Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Influence Of Capacity And Attitudes In The Use Of Water Quality Citizen Science And Volunteer Benthic Monitoring In The Freshwater Management Activities Of Ontario’S Conservation Authorities, Sonja Teichert

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The contribution of non-experts to environmental management has been significant and continues to flourish through their participation in citizen science. Despite its growth as an interdisciplinary field of enquiry, there are many gaps in our understanding of the role that citizen science may play in the future of environmental management. In Ontario, Canada, due to funding cuts and infrastructural changes over the past two decades, the provincial government’s ability to monitor changes in freshwater resources had been severely limited. This has resulted in downloading water monitoring to municipalities through their conservation authorities (CAs) which are watershed-based, quasi-governmental water management agencies. …