The migratory nature of avian species is well known not only to researchers but also to the general public,becoming engrained in cultural traditions and even children's fairy tales.However,our understanding of the...The migratory nature of avian species is well known not only to researchers but also to the general public,becoming engrained in cultural traditions and even children's fairy tales.However,our understanding of these charismatic behaviors made great strides in the 1990s with the advent of small,light-weighted satellite transmitters capable of longterm tracking(Argos,2016).The emergence of this new technology made it possible to track a broader range of species at higher resolution than ever before.In turn,this data enabled detailed understanding of individual avian behavior and habitats,including transboundary migration routes.展开更多
The publisher regrets that the Appendix A.Supplementary data was not updated as per author and editor’s request.The publisher would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
The House Martin(Delichon urbicum)is a common farmland bird species in the European landscape,yet its population numbers are currently in decline.However,it is not yet sufficiently explained why this long-term decline...The House Martin(Delichon urbicum)is a common farmland bird species in the European landscape,yet its population numbers are currently in decline.However,it is not yet sufficiently explained why this long-term decline occurs.To fill this gap in our knowledge,we investigated how land cover composition affects the abundance of House Martins on the landscape scale by using nationwide citizen science data.Utilizing a generalised linear mixed-effect model(GLMM),we evaluated 12,094 records from the Czech Republic spanning 2009-2017.Our analysis underscores the significance of land cover type in shaping House Martin abundance.More specifically,our results indicate that within agricultural land covers“naturally managed arable lands”exhibited significant positive effect,while forests,orchards,and vineyards were deemed less favourable for House Martin populations.Within urban land covers,we found a clear distinction in the impact on House Martin populations,with a positive effect observed in urban infrastructure,development areas,and post-industrial sites(i.e.,UrbanAreas),while an indifferent impact was noted within urban green spaces and landscaped areas(i.e.,GreenUrban).Notably,our findings suggest that the simple spatial,age,and species structure typical of forests in Europe,and similarly,the uniform structure of parks and gardens,may be responsible for the decline in the abundance of the House Martin.We advocate for the preservation or enhancement of urban greenery,expansion of natural vegetation in rural areas and adoption of ecological management practices in orchards and vineyards to mitigate further declines in House Martin populations.展开更多
Augmented Reality(AR)offers new opportunities for Citizen Science(CS)projects regarding data visualization,data collection,and training of participants.Since limited research on the usage of AR in CS projects exists,a...Augmented Reality(AR)offers new opportunities for Citizen Science(CS)projects regarding data visualization,data collection,and training of participants.Since limited research on the usage of AR in CS projects exists,an online survey is conducted in this study by reaching out to CS project managers to determine the extent of its current use.The survey can identify areas where CS project managers themselves see the greatest potential for AR in their projects and reasons that exist against the use of AR.A total of 53 CS project managers participated in the survey and shared their opinions and concerns.Of all participating CS projects,only three are currently using AR.However,27 CS projects indicated that AR could be beneficial for their project.Especially projects with a geographic focus,in which participants are involved in the process of collecting spatial data,expressed this opinion.Particularly in the areas“data visualization”and“attraction/motivation of participants”the projects identified potential for AR.Arguments against the use of AR named by 23 CS projects include remote study areas,financial considerations,and the lack of a practical use case.This study shows initial trends regarding the use of AR in CS projects and highlights specific use cases for the application of AR.展开更多
Plant diversity is currently being lost at an unprecedented rate, resulting in an associated decrease in ecosystem services. About a third of the world＇s vascular plant species face the threat of extinction due to a ...Plant diversity is currently being lost at an unprecedented rate, resulting in an associated decrease in ecosystem services. About a third of the world＇s vascular plant species face the threat of extinction due to a variety of devastating activities, including, over-harvesting and over exploitation, destructive agricul- tural and forestry practices, urbanization, environmental pollution, land-use changes, exotic invasive species, global climate change, and more. We therefore need to increase our efforts to develop integrative conservation approaches for plant species conservation. Botanical gardens devote their resources to the study and conservation of plants, as well as making the world＇s plant species diversity known to the public. These gardens also play a central role in meeting human needs and providing well-being. In this minireview, a framework for the integrated missions of botanical gardens, including scientific research, inJex situ conservation, plant resource utilization, and citizen science are cataloged. By reviewing the history of the development of Kunming Botanical Garden, we illustrate successful species conservation approaches （among others, projects involving Camellia, Rhododendron, Magnolia, Begonia, Alliurn, Ne- penthes, medicinal plants, ornamental plants, and Plant Species with Extreme Small Populations）, as well as citizen science, and scientific research at Kunming Botanical Garden over the past 80 years. We emphasize that Kunming Botanical Garden focuses largely on the ex situ conservation of plants from Southwest China, especially those endangered, endemic, and economically important plant species native to the Yunnan Plateau and the southern Hengduan Mountains. We also discuss the future chal- lenges and responsibilities of botanical gardens in a changing world, including： the negative effects of outbreeding and/or inbreeding depression; promoting awareness, study, and conservation of plant species diversity; accelerating global access to information about plant diversity; increasing capacity building and training activities. We hope this minireview can promote understanding of the role of botanical gardens.展开更多
Background: Citizen science has tremendous potential in advancing scientific knowledge and improving natural resource management.To detect the wintering distribution of the endangered species Scaly-sided Merganser(Mer...Background: Citizen science has tremendous potential in advancing scientific knowledge and improving natural resource management.To detect the wintering distribution of the endangered species Scaly-sided Merganser(Mergus squamatus), national wintering surveys were organized by China Birdwatching Association.Methods: The surveys of M.squamatus were conducted in three successive winters from 2014 to 2016.A total of 2019 people from 102 organizations participated in the surveys.With three groups of 13 environmental variables, species distribution model for its wintering distribution of each year was developed using random forest.Schoener's D index was used to compare the distribution of M.squamatus in 3 years.Results: Totally, 441, 634 and 1138 individuals of M.squamatus were recorded in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively.Two main sites in Dabie Mountain and East Qinling mountains were verified and the wintering range of M.squamatus was defined.The wintering range was found to be highly identical for the 3 years.Conclusions: The highly overlapped distribution range among years suggested that the wintering range of M.squamatus was relatively stable.Well organized and coordinated citizen science can be used to define distribution range and improve species conservation.展开更多
