Literature Review

The Value of Valuing Nature

Authors: Adams
[ Adams. The Value of Valuing Nature. 2014. Science 346 (6209): 549-551. ] Adams finds several challenges associated with the valuation of nature via ecosystem services: the unclear link between ecosystem processes and ecosystem services, unclear valuation of ecosystem services, and unclear links between ecosystem services and human well-being. She concludes that, due to these challenges, ecosystem services assessments will not always end in conservationist outcomes, and instead conservation should be viewed as an ultimately political decision. [Edit this posting]
‌ http://www.sciencemag.org/content/346/6209/549

Next steps for citizen science

Authors: Bonney
[ Bonney, R. et al. 2015. Next steps for citizen science. Science, March 17. ] Bonney et al. set out an agenda to maximize the utility of “citizen science” – the use of volunteers in the collection, categorization, transcription, or analysis of scientific data. They argue that, when properly applied, citizen science can be a vital tool in expanding research frontiers across every scientific discipline. [Edit this posting]
‌ http://www.sciencemag.org/content/343/6178/1436.full?ijkey=RPvvmKk48se0E&keytype…

Dimensions of Civic Science

Authors: Clark, Illman
[ Clark F. and D. Illman. 2001. Dimensions of Civic Science. Science Communication: 23 (1): 5-27. ] Clark and Illman provide a review of the variable uses of the term “civic scientist” – broadly, a scientist who communicates with and engages the public on scientific topics. They provide a characterization of five major modes of citizen-scientist communication, and lay out the different characteristics, goals and outcomes of these interactions. [Edit this posting]
‌ http://scx.sagepub.com/content/23/1/5.refs

Dimensions of Civic Science

Resilience thinking: integrating resilience, adaptability, and transformability

Authors: Folke
[ Folke, C. et al. 2010. Resilience thinking: integrating resilience, adaptability, and transformability. Ecology and Society 15(4): 20. ] Folke et al. address the concept of resilience in Socio-Ecological Systems (SES) – the tendency of an SES to account for change while still remaining within a stability threshold. They break resilience into three subcategories: persistence, adaptability, and transformability, addressing each of these and their implications in turn. [Edit this posting]
‌ http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/journals/pnw_2010_folke.pdf

Amateur experts

Authors: Gura
[ Gura, T. 2013. Amateur experts. Nature, 496: 259-60. ] Gura lays out the promises and pitfalls of "citizen science" – the engagement of members of the public in the data collection and analysis process. She argues that one of the primary challenges in citizen science research design is recruiting volunteers and keeping them engaged in the process, but when properly applied it allows researchers to not only accomplish research goals but also to interact with and engage the general public. [Edit this posting]
‌ http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7444-259a

The Future of Citizen Science

Authors: Mueller, Tippins, Bryan
[ Mueller, M. et al. 2012. The Future of Citizen Science. Democracy and Education Vol. 20. Article 1. ] Mueller, Tippins and Bryan focus on the impact of citizen science both on scientific research and on the general public, particularly its impact on children and schools. They argue that a more diverse, open and democratic citizen science approach can better address both the concerns of the community and extant environmental problems, while also better engaging citizens into the conservation process. [Edit this posting]
‌ http://democracyeducationjournal.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=ho…

The Future of Citizen Science

Socioenvironmental sustainability and actionable science

Authors: Palmer
[ Palmer, M. 2012. Socioenvironmental sustainability and actionable science. Bioscience 62 (1): 5-6. ] Palmer addresses “actionable science” – science that not only carries policy implications, but also directly addresses policy questions regarding ecosystem management. Actionable science, developed as an interdisciplinary collaboration between natural scientists, social scientists and policymakers, not only helps answer policy questions but also stimulates new and innovative research. [Edit this posting]
‌ http://www.palmerlab.umd.edu/Publications/palmer_2012_bioscience.pdf