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a Phytoplankton density (org/mL) versus water colour (water colour: 0 clear, 1 yellow, 2 brown, 3 green, 4 other) for samples from São Paulo and Curitiba (n = 56). b Phytoplankton density (org/mL) versus turbidity (NTU) for samples from São Paulo and Curitiba (n = 56)
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Freshwater ecosystems are severely threatened by urban development and agricultural intensification. Increased occurrence of algal blooms is a main issue, and the identification of local dynamics and drivers is hampered by a lack of field data. In this study, data from 13 cities (250 water bodies) were used to examine the capacity of trained commun...
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... Simultaneously, water samples (500 ml) were taken to the laboratory for further analysis. The determination of TN, TP, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) was carried out using the alkaline potassium persulfate digestion-UV spectrophotometric method, ammonium molybdate spectrophotometry, and USEPA digestion colorimetry method, respectively [27]. These parameters effectively reflect the water quality of the Majiagou River. ...
Majiagou River, a crucial urban river in Harbin, traverses densely populated areas including agricultural, suburban, and main urban areas, presenting highly intricate habitat characteristics. In recent years, urbanization has significantly intensified human interference, fundamentally reshaping the phytoplankton community. Understanding the response mechanism of phytoplankton to environmental factors is of paramount importance as they serve as primary producers in aquatic ecosystems. To investigate this, we established 25 sampling sites to analyze the phytoplankton community and 14 key physicochemical parameters, such as total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN). Utilizing hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) and One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), we identified distinct river segments, revealing spatial distribution differences and environmental factor variations among phytoplankton species across segments. By adopting redundancy analysis (RDA), we pinpointed the primary environmental factors impacting phytoplankton communities and examined the correlation between phytoplankton and these factors to elucidate the driving mechanisms governing phytoplankton dynamics. The outcomes demonstrated that the phytoplankton community in Majiagou River was predominantly composed of Bacillariophyta and Chlorophyta, however, notable disparities in spatial distribution and species composition resulting from human interference were evident. Areas with intense human disturbance were dominated by diatoms and exhibited trends of homogenization and reduced biodiversity. RDA showed that pH, NH4⁺-N, NH3–N, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and TP were key environmental factors influencing phytoplankton communities. We have confirmed that due to variations in environment conditions and different levels of human disturbance, there will be some differences in the critical limiting factors affecting phytoplankton. Our study offers valuable insights for governing urban rivers during the low-temperature period.
... This approach has already applied to monitor the seawater discolorations (i.e. phytoplankton biomass development) (Castilla et al., 2015;Siano et al., 2020). In this study we used Foldscopes to monitor copepod species through the trained high school students. ...
Rapid population growth creating an excessive pressure on the marine environment and thus monitoring of marine ecosystem is essential. However, due to high technical and financial involvement, monitoring of coastal ecosystem is always challenging in developing countries. This study aims to develop an integrated coastal ecosystem monitoring system that combines scientific sampling, numerical model simulation and citizen science observations to monitor the coastal ecosystem of Bangladesh. This concept of integrated monitoring approach was piloted from January 2022 to April 2023 at the South East coastal zone of Bangladesh. Scientific sampling and numerical model simulations were performed for temperature and salinity data collection. Citizen science approach was employed to collect data on environmental conditions, fisheries, plankton, other marine resources, and plastic pollution. Numerical model simulations and citizen scientists observations of temperature and salinity showed good agreement with the scientifically collected data. In addition, citizen scientists observations on fisheries , plankton, other marine resources and plastic pollution were also in line with the existing database and previous studies. The proposed integrated monitoring approach presents a viable technique, creating a new avenue for coastal and marine ecosystem monitoring where infrastructural facilities are limited.
... However, they acknowledge that where they indicate problems, further, more in-depth analyses will be required; they should not and do not replace the need for monitoring a much wider range of water quality metrics. Monitoring algae (via chlorophyll or algal cells), temperature and clarity, also present useful options since they are highly relevant to ambient water quality and can be monitored cheaply and easily by citizen scientists (Dahlgren et al. 2004;Castilla et al. 2015;Ho et al. 2020). ...