The potential of citizen science projects in research has been increasingly acknowledged,but the substantial engagement of these projects is restricted by the quality of citizen science data.Based on the largest emerg...The potential of citizen science projects in research has been increasingly acknowledged,but the substantial engagement of these projects is restricted by the quality of citizen science data.Based on the largest emerging citizen science project in the country-Birdreport Online Database(BOD),we examined the biases of birdwatching data from the Greater Bay Area of China.The results show that the sampling effort is disparate among land cover types due to contributors’ preference towards urban and suburban areas,indicating the environment suitable for species existence could be underrepresented in the BOD data.We tested the contributors’ skill of species identification via a questionnaire targeting the citizen birders in the Greater Bay Area.The questionnaire show that most citizen birdwatchers could correctly identify the common species widely distributed in Southern China and the less common species with conspicuous morphological characteristics,while failed to identify the species from Alaudidae;Caprimulgidae,Emberizidae,Phylloscopidae,Scolopacidae and Scotocercidae.With a study example,we demonstrate that spatially clustered bird watching visits can cause underestimation of species richness in insufficiently sampled areas;and the result of species richness mapping is sensitive to the contributors’ skill of identifying bird species.Our results address how avian research can be influenced by the reliability of citizen science data in a region of generally high accessibility,and highlight the necessity of pre-analysis scrutiny on data reliability regarding to research aims at all spatial and temporal scales.To improve the data quality,we suggest to equip the data collection frame of BOD with a flexible filter for bird abundance,and questionnaires that collect information related to contributors’ bird identification skill.Statistic modelling approaches are encouraged to apply for correcting the bias of sampling effort.展开更多
An accurate and updated regional bird species checklist is the foundation for biodiversity research and conservation.However,with ongoing climate and landscape changes,tracking the distributions of bird species is cha...An accurate and updated regional bird species checklist is the foundation for biodiversity research and conservation.However,with ongoing climate and landscape changes,tracking the distributions of bird species is challenging,and expert-curated species lists are often limited regarding survey area and timeliness.Birdwatching in China is becoming increasingly popular,and observations recorded by citizen birders are quickly increasing as well.Assessing the value of these data for improving regional species lists and studying bird distribution needs a detailed and quantitative comparison of citizen science data and expert-curated data.We collected observation reports from the China Bird Report Center,the largest online open platform for sharing bird sightings in China.We focused on reports from 2016 to 2019 in Shaanxi Province.For expert-curated species lists,we used three sources:the latest bird field guide published by local ornithologists,the province list from Avibase,and a list generated from overlaying distribution range from BirdLife International with the outline of Shaanxi Province.In addition,we also compared the bird sighting coordinates with the species distribution maps from BirdLife International.Surprisingly,species checklists from different sources have considerable discrepancies,even among lists based on expert knowledge.Including birdwatching data,there are 616 bird species in total,but less than half of the species(294)appear in all checklists,and 17.2%of species are unique to one list.One hundred sixty-three species lack birdwatching records,but birdwatching identified 39 species new to the province.One hundred thirty-six bird species have sighting locations outside the distribution ranges from BirdLife International,suggesting that updates might be needed.The data also showed a clear trend of bird species shifting to higher latitudes than their traditional distributions.While being inadequate for generating a regional species checklist on its own,birdwatching data in China can be a valuable source for complementing expert knowledge.In particular,the coordinate information of bird sighting can help track species distribution shifts.On the other hand,comparing expert-curated lists to birdwatching data can generate a species list for targeted birdwatching and monitoring,which will improve the quality of the birdwatching data in the future.展开更多
Background： With mounting global environmental, social and economic pressures the resilience and stability of forests and thus the provisioning of vital ecosystem services is increasingly threatened. Intensified moni...Background： With mounting global environmental, social and economic pressures the resilience and stability of forests and thus the provisioning of vital ecosystem services is increasingly threatened. Intensified monitoring can help to detect ecological threats and changes earlier, but monitoring resources are limited. Participatory forest monitoring with the help of ＂citizen scientists＂ can provide additional resources for forest monitoring and at the same time help to communicate with stakeholders and the general public. Examples for citizen science projects in the forestry domain can be found but a solid, applicable larger framework to utilise public participation in the area of forest monitoring seems to be lacking. We propose that a better understanding of shared and related topics in citizen science and forest monitoring might be a first step towards such a framework. Methods： We conduct a systematic meta-analysis of 1015 publication abstracts addressing ＂forest monitoring＂ and ＂citizen science＂ in order to explore the combined topical landscape of these subjects. We employ ＇topic modelling an unsupervised probabilistic machine learning method, to identify latent shared topics in the analysed publications. Results： We find that large shared topics exist, but that these are primarily topics that would be expected in scientific publications in general. Common domain-specific topics are under-represented and indicate a topical separation of the two document sets on ＂forest monitoring＂ and ＂citizen science＂ and thus the represented domains. While topic modelling as a method proves to be a scalable and useful analytical tool, we propose that our approach could deliver even more useful data if a larger document set and full-text publications would be available for analysis. Conclusions： We propose that these results, together with the observation of non-shared but related topics, point at under-utilised opportunities for public participation in forest monitoring. Citizen science could be applied as a versatile tool in forest ecosystems monitoring, complementing traditional forest monitoring programmes, assisting early threat recognition and helping to connect forest management with the general public. We conclude that our presented approach should be pursued further as it may aid the understanding and setup of citizen science efforts in the forest monitoring domain.展开更多
Background: Ring wear and loss may have important consequences for mark-recapture studies that aim to estimate survival trends. Our study quantifies the rates of wear and loss from a long-running colour-ringing projec...Background: Ring wear and loss may have important consequences for mark-recapture studies that aim to estimate survival trends. Our study quantifies the rates of wear and loss from a long-running colour-ringing project of the Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) in the Netherlands. Methods: Our analysis included 8909 colour-ringed oystercatchers with 118,071 resightings, predominantly ringed and observed by citizen scientists. We quantified how ring wear and loss may vary with ring colour and age, and how this may impact resighting probabilities. We then determined how ring loss may impact survival estimates and resighting probabilities of mark-recapture models by simulating four scenarios of how citizen scientists may resight and report birds with lost colour rings. Results: Annual rates of colour ring loss averaged 2.5% compared with 1% for ring wear, but lost rings also had a higher reporting probability (31.2%) than worn rings (10.3%). Lost rings may not directly impact survival estimates since 50% of oystercatchers with lost rings could still be uniquely identified. Ring wear and loss rapidly increased between 10 and 15 years after ringing. Rates of ring loss were comparable amongst ring colours, but the wear rate appeared higher for red and white rings compared to other colours. Rates of ring wear and loss varied significantly amongst different regions in our study, which were characterised as having different habitat features. Differential rates of ring wear may have important implications for studies conducted over large geographical scales or of multiple species. Conclusions: Based on simulations of ring loss in our population, estimates of apparent survival may be 0.3–1.2% lower whilst the impact of ring wear was deemed even lower. We developed a table of recommendations containing advice for ring fitting, data collection, study design, and mark-recapture analyses, so that future colour-ringing studies can benefit from our experiences in collecting and analysing data of ring wear and loss through citizen science.展开更多
