Citizen science in action: Working with a Conservation Ecologist

Get an insight into Bradley Clarke-Wood’s role as a Con­ser­va­tion Ecol­o­gist at the Depart­ment for Envi­ron­ment and Water, and learn about how cit­i­zen sci­ence plays a cru­cial role in sup­port­ing bio­di­ver­si­ty and conservation.

Words by Bradley Clarke-Wood…

Explain your cur­rent cit­i­zen sci­ence-based con­ser­va­tion project?

I’m cur­rent­ly work­ing on a Lime­stone Coast Com­mu­ni­ty Pho­tog­ra­phy Expe­di­tion, which involves coor­di­na­tion of mem­bers of the pub­lic, to assist in data col­lec­tion across 20 Lime­stone Coast con­ser­va­tion areas over sev­er­al months.

What are the main goals of your cur­rent project, and how do you see your work con­tribut­ing to the broad­er field of conservation?

The main goal of our Lime­stone Coast Com­mu­ni­ty Pho­tog­ra­phy Expe­di­tion is to gen­er­ate data for sci­ence and con­ser­va­tion. Many of the Lime­stone Coast’s con­ser­va­tion areas are not reg­u­lar­ly sur­veyed for bio­di­ver­si­ty, and so this is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to gain a bet­ter gen­er­alised sense of the dis­tri­b­u­tion of species. Such data feeds into inter­na­tion­al data repos­i­to­ries (includ­ing the Atlas of Liv­ing Aus­tralia) and are used to bet­ter under­stand pat­terns in when and where species occur. This con­tributes to the broad­er field of con­ser­va­tion by pro­duc­ing usable and ver­i­fi­able infor­ma­tion for nat­ur­al resource man­agers and researchers. Impor­tant­ly, this also cre­ates an oppor­tu­ni­ty for cit­i­zen sci­en­tists to gain a greater aware­ness of their local envi­ron­ment. Most con­ser­va­tion pro­grams include the objec­tives of devel­op­ing aware­ness in the broad­er com­mu­ni­ty, and this project cre­ates an oppor­tu­ni­ty for that.

How do you col­lab­o­rate with local com­mu­ni­ties or stake­hold­ers in your con­ser­va­tion projects?

My cur­rent project was actu­al­ly devel­oped with the Friends of Parks and Nature Inc. group — Friends of Bool and Hacks Lagoons, and invites oth­er envi­ron­men­tal groups (includ­ing field nat­u­ral­ist groups) to participate.

The Friends of Bool and Hacks Lagoons are organ­is­ing four coor­di­nat­ed data col­lec­tion events (in Autumn, Win­ter and Spring 2025) across 20 Lime­stone Coast con­ser­va­tion areas, where par­tic­i­pants will be invit­ed to doc­u­ment bio­di­ver­si­ty using the iNat­u­ral­ist plat­form. This direct­ly helps sci­en­tists and resource man­agers under­stand when and where organ­isms occur.

Dates for these 2025 data col­lec­tion events are 24 May – 1 June, 26 July 26^th – 3 August and 25 Octo­ber – 2 Novem­ber and you can reg­is­ter your inter­est here.

Why do you believe cit­i­zen sci­ence is cru­cial in con­ser­va­tion, and what role do every­day peo­ple play in your research?

Cit­i­zen sci­ence plays a cru­cial role in con­ser­va­tion as it empow­ers locals to con­tribute to research and mon­i­tor their local envi­ron­ment, sig­nif­i­cant­ly expand­ing the reach and impact of con­ser­va­tion efforts. Con­ser­va­tion often involves gath­er­ing large amounts of data over wide geo­graph­ic areas, and cit­i­zen sci­en­tists — vol­un­teers from all walks of life — can help col­lect that data. Their involve­ment allows researchers to cov­er more ground and gath­er infor­ma­tion that might oth­er­wise be too expen­sive, time-con­sum­ing, or dif­fi­cult to obtain. Local peo­ple are vital in this process because they pro­vide both valu­able data and local knowl­edge that might be missed by sci­en­tists who are not famil­iar with the area or species. Whether it’s con­duct­ing bird sur­veys, pro­cess­ing record­ings or doc­u­ment­ing the dis­tri­b­u­tion of species, vol­un­teer con­tri­bu­tions make research more accu­rate and extensive.

