Citizen Participation in the Biological Sciences: A Literature Review of Citizen Science

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The growth of citizen science over the past decade is shown by the increasing number of references to the topic tracked by bibliographic databases such as the Web of Science. The current survey examines the literature on citizen science in the biological and environmental sciences. A number of projects have studied insects and pollinators, avian migration, invasive species, horticulture, marine species, phenology, wildlife behavior, and ecosystems. The projects share a number of themes: including field study of distributed populations, questions about data accuracy, and benefits for the public such as improving public participation in science, expanding the number of people making science and technical decisions, promoting informal science education, and the connecting science to citizenship. Further research into citizen science across a wider range of disciplines is needed to fully understand this emerging phenomenon.