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Contributory project: It is designed by scientists, and citizens participate in data collection.
Overall goal: Study freshwater environments (rivers, lakes, lagoons and estuaries) both for scientific and educational purposes Specific goals: The scientific purpose is to analyze the condition of inland water ecosystems using citizen participation strategies. Particularly, the project aims to: identify the environmental factors that positively and negatively impact freshwater ecosystems; generate new tools for monitoring such ecosystems; and calibrate existing tools for assessment. Besides, the educational purpose is to create materials related to the preservation of freshwater ecosystems. To achieve such purpose, the project aims at: drawing up simple manuals for monitoring said ecosystems to be used in educational activities; making available to educational institutions maps showing the condition of courses of freshwater; and educating on scientific reasoning, by directly involving citizen scientists in some or all stages of the scientific method.
Description of citizen participation: Citizen scientists assess habitat condition in aquatic environments by using an app for Android or a website. The information sent is concentrated in the AppEAR database and used to create a real-time map showing aquatic habitat conditions, both of which may be freely accessed. Also, citizen scientists are able to learn about the aquatic environments present in their communities and educate others using the educational resources generated by themselves. Citizen interaction and active involvement in discussion forums are useful to measure habitat quality in aquatic environments, to learn how to generate educational resources for these ecosystems, and even to improve AppEAR.
Time frame: 06/01/2016 - N/A
Project leader: Joaquín Cochero. National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET in Spanish)
Contact information.
Email: jcochero@ilpla.edu.ar
Web: app-ear.com.ar/que-es-appear
Facebook: facebook.com/AppEARarg
Instagram: instagram.com/appear.h2o
Twitter: twitter.com/AppEARarg
Consent to share form or official link.
3Good health and well-being
6Clean water and sanitation
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