Funds are provided for a special issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment to cover the topic of Citizen Science: New Pathways to Public Involvement in Research. There is an increasing interest in citizens participating in research in a broad variety of scientific disciplines where they classify galaxies, identify supernovas, measure water quality, track invasive species, or observe phenological events in plants and animals. The special issue will review the history of citizen science projects and focus on the innovative and exciting ways in which citizen scientists are being involved and empowered today. Volunteer networks of citizen scientists greatly add to the ability to collect and analyze data, thereby helping to expand scientific understanding of ecology and environmental change. Papers in the issue will provide a look forward to new and evolving roles of citizens' contributions to basic research and discuss how this confluence of science and education may develop in the future to inform scientific research and to support more diverse networks of participants. By its very nature, citizen science provides an important bridge between science and education at many levels. Wide dissemination will be enhanced by having the entire issue accessible on the web.
." This issue marked the first time that a scientific journal has devoted an entire issue to showcasing research studies and initiatives in which the public have played a vital role in gathering and in some cases analyzing scientific data. From the outset, it was determined that the Special Issue would not simply be a compilation of descriptions of existing citizen science. Instead, the Special Issue was comprised of three ‘long’ manuscripts and ten ‘short’ case studies. The issue began with three manuscripts, describing the past, present and future of citizen science. The ten case studies described different projects involving citizen scientists of all ages, from schoolchildren to university students to adults. These projects reflected a wide variety of approaches, goals, desired outcomes, and purpose. The case studies go beyond simple project descriptions by discussing some of the challenges, including recruitment and retention, and education and training of participants and data monitoring and validation. The case studies range from engaging recreational divers to carefully collect important data on coral bleaching while still enjoying their hobby or vacation activity to projects that focus on monitoring birds visiting feeding stations in people’s backyards, collecting invertebrates in national parks to measure mercury levels, harvesting sunflower seed heads to study pollination, measuring phenological changes to determine shifts in ‘first leaf" dates and ‘first bloom’ dates due to climate change, and tracking zebra population dynamics. One case study addressed the pressing need for broader participation in current and future citizen science efforts if we are to meet the needs of changing demographics. Some of the case studies were conducted in the US, while others were international, some were of relatively short duration while others lasted many years. An important goal of the Special Issue was to show researchers not yet involved in citizen science projects how far citizen science has progressed over the years, how much can be achieved in terms of data collection, when a small army of enthusiastic citizens are involved, and how such data can be validated. A second goal of the Special Issue was to look at the educational components and outcomes of citizen science and the importance of engendering connection to, and an understanding of nature and natural processes among the general public, thereby leading to a more ecoliterate public, more in tune with the ecosystems around them and which they impact. A particularly exciting element of the Special Issue was the description of how citizen science projects can be built around smartphones and other modern technologies, making them more dynamic and attractive to younger generations of participants. The Special Issue has been enthusiastically received by the scientific and education communities. Indeed, a few hundred extra print copies have been distributed at scientific conferences and other events. It is hoped that recipients will be encouraged to set up citizen science projects as part of their own studies, thereby involving and exciting members of the public of all ages and tapping into a vast new pool of resources, able to collect and process far more data than a small team of researchers can ever hope to do.