More­over, by engag­ing the pub­lic in con­ser­va­tion, cit­i­zen sci­ence fos­ters a greater sense of envi­ron­men­tal respon­si­bil­i­ty and aware­ness, help­ing to cre­ate a broad­er net­work of advo­cates for pro­tect­ing local envi­ron­ments. Ulti­mate­ly, cit­i­zen sci­en­tists are not just data col­lec­tors — they are active par­tic­i­pants in the con­ser­va­tion, help­ing bridge the gap between research and action. Their involve­ment is essen­tial for cre­at­ing last­ing, mean­ing­ful change in con­ser­va­tion efforts.

What chal­lenges do you face in pro­mot­ing and imple­ment­ing cit­i­zen sci­ence in your projects, and how do you over­come them?

One of the main chal­lenges is keep­ing peo­ple engaged over time. While it’s easy to get indi­vid­u­als excit­ed about a project ini­tial­ly, main­tain­ing their par­tic­i­pa­tion long-term can be more dif­fi­cult. To over­come this, we focus on cre­at­ing a sense of com­mu­ni­ty and pur­pose. Pro­vid­ing reg­u­lar updates on how their con­tri­bu­tions are mak­ing a dif­fer­ence, cel­e­brat­ing mile­stones, and offer­ing recog­ni­tion for their efforts helps keep par­tic­i­pants moti­vat­ed. Addi­tion­al­ly, pro­vid­ing clear, acces­si­ble train­ing and easy-to-fol­low instruc­tions makes par­tic­i­pa­tion feel more man­age­able and enjoyable.

Some­times also, access to tech­nol­o­gy or knowl­edge can be a bar­ri­er to par­tic­i­pa­tion, par­tic­u­lar­ly in under-served or remote com­mu­ni­ties. We over­come this by offer­ing mul­ti­ple ways for peo­ple to get involved, whether through apps, paper sur­veys, or com­mu­ni­ty work­shops. We make sure to offer resources in mul­ti­ple lan­guages, and in some cas­es, we part­ner with local organ­i­sa­tions to help reach broad­er audiences.

Final­ly, not every­one is aware of the val­ue of cit­i­zen sci­ence, and con­vinc­ing stake­hold­ers or the pub­lic to invest their time and effort can be dif­fi­cult. To address this, we work on clear and con­sis­tent mes­sag­ing that high­lights the impor­tance of their con­tri­bu­tions to real-world con­ser­va­tion goals. We also active­ly pro­mote suc­cess sto­ries where cit­i­zen sci­ence has made a mea­sur­able impact, help­ing peo­ple under­stand the tan­gi­ble results they can help create.

Can you share a spe­cif­ic exam­ple of how cit­i­zen sci­ence has made a sig­nif­i­cant impact on a con­ser­va­tion ini­tia­tive or deci­sion-mak­ing process?

BirdLife Australia’sBeach-nest­ing Birds pro­gram gen­er­ates upward of 14,000 records every year and uses the infor­ma­tion col­lect­ed by cit­i­zen sci­en­tists to improve the way beach­es are man­aged and pro­tect­ed. Over 897 impor­tant sites are mon­i­tored every breed­ing sea­son to fol­low the breed­ing activ­i­ty of species such as the Hood­ed Plover, Fairy Tern, Red-capped Plover, Pied Oys­ter­catch­er and Beach Stone-curlew. The pro­gram depends on peo­ple pow­er to col­lect enough infor­ma­tion to under­stand and pro­tect these birds, because of the wide dis­tri­b­u­tion, num­ber and dis­tance between sites, and the lengthy breed­ing sea­son of these birds. Friends of Shore­birds SE, inc., a local Friends of Parks and Nature group, con­tributes sig­nif­i­cant­ly to this pro­gram but mon­i­tor­ing across the exten­sive coast­line of the Lime­stone Coast.

Park of the Month

For the month of April, Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice is cel­e­brat­ing cit­i­zen sci­ence activ­i­ties in Nation­al Parks, as part of our reg­u­lar Park of the Month pro­gram. To see all the activ­i­ties on offer and to make a real dif­fer­ence to bio­di­ver­si­ty and con­ser­va­tion efforts vis­it parks​.sa​.gov​.au/​g​e​t​-​i​n​s​p​i​r​e​d​/​p​a​r​k​-​o​f​-​t​h​e​-​month!

Head­er Image: Bradley Clarke-Wood, DEW Con­ser­va­tion Ecol­o­gist in the field.