Unearthing marine biodiversity through citizen science : the Spot the Jellyfish and the Spot the Alien Fish campaign case studies from the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean)

摘要

The Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign was launched in June 2010 byudthe Physical Oceanography Research Group at the University of Malta and theudInternational Ocean Institute (IOI), with the support of the Malta Tourism Authorityud(MTA), Blue Flag Malta and a number of environmental NGOs. The initial aim of theudcampaign was to educate the younger generations about jellyfish species occurringudwithin Maltese waters, but the campaign was soon extended to the national scale, withudthe installation of seaside panels in over 30 embayments on the islands, the design ofuda downloadable A4 poster featuring the twelve most common jellyfish species andudthe development of a tailor-made website (www.ioikids.net/jellyfish) which allowsudthe seamless recording of the salient attributes of jellyfish species sightings, includingudlocation, date, species and abundance.