Freshwater systems are disproportionately adversely affected by the ongoing, global environmental crisis. The effective and efficient water resource conservation and management necessary to mitigate the crisis requires monitoring data, especially on water quality. This is recognized by Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, particularly indicator 6.3.2., which requires all UN member states to measure and report the ‘proportion of water bodies with good ambient water quality’. However, gathering sufficient data on water quality is reliant on data collection at spatial and temporal scales that are generally outside the capacity of institutions using conventional methods. Digital technologies, such as wireless sensor networks and remote sensing, have come to the fore as promising avenues to increase the scope of data collection and reporting. Citizen science (which goes by many names, e.g., participatory science or community-based monitoring) has also been earmarked as a powerful mechanism to improve monitoring. However, both avenues have drawbacks and limitations. The synergy between the strengths of modern technologies and citizen science presents an opportunity to use the best features of each to mitigate the shortcomings of the other. This paper briefly synthesizes recent research illustrating how smartphones, sometimes in conjunction with other sensors, present a nexus point method for citizen scientists to engage with and use sophisticated modern technology for water quality monitoring. This paper also presents a brief, non-exhaustive research synthesis of some examples of current technological upgrades or innovations regarding smartphones in citizen science water quality monitoring in developing countries and how these can assist in objective, comprehensive, and improved data collection, management and reporting. While digital innovations are being rapidly developed worldwide, there remains a paucity of scientific and socioeconomic validation of their suitability and usefulness within citizen science. This perhaps contributes to the fact that the uptake and upscaling of smartphone-assisted citizen science continues to underperform compared to its potential within water resource management and SDG reporting. Ultimately, we recommend that more rigorous scientific research efforts be dedicated to exploring the suitability of digital innovations in citizen science in the context of developing countries and SDG reporting.
... In South Africa, Nare et al. [17] described the difficulties of community involvement and participation in water quality and management in a catchment area due to the inadequate institutional framework. Finally, a good relationship was found between the citizen monitoring of algal blooms and standard laboratory measurements in urban lakes and ponds of three cities located in Brazil and China [18]. These programs highlight the important benefits of this collaboration in terms of both knowledge production, opportunities for democratizing knowledge and expertise under the context of growing environmental and health risks [19]. ...
Monitoring of cyanobacteria in freshwater ecosystems is a complex task, which is time consuming and expensive due to the chaotic population dynamics and highly heterogeneous distribution of cyanobacteria populations in water bodies. The financial cost constitutes a strong limitation for the implementation of long-term monitoring programs in developing countries, particularly in Africa. The work presented here was performed in the framework of an international project addressing the sustainable monitoring and management of surface water resources used for the production of drinking water in three African countries. We tested the potential of a citizen approach for monitoring cyanobacterial blooms, which are a growing threat to the drinking water supply. This pilot study was designed, implemented and evaluated in close interaction with the Pasteur Institute of the Ivory Coast and with the populations of three villages located on the shoreline of a freshwater lagoon located near Abidjan city. Based on the use of a smartphone application, the citizens of the three villages were invited to report water color changes, as these changes could reflect cyanobacteria prolifer-ations. A two-year experimentation period has shown that it is possible to mobilize the local populations to monitor cyanobacterial blooms. The data collected by citizens were consistent with the data obtained by a classical monitoring of cyanobacteria performed over seven months, but it appeared that new approaches were needed to validate the citizen data. This participatory approach also provided great improvements to the understanding and awareness of local populations regarding water quality and cyanobacterial bloom issues. Finally, we discuss some of the difficulties and limitations of our participatory monitoring approach that should be considered by further implementations. Despite these difficulties, our work PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.
... Bioindicator data can be collected either by on-the-spot visual assessment or by manually using low-cost methods like nets and buckets. Bioindicators can include taxonomic richness of benthic macroinvertebrates (Engel and Voshell, 2002), macrophytes, amphibians (Groom et al., 2019;Rae et al., 2019), phytoplankton and cyanobacteria (Castilla et al., 2015;Cunha et al., 2017), or presence / absence of avian indicator species (Cartwright et al., 2015), and fish (Eden, 2012). ...