Observations of living organisms by citizen scientists that are reported to online portals are a valuable source of information.They are also a special kind of volunteered geographic information(VGI).VGI data have iss...Observations of living organisms by citizen scientists that are reported to online portals are a valuable source of information.They are also a special kind of volunteered geographic information(VGI).VGI data have issues of completeness,which arise from biases caused by the opportunistic nature of the data collection process.We examined the completeness of bird species represented in citizen science observation data from eBird and iNaturalist in US National Parks(NPs).We used approaches for completeness estimation which were developed for data from OpenStreetMap,a crowdsourced map of the world.First,we used an extrinsic approach,comparing species lists from citizen science data with National Park Service lists.Second,we examined two intrinsic approaches using total observation numbers in NPs and the development of the number of new species being added to the data-set over time.Results from the extrinsic approach provided appropriate completeness estimations to evaluate the intrinsic approaches.We found that total observation numbers are a good estimator of species completeness of citizen science data from US NPs.There is also a close relationship between species completeness and the ratio of new species added to observation data vs.observation numbers in a given year.展开更多
Citizen science is a process that seeks to involve the public in scientific projects through systematic data collection and observations of natural phenomena. Environmental education centres on the relationship betwee...Citizen science is a process that seeks to involve the public in scientific projects through systematic data collection and observations of natural phenomena. Environmental education centres on the relationship between humans and nature and has attracted the attention of more and more educators because of its increasingly important educational value. This paper reports an empirical study on environmental education projects featuring observations of natural phenomena and using local environmental resources. Using the Spring Swallow Survey project as an example, the design ideas and evaluation framework for the project are analysed. The implementation effect of the project is examined quantitatively and qualitatively. Finally,the resource package used in the project is revised and redeveloped according to the effect evaluation data.展开更多
With the development of information technologies such as big data,cloud computing,and artificial intelligence,the application scenarios of citizen science worldwide are no longer limited to natural science research.A ...With the development of information technologies such as big data,cloud computing,and artificial intelligence,the application scenarios of citizen science worldwide are no longer limited to natural science research.A large number of application cases have emerged in the field of medical health,which suggests that the development of citizen science may bring new impetus to medical health.This study employs CiteSpace for a bibliometric analysis to evaluate the current status,objectives,and methodologies of citizen science in global healthcare.An analysis of 248 articles from the Web of Science Core Collection reveals that citizen science is predominantly implemented in high-income countries,including the United States,the United Kingdom,Germany,and the Netherlands,with significant applications in public health,chronic disease management,infectious disease surveillance,and digital health.The COVID-19 pandemic has further catalyzed the integration of citizen science into health surveillance and public health responses.Conversely,in low-and middle-income countries(LMICs),the development and implementation of citizen science remain nascent,primarily concentrated in traditional domains such as environmental science,ecology,and biodiversity conservation,with limited penetration into the healthcare sector.Several structural barriers,including inadequate technological infrastructure,insufficient policy support,limited public engagement,and constrained resource allocation,have impeded the broader adoption of citizen science in these regions.To mitigate these challenges,this study proposes targeted strategies,these interventions are anticipated to facilitate the expansion of citizen science’s role in global health governance,ultimately contributing to improved public health outcomes and social welfare.展开更多
Citizen Science(CS)is a prominent field of application for Open Science(OS),and the two have strong synergies,such as:advocating for the data and metadata generated through science to be made publicly available[1];sup...Citizen Science(CS)is a prominent field of application for Open Science(OS),and the two have strong synergies,such as:advocating for the data and metadata generated through science to be made publicly available[1];supporting more equitable collaboration between different types of scientists and citizens;and facilitating knowledge transfer to a wider range of audiences[2].While primarily targeted at CS,the EU-Citizen.Science platform can also support OS.One of its key functions is to act as a knowledge hub to aggregate,disseminate and promote experience and know-how;for example,by profiling CS projects and collecting tools,resources and training materials relevant to both fields.To do this,the platform has developed an information architecture that incorporates the public participation in scientific research(PPSR)-Common Conceptual Model.This model consists of the Project Metadata Model,the Dataset Metadata Model and the Observation Data Model,which were specifically developed for CS initiatives.By implementing these,the platform will strengthen the interoperating arrangements that exist between other,similar platforms(e.g.,BioCollect and SciStarter)to ensure that CS and OS continue to grow globally in terms of participants,impact and fields of application.展开更多
Recent studies have revealed concerning declines in bird populations in Europe and other parts of the world.In understudied but biodiverse regions,especially those that are located along key migratory flyways,there is...Recent studies have revealed concerning declines in bird populations in Europe and other parts of the world.In understudied but biodiverse regions,especially those that are located along key migratory flyways,there is an unmet need to evaluate the status of resident and migratory birdlife for avian conservation ecology.This is especially urgent at a time when recent regional studies have highlighted the scale of the decline of the European and Palearctic avifauna.Rapidly growing community science datasets may help bridge the gaps in our understanding of long-term regional avifaunal trends.In this study,we used eBird data submitted by observers in Türkiye to undertake the first long-term assessment of the state of the country’s birds from 2001 to 2022.We evaluated population trends based on presence-absence data of species to determine if any birds have significantly increased or decreased in the country so far this century.We provide a list of trends for 418 bird species that had large enough sample sizes of eBird observations from Türkiye,and highlight which species have significantly declined or increased.We found that 63 species have significantly declined in detection while 120 have significantly increased during the study period.Our findings provide a baseline for the future monitoring of Türkiye’s birds and help contextualize population changes of birds in Türkiye against those occurring at the continental(Palearctic)scale.Additionally,we include movement classifications for all of the bird species in this study.We also provide a framework to effectively use eBird data to assess long-term avifaunal changes at the country-level in other understudied regions.Finally,we highlight ways in which eBirders in Türkiye and elsewhere can strengthen the quality and value of community ornithology data for population assessments and avian conservation ecology.展开更多
