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Citizen Science in Croatia: “Where did the sea urchins disappear?" Campaign Case Study

Citizen science (CS) as the active involvement of the wider public in scientific projects is growing bigger and globally more attractive. In ecological projects it has been identified as the most acceptable sustainable environmental model, since efficient urban ecosystem management requires bringing science, policy, and citizen participation together. Citizen involvement in data collection and monitoring offers the public an appealing opportunity to participate in research, and allows them to benefit from the learning. On the other hand, the CS approach allows scientists to overcome the financial and technical problems associated with collecting large amounts of data in short time frames. There are some lingering concerns regarding the quality of data gathered on CS projects, such as the lack of training that might lead to citizens providing poor quality or incorrect data or even data bias due to specific alternative interests of public groups. However, this approach offers numerous advantages in particular phases of scientific research. Here we present a case study of biological recording of sea urchins (Paracentrotus lividus, Arbacia lixula and Sphaerechinus granularis) in the Adriatic Sea using a participatory citizen model. “Where did the sea urchins disappear?” campaign was launched in July 2019 by the Invasive Species Centre (ISC) at the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism Poreč (Croatia). The initial aim of the campaign was to quickly determine whether the reports of dying sea urchins in coastal waters around the city of Poreč are a part of a larger trend. The campaign was soon extended to the national scale. Within 48 hours after launching the appeal on ISC website and social networks (FB, Instagram), ISC got 102 reports on the presence, abundance and changes in sea urchins populations throughout the Croatian Adriatic coast, with social media statistics of 60 738 post reach and 272 shares. Based on collected data the geographic map of detected die-off cases was created and the conclusion on the local character of urchins dying problem was made. More than 98% of locations where the die-offs were detected were on the narrow area (45°08'47'' N, 13°35'44'' E to 45°28'27'' N, 13°30'28'' E) of western coast of Istrian Peninsula. The most relevant regional and national institutions involved in the benthos research and monitoring were contacted. Based on available data, spontaneously formed network of experts debating possible causes of urchins’ die-offs. Possible reasons, such as sea water quality, a sudden rise of seawater temperature in narrow waters of North Adriatic caused by climate change or the presence of invasive algae Ostreopsis ovata or different bacteria are currently investigated. Sea field work was performed but samples of sea urchins were not collected because of the impossibility to find any live specimen at specific locations. More research is needed to explain the phenomenon. In cases like this one where we have an easily recognizable species and therefore more reliability of the collected data, we consider the citizen science model as a good example of fast, reliable and affordable way of data gathering that would otherwise, in regular scientific process, require significant material and time resources. The success of the campaign speaks of the need for a certain type of institutionalization and acceptance of CS protocol not only as a bottom-up concept but also as a form of official data stream.

citizen science, sea urchins, die-offs, Adriatic Sea

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