... This has an impact on the aquatic system becoming rich in nutrients and causing algae bloom, which can interfere the water ecosystem. 10 Thus, the presence of NO 3 -ions is very important to be monitored routinely. ...
This research is related to the successful fabrication of a NO3-ISE sensor from battery disposal waste. Two types of material were used; the battery waste taken from (i) graphite rods and (ii) carbon paste. The fabrication of NO3-ISE sensors from graphite rods only goes through two main processes; removal of impurities and the growth of the Polypyrrole layer doped with NO3 (PPy-NO3). While the NO3-ISE sensor prepared from carbon paste run through four stages, which include removal of impurities, the formation of graphite rod, drying of graphite rod and formation of PPy-NO3 coating. However, both sensors produce performance that is not much different with respect to Nernstian number between -58.8 - (-60.8) mV/dec for graphite rods and -50.3-(-59.5) mV/dec based on carbon paste with a linear range of 0.1-10-4 M. The PPy-NO3 coating process on the surfaces of both graphite was carried out with a 16 cycles through cyclic voltammetry technique. Both sensors also exhibit considerable interferences from the IO3- and Cl- ions, but show good selectivity against the H2PO4- and SO42- ions. Both self-fabricated sensors have an accuracy that are comparable to the standard APHA method Ed.22nd 4500-NO3-E2012.
... Biological assemblages in streams provide a variety of ecosystem services such as breaking down organic matter in runoff (Schäfer et al., 2012), sustaining the health of fisheries (Colvin et al., 2019), and regulating the formation of algal blooms (Castilla et al., 2015). Quantification of the condition of these streams has often utilized comparisons of the compositions of biological assemblages at locations of interest against their expected composition without the effects of human activities (Abbasi & Abbasi, 2011;Danielson et al., 2011). ...
Assessments of the ecological health of algal assemblages in streams typically focus on measures of their local diversity and classify individuals by morphotaxonomy. Such assemblages are often connected through various ecological processes, such as dispersal, and may be more accurately assessed as components of regional‐, rather than local‐scale assemblages. With recent declines in the costs of sequencing and computation, it has also become increasingly feasible to use metabarcoding to more accurately classify algal species and perform regional‐scale bioassessments. Recently, zeta diversity has been explored as a novel method of constructing regional bioassessments for groups of streams. Here, we model the use of zeta diversity to investigate whether stream health can be determined by the landscape diversity of algal assemblages. We also compare the use of DNA metabarcoding and morphotaxonomy classifications in these zeta diversity‐based bioassessments of regional stream health. From 96 stream samples in California, we used various orders of zeta diversity to construct models of biotic integrity for multiple assemblages of diatoms, as well as hybrid assemblages of diatoms in combination with soft‐bodied algae, using taxonomy data generated with both DNA sequencing as well as traditional morphotaxonomic approaches. We compared our ability to evaluate the ecological health of streams with the performance of multiple algal indices of biological condition. Our zeta diversity‐based models of regional biotic integrity were more strongly correlated with existing indices for algal assemblages classified using metabarcoding compared to morphotaxonomy. Metabarcoding for diatoms and hybrid algal assemblages involved rbcL and 18S V9 primers, respectively. Importantly, we also found that these algal assemblages, independent of the classification method, are more likely to be assembled under a process of niche differentiation rather than stochastically. Taken together, these results suggest the potential for zeta diversity patterns of algal assemblages classified using metabarcoding to inform stream bioassessments.
... Human colour measurements are used in such diverse fields as coral reef monitoring [286], snail evolution [287], soil surveying [288], climate adaptation [289], and water colour [265,290,291]. The data are expressed through a qualitative label [287] or by comparison with a colour chart [265,286,288,[290][291][292]. Colour is a useful proxy for underlying properties such as chemical composition [292,293] and the simplicity of measuring with the eye enables low-cost measurements over large areas and long time series [271,293]. ...