The loss of bird species diversity is a crucial problem in the European agricultural landscape.Change in the area coverage of major land cover types has been mentioned as one of the main factors responsible for bird b...The loss of bird species diversity is a crucial problem in the European agricultural landscape.Change in the area coverage of major land cover types has been mentioned as one of the main factors responsible for bird biodiversity impoverishment.In this study,we focused on the impact of landscape matrix characteristics on bird species richness and on Faith’s phylogenetic diversity index on a spatial scale of 1000-m radius around the measured occurrence points.We investigated how land cover composition affects bird diversity on the landscape scale using nationwide citizen science data.In total,168,739 records of bird occurrence in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic during growing season from 2009 to 2019 were evaluated.We found that the presence of water bodies and wetlands significantly corresponded to the areas of highest bird species richness.We also revealed that the presence of forests(~60%of the forest in the Czech Republic is occupied by commercial forests),urban areas and arable land were negatively associated with bird species richness and phylogenetic diversity.Forests(both coniferous and deciduous)and urban habitats were found to have a tendency to host a clustered phylogenetic community structure in comparison with wetland and arable land.A strong negative association between forest proportion and bird diversity led us to conclude that the expansion of the forest(with simple species composition,horizontal and vertical structure)could be one of the critical drivers of the decline of bird species diversity in the European agricultural landscape.On the other hand,our results also pointed out that small woody features(i.e.,woodlots)and scattered woodland shrub vegetation were one of the main landscape characteristics supporting a bird diversity in rural landscape.This is in concordance with other studies which mention these landscape structures as important elements for nesting and foraging of farmland birds.We thus recommend to maintain and restore scattered trees or woodlots with complex structure in agricultural landscape.展开更多
The genus Euphlyctis is widely distributed across Southwestern Arabian Peninsula into parts of Southeast Asia. Five of the seven known Euphlyctis species are found within the Indian subcontinent. Here, we describe a n...The genus Euphlyctis is widely distributed across Southwestern Arabian Peninsula into parts of Southeast Asia. Five of the seven known Euphlyctis species are found within the Indian subcontinent. Here, we describe a new species, Euphlyctis karaavali sp. nov. from South-west coast of India, which was discovered during surveys engaging citizens. This species was identified to be distinct based on molecular and morphological evidence. We provide a detailed description of this species along with its call description and compare it with closest congeners. Previous studies in the region had identified this species as E. hexadactylus but suggested the possibility of it being cryptic. Genetically E. karaavali sp. nov. is distinct from E. hexadactylus with a genetic divergence of 9.2% （12S and 16S） and shows a high divergence with E. kalasgramensis and E. ehrenbergii （13.04% each）. Our findings are discussed in the context of cryptic species discovery, citizen engagement in scientific progress and conservation measures while suggesting future directions.展开更多
Nordmann's Greenshank(Tringa guttifer)is a globally endangered species that has received little research attention.It is threatened by rapid habitat loss,an incomplete network of protected sites,and lack of long-t...Nordmann's Greenshank(Tringa guttifer)is a globally endangered species that has received little research attention.It is threatened by rapid habitat loss,an incomplete network of protected sites,and lack of long-term data on population dynamics.Citizen science data can be combined with survey data to support population estimation and conservation gap analysis.From 2020 to 2021,Nordmann's Greenshank was surveyed in Tiaozini,Xiaoyangkou,and Dongling on the southern coast of Jiangsu Province,China,and the global population of the species was re-evaluated using the data obtained.We integrated citizen science data from eBird and the China Bird Report from 2000 to 2020 with the survey results to identify important habitats harboring over 1%of its total population,and compared this data with existing protected areas to identify gaps in its global conservation.Our survey found that Tiaozini supported at least 1194 individuals.Consequently,its global population was reestimated to be 1500-2000.Moreover,45 important habitats were identified based on citizen data and survey results.Although 44.4%and 50.0%of the priority sites in the world and China,respectively,are located outside protected areas,the Conservation Effectiveness Index(C)is 68.4%and 71.1%,respectively,showing that the current coverage of protected areas for this part of its range is reasonable.This study presents the most complete and recent population data to date.Tiaozini is the most important migration stopover site for Nordmann's Greenshanks.The species is under threat in terms of breeding,wintering,and stopover sites.Therefore,we suggest improving monitoring,establishing new protected sites to complete the habitat protection network,and improving the effectiveness of existing habitat protection strategies,including further developing high tide roosting sites.展开更多
Since ancient times,solar eclipses have fascinated—and sometimes terrified—humankind.Solar eclipses are direct sensory experiences.As the sun vanishes from the sky,birds fall silent during the midday twilight.Modern...Since ancient times,solar eclipses have fascinated—and sometimes terrified—humankind.Solar eclipses are direct sensory experiences.As the sun vanishes from the sky,birds fall silent during the midday twilight.Modern instrumentation has enabled research into the consequences of this sudden change in irradiation within the upper atmosphere.For the first time in 26 years。展开更多
Particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) stays airborne for long periods and can enter the lungs, increasing respiratory and cardiovascular risks. Metal shredders are known sources of...Particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) stays airborne for long periods and can enter the lungs, increasing respiratory and cardiovascular risks. Metal shredders are known sources of PM<sub>2.5</sub>, lead and other heavy metals. Winnipeg residents of South Saint Boniface (SSB) in Manitoba, Canada, live downwind of the Mission Industrial Area (MIA), which includes a metal shredder, train tracks and other industries. Residents are concerned about the MIA air and noise pollution and wanted ambient air quality monitoring in their mixed land-use area to understand its impact on their health. We measured and mapped the daytime PM<sub>2.5</sub>, from the MIA and South St. Boniface (SSB) neighborhoods using the Dylos DC 1700 PM over seven months. The Dylos air quality data for PM<sub>2.5</sub> was validated by the two federal reference monitors in the city, finding a moderate to very strong correlation (r = 0.52 to 0.83;p-value 0.001), confirming good accuracy. A spatial analysis of the emission data showed that the highest pollution concentration was downwind of the scrap metal shredder in MIA. One-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis revealed significantly higher levels of PM<sub>2.5</sub> at MIA and SSB than at the reference sites, which are away from pollution sources. The PM<sub>2.5</sub> Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standard (CAAQS) of 27 μg/m<sup>3</sup> was exceeded downwind of the property line of the scrap metal shredder in the MIA for five of the 35 monitoring days averaging between 28.9 μg/m<sup>3</sup> to 38.1 μg/m<sup>3</sup> over eight hours. The standard was not exceeded in the residential area, although PM<sub>2.5</sub> levels higher than background levels increased SSB residents exposure levels. This exceedance of regulatory standards requires action to reduce emissions.展开更多
文摘The migratory nature of avian species is well known not only to researchers but also to the general public,becoming engrained in cultural traditions and even children's fairy tales.However,our understanding of these charismatic behaviors made great strides in the 1990s with the advent of small,light-weighted satellite transmitters capable of longterm tracking(Argos,2016).The emergence of this new technology made it possible to track a broader range of species at higher resolution than ever before.In turn,this data enabled detailed understanding of individual avian behavior and habitats,including transboundary migration routes.
