COVID-19 pandemic drives changes in participation in citizen science project "City Nature Challenge" in Tokyo.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way large citizen science events can be carried out-reducing gatherings of large groups and shifting toward individual, small-group, and online participation. This paper aims to describe changes in participant engagement in the City Nature Challenge (CNC) in Tokyo. The CNC is a four-day international event held in April to document biodiversity in cities using an online citizen science platform, iNaturalist. To assess the impact of COVID-19, we compared the number of participants, observations, species, and identification rates in 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (during the pandemic). We also used cluster analysis to elucidate participation patterns, and we assessed changes in the geographical distribution of observation sites. The results showed: (1) the

SUBMITTER: Kishimoto K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8455166 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature