THE GEEK SQUAD

They scamper around collecting soil samples, measuring wind velocity, scanning the skies and counting flowers. Meet India’s growing community of citizen scientists

Citizen scientists typically help with data collection, under the guidance of professional scientists. Worldwide, online platforms such as SciStarter and Zooniverse host CS projects across disciplines, from astronomy to archaeology.

They don’t have PhDs or wear lab coats. They range in age from 10 to 75. But citizen scientists are helping answer questions about the weather, wildlife, what’s really going on the in the oceans, even what lies beyond the stars.

They typically have day jobs — as graphic designers and lifeguards, business consultants, architects and bankers. Many take time off to head out and collect scat, report on roadkill, count birds, survey areas around wildlife reserves.

A lucky few are able to pursue their passions at home, or just outside it. Rudolf Nonglait, 10, does his bit for science on his way home from school, every Friday.

He lives in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, and is helping SeasonWatch by reporting weekly on the leaves, fruits and flowers of a Himalayan cherry tree in his neighbourhood, for a countrywide study on the impact of climate change on fruiting and flowering patterns of trees.

In Bina-Etawa, Madhya Pradesh, mechanical engineer Pradeepta Mohanty, 30, scans sections of sky on his laptop after work, using raw data from the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

He is part of the RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory citizen science project, and his discovery of a galaxy merger was part of a 2016 research paper on tracking galaxy evolution published in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy.

BEYOND THE STARS

The term citizen science refers to the engagement of members of the general public in scientific research mainly through data collection, occasionally also through analysis, under the guidance of professional scientists. It was coined in the mid-1990s and added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2014.

But the concept isn’t new. In the 18th century, before science turned into an organised area of study, a Norwegian bishop created a network of clergymen to contribute collections of natural objects for his research. Lighthouse keepers on the Caribbean coast first collected data on bird strikes for the American Ornithologists’ Union in 1880; the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count was launched in the US in 1900.

Over the past two decades, citizen scientists in the US have participated in projects to monitor water quality and scour the night skies for new celestial bodies. Online platforms like SciStarter and Zooniverse host projects requiring crowdsourced research across disciplines, from astronomy to ecology and archaeology.

“From a research perspective, in a project where it is important to understand what is happening over a vast area — an entire state, or the whole country — the most fruitful approach is to work with a large number of interested and enthusiastic citizens,” says ecologist Suhel Quader.

A former research investigator with the National Centre for Biological Sciences, he launched the citizen science (CS) initiative MigrantWatch in 2007, while with NCBS. The portal morphed into Bird Count India in 2015, and tracks the arrival and departure of migratory species to assess changes in their migratory patterns.

In 2010, Quader also set up SeasonWatch, and was instrumental in setting up the Indian chapter of eBird, a CS operation managed globally by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Thousands are contributing data to such initiatives in India today — including students from 562 schools across the country reporting on the flowering and fruiting patterns of nearly 7,000 trees.

“When the programme was introduced at my school last year, I encouraged Rudolf to join, even though he goes to another school,” says the boy’s father, Resly R Pariong, a science teacher. “Such projects teach kids to love nature and so they are more likely to take part in protecting the environment as they grow up.”

BACK HOME

In India, citizen science is still at a nascent stage. “That makes it an exciting time, because of rapid growth and a growing number of participants,” says Quader.

The earliest large-scale citizen science project in India was the Asian Waterbird Census launched in 1987. In recent times, smartphone access and social media have made it easier to launch such efforts. This January, the Wildlife Trust of India and the UK-based David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation launched Road Watch, a Facebook page and smartphone app that encourages citizens to report wildlife roadkill incidents across the country.

“It’s a time- and resource-effective way to gather data,” says Radhika Bhagat, a wildlife researcher associated with the project. “Over time, it will help us predict roadkill hotspots, identify worst-affected species and assess mitigation measures.”

Elsewhere, locals are helping the Marine Mammal Conservation Network of India with its open-source online database for sightings and reports of stranded mammals on Indian shores. Among them is Sameer Kankonkar, 35, a lifeguard in south Goa. “When humpback dolphins and turtles wash up, I take photographs, measurements, note location, time, type of animal and condition,” he says.

In Rajasthan, people are helping collect data on man-animal conflict on the edges of reserves, for a study conducted jointly by the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Bengaluru-based nonprofit Centre for Wildlife Studies, and Duke University, USA.

Under the guidance of Krithi Karanth, associate conservation scientist with the WCS, volunteers surveyed thousands of households to learn about crop damage and mitigation measures used by locals. Their findings were used in a paper published in the peer-reviewed Oryx journal on conservation, in 2017.

“Besides basic field skills, citizen science helps the lay person shed notions of romanticism and gain a more realistic experience, learning how complex and challenging it actually is,” Karanth says.

There is scope for much more, in terms of scale and complexity. “One of the reasons citizen science remains undervalued is the rigidity of India’s formal systems,” says Sunita Narain, head of the New Delhibased thinktank Centre for Science and Environment. “Most of our scientists are so fossilised and rigid that they don’t allow non-members or innovators to survive. This must change.”

Extensive training could help, adds Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, formerly of TIFR and now a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University. “India needs everybody to participate in science, but for that, professional scientists need to invest in training common people. As Louis Pasteur put it, fortune favours the prepared mind.”