文摘The publisher regrets that the Appendix A.Supplementary data was not updated as per author and editor’s request.The publisher would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
基金supported by an internal grant agency from the Faculty of AgriSciences of Mendel University in Brno(AF-IGA2022-IP-034).
文摘The House Martin(Delichon urbicum)is a common farmland bird species in the European landscape,yet its population numbers are currently in decline.However,it is not yet sufficiently explained why this long-term decline occurs.To fill this gap in our knowledge,we investigated how land cover composition affects the abundance of House Martins on the landscape scale by using nationwide citizen science data.Utilizing a generalised linear mixed-effect model(GLMM),we evaluated 12,094 records from the Czech Republic spanning 2009-2017.Our analysis underscores the significance of land cover type in shaping House Martin abundance.More specifically,our results indicate that within agricultural land covers“naturally managed arable lands”exhibited significant positive effect,while forests,orchards,and vineyards were deemed less favourable for House Martin populations.Within urban land covers,we found a clear distinction in the impact on House Martin populations,with a positive effect observed in urban infrastructure,development areas,and post-industrial sites(i.e.,UrbanAreas),while an indifferent impact was noted within urban green spaces and landscaped areas(i.e.,GreenUrban).Notably,our findings suggest that the simple spatial,age,and species structure typical of forests in Europe,and similarly,the uniform structure of parks and gardens,may be responsible for the decline in the abundance of the House Martin.We advocate for the preservation or enhancement of urban greenery,expansion of natural vegetation in rural areas and adoption of ecological management practices in orchards and vineyards to mitigate further declines in House Martin populations.
基金support by the Open Access Publication Funds of Technische Universitat Braunschweig.
文摘Augmented Reality(AR)offers new opportunities for Citizen Science(CS)projects regarding data visualization,data collection,and training of participants.Since limited research on the usage of AR in CS projects exists,an online survey is conducted in this study by reaching out to CS project managers to determine the extent of its current use.The survey can identify areas where CS project managers themselves see the greatest potential for AR in their projects and reasons that exist against the use of AR.A total of 53 CS project managers participated in the survey and shared their opinions and concerns.Of all participating CS projects,only three are currently using AR.However,27 CS projects indicated that AR could be beneficial for their project.Especially projects with a geographic focus,in which participants are involved in the process of collecting spatial data,expressed this opinion.Particularly in the areas“data visualization”and“attraction/motivation of participants”the projects identified potential for AR.Arguments against the use of AR named by 23 CS projects include remote study areas,financial considerations,and the lack of a practical use case.This study shows initial trends regarding the use of AR in CS projects and highlights specific use cases for the application of AR.
基金Support for this study was provided by grants from the NSFCYunnan joint fund to support key projects(Grant no.U1602264)the Young Academic and Technical Leader Raising Foundation of Yunnan Province(2015HB091)to G.Chenthe Ministry of Science and Technology of China granted funding for a National Key Programme of China:Survey and Germplasm Conservation of PSESP in Southwest China(2017FY100100)to W.B.Sun
文摘Plant diversity is currently being lost at an unprecedented rate, resulting in an associated decrease in ecosystem services. About a third of the world＇s vascular plant species face the threat of extinction due to a variety of devastating activities, including, over-harvesting and over exploitation, destructive agricul- tural and forestry practices, urbanization, environmental pollution, land-use changes, exotic invasive species, global climate change, and more. We therefore need to increase our efforts to develop integrative conservation approaches for plant species conservation. Botanical gardens devote their resources to the study and conservation of plants, as well as making the world＇s plant species diversity known to the public. These gardens also play a central role in meeting human needs and providing well-being. In this minireview, a framework for the integrated missions of botanical gardens, including scientific research, inJex situ conservation, plant resource utilization, and citizen science are cataloged. By reviewing the history of the development of Kunming Botanical Garden, we illustrate successful species conservation approaches （among others, projects involving Camellia, Rhododendron, Magnolia, Begonia, Alliurn, Ne- penthes, medicinal plants, ornamental plants, and Plant Species with Extreme Small Populations）, as well as citizen science, and scientific research at Kunming Botanical Garden over the past 80 years. We emphasize that Kunming Botanical Garden focuses largely on the ex situ conservation of plants from Southwest China, especially those endangered, endemic, and economically important plant species native to the Yunnan Plateau and the southern Hengduan Mountains. We also discuss the future chal- lenges and responsibilities of botanical gardens in a changing world, including： the negative effects of outbreeding and/or inbreeding depression; promoting awareness, study, and conservation of plant species diversity; accelerating global access to information about plant diversity; increasing capacity building and training activities. We hope this minireview can promote understanding of the role of botanical gardens.
基金financed by National Key R&D Program of China(Award Number:2017YFC0405303)SEE FoundationNational Geographic
文摘Background: Citizen science has tremendous potential in advancing scientific knowledge and improving natural resource management.To detect the wintering distribution of the endangered species Scaly-sided Merganser(Mergus squamatus), national wintering surveys were organized by China Birdwatching Association.Methods: The surveys of M.squamatus were conducted in three successive winters from 2014 to 2016.A total of 2019 people from 102 organizations participated in the surveys.With three groups of 13 environmental variables, species distribution model for its wintering distribution of each year was developed using random forest.Schoener's D index was used to compare the distribution of M.squamatus in 3 years.Results: Totally, 441, 634 and 1138 individuals of M.squamatus were recorded in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively.Two main sites in Dabie Mountain and East Qinling mountains were verified and the wintering range of M.squamatus was defined.The wintering range was found to be highly identical for the 3 years.Conclusions: The highly overlapped distribution range among years suggested that the wintering range of M.squamatus was relatively stable.Well organized and coordinated citizen science can be used to define distribution range and improve species conservation.
基金the Estuary wetland wildlife survey project of the Greater Bay Area of China(Science and Technology Planning Projects of Guangdong Province,2021B1212110002).
文摘The potential of citizen science projects in research has been increasingly acknowledged,but the substantial engagement of these projects is restricted by the quality of citizen science data.Based on the largest emerging citizen science project in the country-Birdreport Online Database(BOD),we examined the biases of birdwatching data from the Greater Bay Area of China.The results show that the sampling effort is disparate among land cover types due to contributors’ preference towards urban and suburban areas,indicating the environment suitable for species existence could be underrepresented in the BOD data.We tested the contributors’ skill of species identification via a questionnaire targeting the citizen birders in the Greater Bay Area.The questionnaire show that most citizen birdwatchers could correctly identify the common species widely distributed in Southern China and the less common species with conspicuous morphological characteristics,while failed to identify the species from Alaudidae;Caprimulgidae,Emberizidae,Phylloscopidae,Scolopacidae and Scotocercidae.With a study example,we demonstrate that spatially clustered bird watching visits can cause underestimation of species richness in insufficiently sampled areas;and the result of species richness mapping is sensitive to the contributors’ skill of identifying bird species.Our results address how avian research can be influenced by the reliability of citizen science data in a region of generally high accessibility,and highlight the necessity of pre-analysis scrutiny on data reliability regarding to research aims at all spatial and temporal scales.To improve the data quality,we suggest to equip the data collection frame of BOD with a flexible filter for bird abundance,and questionnaires that collect information related to contributors’ bird identification skill.Statistic modelling approaches are encouraged to apply for correcting the bias of sampling effort.
基金supported by the Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program of Shaanxi Normal University(grant number cx2019162)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant number 31970407 to H.H.and grant number 31900313 to X.Z.)。
文摘An accurate and updated regional bird species checklist is the foundation for biodiversity research and conservation.However,with ongoing climate and landscape changes,tracking the distributions of bird species is challenging,and expert-curated species lists are often limited regarding survey area and timeliness.Birdwatching in China is becoming increasingly popular,and observations recorded by citizen birders are quickly increasing as well.Assessing the value of these data for improving regional species lists and studying bird distribution needs a detailed and quantitative comparison of citizen science data and expert-curated data.We collected observation reports from the China Bird Report Center,the largest online open platform for sharing bird sightings in China.We focused on reports from 2016 to 2019 in Shaanxi Province.For expert-curated species lists,we used three sources:the latest bird field guide published by local ornithologists,the province list from Avibase,and a list generated from overlaying distribution range from BirdLife International with the outline of Shaanxi Province.In addition,we also compared the bird sighting coordinates with the species distribution maps from BirdLife International.Surprisingly,species checklists from different sources have considerable discrepancies,even among lists based on expert knowledge.Including birdwatching data,there are 616 bird species in total,but less than half of the species(294)appear in all checklists,and 17.2%of species are unique to one list.One hundred sixty-three species lack birdwatching records,but birdwatching identified 39 species new to the province.One hundred thirty-six bird species have sighting locations outside the distribution ranges from BirdLife International,suggesting that updates might be needed.The data also showed a clear trend of bird species shifting to higher latitudes than their traditional distributions.While being inadequate for generating a regional species checklist on its own,birdwatching data in China can be a valuable source for complementing expert knowledge.In particular,the coordinate information of bird sighting can help track species distribution shifts.On the other hand,comparing expert-curated lists to birdwatching data can generate a species list for targeted birdwatching and monitoring,which will improve the quality of the birdwatching data in the future.
文摘Background： With mounting global environmental, social and economic pressures the resilience and stability of forests and thus the provisioning of vital ecosystem services is increasingly threatened. Intensified monitoring can help to detect ecological threats and changes earlier, but monitoring resources are limited. Participatory forest monitoring with the help of ＂citizen scientists＂ can provide additional resources for forest monitoring and at the same time help to communicate with stakeholders and the general public. Examples for citizen science projects in the forestry domain can be found but a solid, applicable larger framework to utilise public participation in the area of forest monitoring seems to be lacking. We propose that a better understanding of shared and related topics in citizen science and forest monitoring might be a first step towards such a framework. Methods： We conduct a systematic meta-analysis of 1015 publication abstracts addressing ＂forest monitoring＂ and ＂citizen science＂ in order to explore the combined topical landscape of these subjects. We employ ＇topic modelling an unsupervised probabilistic machine learning method, to identify latent shared topics in the analysed publications. Results： We find that large shared topics exist, but that these are primarily topics that would be expected in scientific publications in general. Common domain-specific topics are under-represented and indicate a topical separation of the two document sets on ＂forest monitoring＂ and ＂citizen science＂ and thus the represented domains. While topic modelling as a method proves to be a scalable and useful analytical tool, we propose that our approach could deliver even more useful data if a larger document set and full-text publications would be available for analysis. Conclusions： We propose that these results, together with the observation of non-shared but related topics, point at under-utilised opportunities for public participation in forest monitoring. Citizen science could be applied as a versatile tool in forest ecosystems monitoring, complementing traditional forest monitoring programmes, assisting early threat recognition and helping to connect forest management with the general public. We conclude that our presented approach should be pursued further as it may aid the understanding and setup of citizen science efforts in the forest monitoring domain.
基金supported by the Applied and Engineering Sciences domain,TTW,which is part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research(NWO)NWO-TTW Grant 14638co-funded by NAM,the Royal Netherlands Air Force,Birdlife Netherlands and Deltares
文摘Background: Ring wear and loss may have important consequences for mark-recapture studies that aim to estimate survival trends. Our study quantifies the rates of wear and loss from a long-running colour-ringing project of the Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) in the Netherlands. Methods: Our analysis included 8909 colour-ringed oystercatchers with 118,071 resightings, predominantly ringed and observed by citizen scientists. We quantified how ring wear and loss may vary with ring colour and age, and how this may impact resighting probabilities. We then determined how ring loss may impact survival estimates and resighting probabilities of mark-recapture models by simulating four scenarios of how citizen scientists may resight and report birds with lost colour rings. Results: Annual rates of colour ring loss averaged 2.5% compared with 1% for ring wear, but lost rings also had a higher reporting probability (31.2%) than worn rings (10.3%). Lost rings may not directly impact survival estimates since 50% of oystercatchers with lost rings could still be uniquely identified. Ring wear and loss rapidly increased between 10 and 15 years after ringing. Rates of ring loss were comparable amongst ring colours, but the wear rate appeared higher for red and white rings compared to other colours. Rates of ring wear and loss varied significantly amongst different regions in our study, which were characterised as having different habitat features. Differential rates of ring wear may have important implications for studies conducted over large geographical scales or of multiple species. Conclusions: Based on simulations of ring loss in our population, estimates of apparent survival may be 0.3–1.2% lower whilst the impact of ring wear was deemed even lower. We developed a table of recommendations containing advice for ring fitting, data collection, study design, and mark-recapture analyses, so that future colour-ringing studies can benefit from our experiences in collecting and analysing data of ring wear and loss through citizen science.
