EAGER: CITIZEN SCIENCE BASED WATER QUALITY MONITORING IN UTAH LAKE

蓝藻是一种细菌，几乎可以在任何陆地和水环境中找到，包括海洋、湖泊和土壤，众所周知，它们在淡水和咸水环境中都能形成广泛的水华。蓝藻是饮用水公用事业日益关注的问题，因此了解蓝藻形成水华的原因是湖泊和生态学研究的主要重点。这些水华被称为有害藻华(HABS)，在许多情况下，由于没有良好的数据集，无法预测HAB。让大量公民参与科学数据收集有可能帮助解决这一问题。在这个项目中，正在以犹他州的犹他湖为样板水体，开发一个基于公民科学的水质项目。该公民科学项目的具体目标是选择和培训水质数据监测方面的公民科学家，让训练有素的公民参与水质数据收集，收集和验证公民科学家收集的数据，并最终制定一个长期和可持续的公民科学水质监测计划。在这项研究项目中，正在建立一个以公民科学为基础的水质监测计划，以增加公众对决策的参与，并使地表水质量能够进行可持续管理。科学假设是：(1)犹他湖磷有限，内部和外部磷负荷在空间和时间上相似，(2)基于环境样本DNA测序的基因工具可以提高不同环境因素下湖泊蓝藻生态(包括新物种)的分辨率，并阐明在赤潮事件期间其他侧翼细菌群落的积极作用，以及(3)可以使用参与式教育和外联方法来制定管理策略，该策略为整个流域的利益攸关方所接受，从而在更广泛的基础上实施。这项研究最重要的更广泛的影响是培训公民科学家并让他们参与水质研究，这可能有助于监管决策。研究生和本科生也在接受这一项目的培训。

Cyanobacteria are a type of bacteria that can be found in almost every land and water environment, including oceans, lakes, and soils, and they are known to form extensive blooms in both freshwater and saltwater environments. Cyanobacteria are a growing concern for drinking water utilities, so understanding why cyanobacteria form blooms is a major focus of lake and ecological research. These blooms are termed harmful algal blooms (HABs), and in many cases, the prediction of HABs is not possible because of the unavailability of good data sets. Involving a large number of citizens in scientific data collection has the potential to help address this problem. In this project, a citizen science-based water quality program is being developed with Utah Lake, Utah as a model water body. The specific objectives of this citizen science project are to select and train citizen scientists in water quality data monitoring, to engage trained citizens in water quality data collection, to gather and validate the data collected by citizen scientists, and finally to develop a plan for a long term and sustainable citizen science-based water quality monitoring program. In this research project, a citizen science-based water quality monitoring program is being established to increase public participation in decision making and to enable sustainable management of surface water quality. The scientific hypotheses are; (1) Utah Lake is phosphorus limited and the magnitude of internal and external phosphorus loads are similar over space and time, (2) genetic tools based on DNA sequencing of environmental samples can provide an improved resolution of cyanobacterial ecology (including novel species) in the lake under different environmental factors and elucidate the active role of other flanking bacterial communities during HABs events, and (3) participatory education and outreach approaches can be used to develop management strategies that are embraced by stakeholders throughout the watershed and thus implemented on a broader basis. The most significant broader impact of this research is the training and involvement of citizen scientists in water quality research that may aid regulatory decision making. Graduate and undergraduate students are also being trained in this project.