... The data are expressed through a qualitative label [287] or by comparison with a colour chart [265,286,288,[290][291][292]. Colour is a useful proxy for underlying properties such as chemical composition [292,293] and the simplicity of measuring with the eye enables low-cost measurements over large areas and long time series [271,293]. ...
... This enables authors to account for colour blindness in the design stage of new citizen science projects. While some projects have opted for simplified colour scales [292], this significantly reduces the information content [10] of all data, including those from colour blind participants. Simplified colour scales are thus generally not an ideal solution to this problem. ...
Water is all around us and is vital for all aspects of life. Studying the various compounds and life forms that inhabit natural waters lets us better understand the world around us.
Remote sensing enables global measurements with rapid response and high consistency. Citizen science provides new knowledge and greatly increases the scientific and social impact of research.
In this thesis, we investigate several aspects of citizen science and remote sensing of water, with a focus on uncertainty and accessibility. We improve existing techniques and develop new methods to use smartphone cameras for accessible remote sensing of water.
... The main consequences of this process are hypoxia/anoxia, increased primary production followed by high turbidity, and a decrease in phytoplankton diversity (Aguiar et al., 2011;Chen et al., 2016;Yasin et al., 2010). Land use along river watersheds is well known to impact their nutrient (N&P) enrichments (Castilla et al., 2015;Ding et al., 2015;Lopes et al., 2019). Rivers carry nutrients to downstream habitats and some of the effects of nutrients in large rivers or small streams reach coastal waters. ...
Nutrient contamination assessments in the three West African tropical Comoé, Bandama, and Bia Rivers (Côte d'Ivoire) were performed from March 2016 to March 2018. Five stations per river were sampled. Nutrients spatio-temporal distributions were mapped and showed nitrogen concentrations (nitrite 0.001 to 0.025 mg/L NO2−-N, and nitrate 0.26 to 3.60 mg/L NO3−-N) increased significantly with rainfall contrary to phosphorus (0.01 to 0.12 mg/L P). The Chl-a and TSItsr data revealed the hypereutrophic status of rivers. Moreover, N:P mass ratio suggests nitrogen as the main limiting factor of primary production during the low (March) and high flow periods (October–November), while phosphorus is the limiting factor in June, at the high flow beginning. The land uses around watersheds were the main sources of phosphorus and nitrogen enhancing the rivers' eutrophication. Phosphorus and nitrogen fluxes were related to leaching river catchments and were significant sources of nutrients to the Atlantic Ocean.
... However, in recent years, scientists recognized the value of citizens in undertaking studies at scales that cannot be achieved by professionals alone [1]. Thus, citizens science activities have been increasingly included in environmental programs relating to biodiversity [5], freshwater quality [6][7][8], marine science [9,10], conservation [11,12], land-cover/landuse [13], climate adaptation [14], air pollution [15,16], ecosystem services [17,18] or flood control [19]. Nevertheless, limited citizen science programs have focused on the environmental quality of international rivers, such as the Danube River, even though they are an important resource for water supply, biodiversity, agriculture, industry, fishing, navigation, tourism and power generation [20]. ...
Human changes on the Danube River have transformed it into a heavily engineered river, severely threatening its ecological status. The status and management strategies vary significantly between regions of the Danube River Basin. Citizen science approach can be the bridge in harmonizing water management practices across the Danube Basin and in recording large water quality datasets. This chapter reviews citizen science actions in the Lower Danube Basin and the available tools for citizens in this region. The study has shown that the activities with public involvement in this region have been supported by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or independent citizen science platforms. Citizen science activities in this region are scarce and infrequent, and most of them without supervision from professional researchers or involvement from local authorities. Limited access to funds, lack of trust between participating groups and the restricted power of communities to voice concerns have been found as factors influencing citizen science activities. The scientists may be the missing link between policy makers, water managers and citizens, while providing the optimal tools and knowledge to all sectors. Professional scientists can collaborate with NGOs and build upon their extensive expertise and success in engaging with citizens and authorities.