文摘Observations of living organisms by citizen scientists that are reported to online portals are a valuable source of information.They are also a special kind of volunteered geographic information(VGI).VGI data have issues of completeness,which arise from biases caused by the opportunistic nature of the data collection process.We examined the completeness of bird species represented in citizen science observation data from eBird and iNaturalist in US National Parks(NPs).We used approaches for completeness estimation which were developed for data from OpenStreetMap,a crowdsourced map of the world.First,we used an extrinsic approach,comparing species lists from citizen science data with National Park Service lists.Second,we examined two intrinsic approaches using total observation numbers in NPs and the development of the number of new species being added to the data-set over time.Results from the extrinsic approach provided appropriate completeness estimations to evaluate the intrinsic approaches.We found that total observation numbers are a good estimator of species completeness of citizen science data from US NPs.There is also a close relationship between species completeness and the ratio of new species added to observation data vs.observation numbers in a given year.
基金funded by the Research on Relevant Standards and Specifications of the Modern Science and Technology Museum System project(2015BAK33B01)the 2017 national science and technology think tank(Hubei)Research on the Construction,Operation and Innovation Models of Science and Technology Museums project
文摘Citizen science is a process that seeks to involve the public in scientific projects through systematic data collection and observations of natural phenomena. Environmental education centres on the relationship between humans and nature and has attracted the attention of more and more educators because of its increasingly important educational value. This paper reports an empirical study on environmental education projects featuring observations of natural phenomena and using local environmental resources. Using the Spring Swallow Survey project as an example, the design ideas and evaluation framework for the project are analysed. The implementation effect of the project is examined quantitatively and qualitatively. Finally,the resource package used in the project is revised and redeveloped according to the effect evaluation data.
文摘With the development of information technologies such as big data,cloud computing,and artificial intelligence,the application scenarios of citizen science worldwide are no longer limited to natural science research.A large number of application cases have emerged in the field of medical health,which suggests that the development of citizen science may bring new impetus to medical health.This study employs CiteSpace for a bibliometric analysis to evaluate the current status,objectives,and methodologies of citizen science in global healthcare.An analysis of 248 articles from the Web of Science Core Collection reveals that citizen science is predominantly implemented in high-income countries,including the United States,the United Kingdom,Germany,and the Netherlands,with significant applications in public health,chronic disease management,infectious disease surveillance,and digital health.The COVID-19 pandemic has further catalyzed the integration of citizen science into health surveillance and public health responses.Conversely,in low-and middle-income countries(LMICs),the development and implementation of citizen science remain nascent,primarily concentrated in traditional domains such as environmental science,ecology,and biodiversity conservation,with limited penetration into the healthcare sector.Several structural barriers,including inadequate technological infrastructure,insufficient policy support,limited public engagement,and constrained resource allocation,have impeded the broader adoption of citizen science in these regions.To mitigate these challenges,this study proposes targeted strategies,these interventions are anticipated to facilitate the expansion of citizen science’s role in global health governance,ultimately contributing to improved public health outcomes and social welfare.
基金The EU-Citizen.Science project received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program for Research and Innovation under grant agreement No.824580The research described in this paper is partly supported by the project“Citizen Science to promote creativity,scientific literacy,and innovation throughout Europe”(COST Action),which received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program for Research and Innovation under grant agreement No.15212The opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the COST Action or the European Commission.
文摘Citizen Science(CS)is a prominent field of application for Open Science(OS),and the two have strong synergies,such as:advocating for the data and metadata generated through science to be made publicly available[1];supporting more equitable collaboration between different types of scientists and citizens;and facilitating knowledge transfer to a wider range of audiences[2].While primarily targeted at CS,the EU-Citizen.Science platform can also support OS.One of its key functions is to act as a knowledge hub to aggregate,disseminate and promote experience and know-how;for example,by profiling CS projects and collecting tools,resources and training materials relevant to both fields.To do this,the platform has developed an information architecture that incorporates the public participation in scientific research(PPSR)-Common Conceptual Model.This model consists of the Project Metadata Model,the Dataset Metadata Model and the Observation Data Model,which were specifically developed for CS initiatives.By implementing these,the platform will strengthen the interoperating arrangements that exist between other,similar platforms(e.g.,BioCollect and SciStarter)to ensure that CS and OS continue to grow globally in terms of participants,impact and fields of application.
文摘Recent studies have revealed concerning declines in bird populations in Europe and other parts of the world.In understudied but biodiverse regions,especially those that are located along key migratory flyways,there is an unmet need to evaluate the status of resident and migratory birdlife for avian conservation ecology.This is especially urgent at a time when recent regional studies have highlighted the scale of the decline of the European and Palearctic avifauna.Rapidly growing community science datasets may help bridge the gaps in our understanding of long-term regional avifaunal trends.In this study,we used eBird data submitted by observers in Türkiye to undertake the first long-term assessment of the state of the country’s birds from 2001 to 2022.We evaluated population trends based on presence-absence data of species to determine if any birds have significantly increased or decreased in the country so far this century.We provide a list of trends for 418 bird species that had large enough sample sizes of eBird observations from Türkiye,and highlight which species have significantly declined or increased.We found that 63 species have significantly declined in detection while 120 have significantly increased during the study period.Our findings provide a baseline for the future monitoring of Türkiye’s birds and help contextualize population changes of birds in Türkiye against those occurring at the continental(Palearctic)scale.Additionally,we include movement classifications for all of the bird species in this study.We also provide a framework to effectively use eBird data to assess long-term avifaunal changes at the country-level in other understudied regions.Finally,we highlight ways in which eBirders in Türkiye and elsewhere can strengthen the quality and value of community ornithology data for population assessments and avian conservation ecology.
