Linking place-based citizen science with large-scale conservation research: A case study of bird-building collisions and the role of professional scientists

Abstract

A primary benefit of incorporating public participation in scientific research is the increased ability to use data from multiple localities to address conservation research and management objectives that span national, continental, and even global scales. Although the importance of incorporating data from local citizen science programs into large-scale research has been widely recognized, there has been relatively little discussion of specific steps that will facilitate this bridging of scales. We use the example of bird collisions with buildings in North America—an issue for which the majority of data have been collected by citizen science programs that each operate in a different city—to outline simple study design and data collection steps that will ensure that data can contribute to large-scale research syntheses. We also describe how taking a scientific approach to defining research questions and hypotheses at the beginning of a study will: (1) result in a high level of rigor throughout the scientific cycle, most notably at the critical stage when programs formulate study design and data collection protocols, and (2) produce results that effectively inform local policy and management decisions while also contributing to large-scale science. Given the funding and staffing limitations of citizen science programs, we argue that the responsibility is with professional conservation scientists to reach out to programs and provide feedback that assists them in bridging local and large scales. These collaborations will expand the collective contribution of citizens to conservation science and management.