Biological inventory at a university campus using ICT and citizen science participation

Abstract

ABSTRACT The participation of citizens in science projects has been increasing over the past two decades and has proven to be of great importance for biological research, specially for obtaining essential biodiversity data. Citizen science participation can be greatly improved through information and communication technologies (ICT). Therefore, our aim is to gather information about the biodiversity present in the Limón campus of the UCR through a combination of literature review and the participation of local citizens. We identified species of flora and fauna present in the campus through photographs and videos of organisms received from students and personnel of the Limón campus of the University of Costa Rica. Such visual material was collected by using ICT. We analyzed a total of 889 contributions from which we identified 144 species of fungi, plants and animals. The most used ICT to share photographs and videos was the multimedia messaging service WhatsApp, and organisms that usually generate negative perceptions like insects and reptiles were the most recorded. We conclude that citizen participation using ICT is an effective way to collect information for biological inventories. Such information can then be used to carried out environmental education and promote a location as a tourist destination.