基金supported by the internal grant agency of the Faculty of AgriSciences of Mendel University in Brno(AF-IGA2022-IP-034).
文摘The loss of bird species diversity is a crucial problem in the European agricultural landscape.Change in the area coverage of major land cover types has been mentioned as one of the main factors responsible for bird biodiversity impoverishment.In this study,we focused on the impact of landscape matrix characteristics on bird species richness and on Faith’s phylogenetic diversity index on a spatial scale of 1000-m radius around the measured occurrence points.We investigated how land cover composition affects bird diversity on the landscape scale using nationwide citizen science data.In total,168,739 records of bird occurrence in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic during growing season from 2009 to 2019 were evaluated.We found that the presence of water bodies and wetlands significantly corresponded to the areas of highest bird species richness.We also revealed that the presence of forests(~60%of the forest in the Czech Republic is occupied by commercial forests),urban areas and arable land were negatively associated with bird species richness and phylogenetic diversity.Forests(both coniferous and deciduous)and urban habitats were found to have a tendency to host a clustered phylogenetic community structure in comparison with wetland and arable land.A strong negative association between forest proportion and bird diversity led us to conclude that the expansion of the forest(with simple species composition,horizontal and vertical structure)could be one of the critical drivers of the decline of bird species diversity in the European agricultural landscape.On the other hand,our results also pointed out that small woody features(i.e.,woodlots)and scattered woodland shrub vegetation were one of the main landscape characteristics supporting a bird diversity in rural landscape.This is in concordance with other studies which mention these landscape structures as important elements for nesting and foraging of farmland birds.We thus recommend to maintain and restore scattered trees or woodlots with complex structure in agricultural landscape.
基金supported by The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fundthe Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Endangered Species Fund
文摘The genus Euphlyctis is widely distributed across Southwestern Arabian Peninsula into parts of Southeast Asia. Five of the seven known Euphlyctis species are found within the Indian subcontinent. Here, we describe a new species, Euphlyctis karaavali sp. nov. from South-west coast of India, which was discovered during surveys engaging citizens. This species was identified to be distinct based on molecular and morphological evidence. We provide a detailed description of this species along with its call description and compare it with closest congeners. Previous studies in the region had identified this species as E. hexadactylus but suggested the possibility of it being cryptic. Genetically E. karaavali sp. nov. is distinct from E. hexadactylus with a genetic divergence of 9.2% （12S and 16S） and shows a high divergence with E. kalasgramensis and E. ehrenbergii （13.04% each）. Our findings are discussed in the context of cryptic species discovery, citizen engagement in scientific progress and conservation measures while suggesting future directions.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31971400)the"Saving Spoon-billed Sandpiper"of Shenzhen Mangrove Wetlands Conservation Foundation(MCF)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.BLX202144)。
文摘Nordmann's Greenshank(Tringa guttifer)is a globally endangered species that has received little research attention.It is threatened by rapid habitat loss,an incomplete network of protected sites,and lack of long-term data on population dynamics.Citizen science data can be combined with survey data to support population estimation and conservation gap analysis.From 2020 to 2021,Nordmann's Greenshank was surveyed in Tiaozini,Xiaoyangkou,and Dongling on the southern coast of Jiangsu Province,China,and the global population of the species was re-evaluated using the data obtained.We integrated citizen science data from eBird and the China Bird Report from 2000 to 2020 with the survey results to identify important habitats harboring over 1%of its total population,and compared this data with existing protected areas to identify gaps in its global conservation.Our survey found that Tiaozini supported at least 1194 individuals.Consequently,its global population was reestimated to be 1500-2000.Moreover,45 important habitats were identified based on citizen data and survey results.Although 44.4%and 50.0%of the priority sites in the world and China,respectively,are located outside protected areas,the Conservation Effectiveness Index(C)is 68.4%and 71.1%,respectively,showing that the current coverage of protected areas for this part of its range is reasonable.This study presents the most complete and recent population data to date.Tiaozini is the most important migration stopover site for Nordmann's Greenshanks.The species is under threat in terms of breeding,wintering,and stopover sites.Therefore,we suggest improving monitoring,establishing new protected sites to complete the habitat protection network,and improving the effectiveness of existing habitat protection strategies,including further developing high tide roosting sites.
基金supported by NASA grant NNX17AH71GNASA LWS funding support (NNX15AB83G)+1 种基金the DoD Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI) project ONR15FOA-0011NAF is supported in part by AGS-1552188/47950519C75
文摘Since ancient times,solar eclipses have fascinated—and sometimes terrified—humankind.Solar eclipses are direct sensory experiences.As the sun vanishes from the sky,birds fall silent during the midday twilight.Modern instrumentation has enabled research into the consequences of this sudden change in irradiation within the upper atmosphere.For the first time in 26 years。
文摘Particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) stays airborne for long periods and can enter the lungs, increasing respiratory and cardiovascular risks. Metal shredders are known sources of PM<sub>2.5</sub>, lead and other heavy metals. Winnipeg residents of South Saint Boniface (SSB) in Manitoba, Canada, live downwind of the Mission Industrial Area (MIA), which includes a metal shredder, train tracks and other industries. Residents are concerned about the MIA air and noise pollution and wanted ambient air quality monitoring in their mixed land-use area to understand its impact on their health. We measured and mapped the daytime PM<sub>2.5</sub>, from the MIA and South St. Boniface (SSB) neighborhoods using the Dylos DC 1700 PM over seven months. The Dylos air quality data for PM<sub>2.5</sub> was validated by the two federal reference monitors in the city, finding a moderate to very strong correlation (r = 0.52 to 0.83;p-value 0.001), confirming good accuracy. A spatial analysis of the emission data showed that the highest pollution concentration was downwind of the scrap metal shredder in MIA. One-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis revealed significantly higher levels of PM<sub>2.5</sub> at MIA and SSB than at the reference sites, which are away from pollution sources. The PM<sub>2.5</sub> Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standard (CAAQS) of 27 μg/m<sup>3</sup> was exceeded downwind of the property line of the scrap metal shredder in the MIA for five of the 35 monitoring days averaging between 28.9 μg/m<sup>3</sup> to 38.1 μg/m<sup>3</sup> over eight hours. The standard was not exceeded in the residential area, although PM<sub>2.5</sub> levels higher than background levels increased SSB residents exposure levels. This exceedance of regulatory standards requires action to reduce emissions.
