Adopt a Lake: Successfully Tracking Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in Canadian Surface Waters Through Citizen Science
The proliferation of harmful waterborne cyanobacterial algal blooms, some of which can produce potent toxins, poses severe risks to environmental and human health. Academic and governmental monitoring efforts may be constrained by budget, time, and staff, and thus miss otherwise significant pollutio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Citizen Science: Theory and Practice |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://account.theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/index.php/up-j-cstp/article/view/655 |
| _version_ | 1797353567058657280 |
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| author | Dana F. Simon Gabriel Munoz Quoc Tuc Dinh Sung Vo Duy Kat Kavanagh Robert Smith Barry Husk Sébastien Sauvé |
| author_facet | Dana F. Simon Gabriel Munoz Quoc Tuc Dinh Sung Vo Duy Kat Kavanagh Robert Smith Barry Husk Sébastien Sauvé |
| author_sort | Dana F. Simon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The proliferation of harmful waterborne cyanobacterial algal blooms, some of which can produce potent toxins, poses severe risks to environmental and human health. Academic and governmental monitoring efforts may be constrained by budget, time, and staff, and thus miss otherwise significant pollution events. Here, we report on the implementation of a citizen science project to track harmful cyanobacterial blooms in lakes and waterways across Canada. Through both crowdsourcing and crowdfunding, the Adopt a Lake (Adopt a Lake 2022) campaign aimed to document the potential presence of cyanobacteria and toxins with the assistance of participants, thus improving public awareness of the issue of water quality preservation. Using social media, participants were encouraged to participate in the initiative by collecting samples during a bloom from a nearby pond or by making a financial contribution to support the initiative. Adopt a Lake benefitted from the analytical platform of Algal Blooms Treatment, Risk Assessment, Predictions, and Prevention (ATRAPP), a research project focused on the prediction and management of harmful cyanobacterial blooms. The presence of cyanotoxins, which can confirm whether a lake has a toxic bloom, was determined through high-resolution mass spectrometry analyses. This paper presents an overview of the implementation of the Adopt a Lake initiative, the campaign’s status, and the lessons learned, and it argues the importance of continual monitoring of cyanobacterial blooms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T13:32:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eb3300183f214219aded48317bdc0b53 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2057-4991 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T13:32:57Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Citizen Science: Theory and Practice |
| spelling | doaj.art-eb3300183f214219aded48317bdc0b532024-01-17T07:59:11ZengUbiquity PressCitizen Science: Theory and Practice2057-49912023-12-0181666610.5334/cstp.655637Adopt a Lake: Successfully Tracking Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in Canadian Surface Waters Through Citizen ScienceDana F. Simon0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3725-2482Gabriel Munoz1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5242-5073Quoc Tuc Dinh2Sung Vo Duy3Kat Kavanagh4Robert Smith5Barry Husk6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5993-1024Sébastien Sauvé7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8584-1690Department of Chemistry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QCDepartment of Chemistry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QCDepartment of Chemistry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QCDepartment of Chemistry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QCWater Rangers, Ottawa, ONMidsummer Analytics, Ottawa, ONBlueLeaf Inc., Drummondville, QCDepartment of Chemistry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QCThe proliferation of harmful waterborne cyanobacterial algal blooms, some of which can produce potent toxins, poses severe risks to environmental and human health. Academic and governmental monitoring efforts may be constrained by budget, time, and staff, and thus miss otherwise significant pollution events. Here, we report on the implementation of a citizen science project to track harmful cyanobacterial blooms in lakes and waterways across Canada. Through both crowdsourcing and crowdfunding, the Adopt a Lake (Adopt a Lake 2022) campaign aimed to document the potential presence of cyanobacteria and toxins with the assistance of participants, thus improving public awareness of the issue of water quality preservation. Using social media, participants were encouraged to participate in the initiative by collecting samples during a bloom from a nearby pond or by making a financial contribution to support the initiative. Adopt a Lake benefitted from the analytical platform of Algal Blooms Treatment, Risk Assessment, Predictions, and Prevention (ATRAPP), a research project focused on the prediction and management of harmful cyanobacterial blooms. The presence of cyanotoxins, which can confirm whether a lake has a toxic bloom, was determined through high-resolution mass spectrometry analyses. This paper presents an overview of the implementation of the Adopt a Lake initiative, the campaign’s status, and the lessons learned, and it argues the importance of continual monitoring of cyanobacterial blooms.https://account.theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/index.php/up-j-cstp/article/view/655citizen scienceharmful cyanobacterial bloomswater qualitycyanotoxinscommunity monitoring |
| spellingShingle | Dana F. Simon Gabriel Munoz Quoc Tuc Dinh Sung Vo Duy Kat Kavanagh Robert Smith Barry Husk Sébastien Sauvé Adopt a Lake: Successfully Tracking Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in Canadian Surface Waters Through Citizen Science Citizen Science: Theory and Practice citizen science harmful cyanobacterial blooms water quality cyanotoxins community monitoring |
| title | Adopt a Lake: Successfully Tracking Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in Canadian Surface Waters Through Citizen Science |
| title_full | Adopt a Lake: Successfully Tracking Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in Canadian Surface Waters Through Citizen Science |
| title_fullStr | Adopt a Lake: Successfully Tracking Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in Canadian Surface Waters Through Citizen Science |
| title_full_unstemmed | Adopt a Lake: Successfully Tracking Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in Canadian Surface Waters Through Citizen Science |
| title_short | Adopt a Lake: Successfully Tracking Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in Canadian Surface Waters Through Citizen Science |
| title_sort | adopt a lake successfully tracking harmful cyanobacterial blooms in canadian surface waters through citizen science |
| topic | citizen science harmful cyanobacterial blooms water quality cyanotoxins community monitoring |
| url | https://account.theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/index.php/up-j-cstp/article/view/655 |
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