclude with remarksand suggestions for expanding design and implementation of CS in the ILTERcommunity.