Speaker
Description
Freshwater streams are affected by pesticide and nutrient inputs and severe alterations of the natural water course and riparian vegetation. The goal of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) to achieve a ‘good ecological status’ for all surface waters by 2015 has been missed in a large part of German rivers and streams.
In the BMBF-funded citizen science project FLOW, over 900 volunteers have assessed the ecological status of small streams between 2021 and 2023. More than 90 groups from NGOs, schools and angling clubs collected data on the hydromorphology and macroinvertebrate community of 137 streams across Germany according to WFD monitoring standards. For this purpose, we developed citizen science learning materials (e.g., identification booklet and video tutorials) and organized citizen science training sessions. A biological indicator (SPEARpesticides) was used to assess the pesticide contamination of the stream sample sites based on the macroinvertebrate data.
Results showed that 58 % of the sample sites in agricultural catchments failed to achieve a good ecological status in terms of macroinvertebrate community composition, indicating high pesticide exposure. These streams were classified as ‘moderate’, ‘poor’ or ‘bad’ using the SPEARpesticides index. In terms of hydromorphology, 65 % of the agricultural streams studied failed to achieve good ecological status.
Rigorous testing showed that the citizen science monitoring achieved a high degree of accuracy, with results from citizen scientists and professionals highly correlated. We could also show that the citizen scientists’ ecological knowledge and collective action to protect streams increased through learning-by-doing in the FLOW project. As a next step, the citizen scientists would like to work on restoring stream ecosystems and monitoring the ecological effects.
| Status Group | Doctoral Researcher |
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