Citizen Science to combat invasive forest Phytophthora diseases
Applicant
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Dr. Diana Marciulyniene | Institute for Forestry, Lithuanian Reseach Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, kaunas distr., Lithuania | 13.11.17 to 03.12.17 | 21 Days
Host: Dr. Michelle Cleary | Host Institution: Faculty of Forest Sciences, Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Alnarp (SE), Sweden.
Accomplishment within STSM
The study under the applied STSM would use a Citizen Science platform to advance the spatial prediction of invasive forest Phytophthoras by providing the public with inexpensive location-based, time series data of unprecedented quantity and distribution.
We will utilize crowdsourcing to aid in mapping the distribution and diversity of Phytophthora spp. In developing this platform, we anticipate being able to target under-sampled habitat within urban areas and along the forest-urban interface at a much greater pace, and over larger geographic distances. A key component of the Citizen Science platform is public education through information dissemination, seminars and training workshops.
"I believe this project is relevant for, and will help contribute to, WG4 tasks specifically by harnessing the interest of the stakeholders and citizens and involving them in the science through voluntary partnerships that aim at systematic collection of samples and interactive dissemination of results."
The main results obtained
1. A website has been created (the website creation is not complete; we are still working to make it as high quality and more interesting to the citizens).
2. A Phytophthora Field Identification Guide (draft) has been created.
3. A related Facebook page has been created and improved to be more attractive to citizens.
4. The information brochure is under preparation.
