Ciência cidadã no monitoramento ambiental : lacunas na produção científica, vieses geográficos e taxonômicos

Abstract

Citizen science, although not a novelty, has gained popularity since the mid-90s, driven by advancements in technology and information. The collaborative process between ordinary citizens and professional scientists has intensified in response to the growing environmental demands worldwide across various fields of operation. In the first article, we discussed the temporal advancements of scientific production, yet noted biases in this demand, such as a higher production of scientific data for groups like insects and birds, and a predisposition towards monitoring terrestrial species. Countries like the USA and Australia exhibit high scientific production, contrasting with countries in the neotropical region such as Brazil and Mexico, which harbor greater biodiversity. Despite these biases, citizen science has proven dynamic in thematic shifts concerning global environmental issues, evident since around 2015/16, including recent topics like COVID-19. Conducting a global analysis of scientific production, which revealed discrepancies, we sought to evaluate factors influencing bird observation in Brazil over the past 30 years. In the second article, we observed that in medium and large cities, more observations are conducted in the southeastern region, particularly in São Paulo. These observations are directly linked to factors like population size, city area, scientist-led observations, human development index, and the number of conservation units. Hence, economic and geographical attributes, alongside conservation actions like the number of conservation units, influence the demand for bird observation by laypersons. In the third article, we restricted observations to the Cerrado biome to analyze specific factors influencing bird observation by citizen science. We found that attributes such as professional bird observation (e.g., specimens in scientific collections), bird coloration, flock behavior, bird size,dispersion across different environments, threat level, and endemism influence observation by amateur scientists. Recognizing these as complex attributes, future research should consider additional factors. However, it was noticeable that the most observed birds are typically found in urban environments in generalist manner, necessitating close monitoring. Citizen science emerges as a crucial tool for such monitoring, particularly in urban centers. Technology and community engagement are pivotal for environmental monitoring, especially with the utilization of new technologies and continuous support from various institutions and social actors. There exists a strong relationship between scientists and non-scientists in species observation, particularly in cities with conservation concerns that preserve natural environments. These findings underscore the importance of organization, engagement, political support,and consideration of various factors in promoting and sustaining citizen science initiatives for environmental monitoring, as well as species conservation efforts, with particular emphasis on the avifauna of the Brazilian Cerrado.