Figure 1 - The probability of occurrence of a number of common jellyfish species, including the mauve stinger (Pelagia noctiluca), within four different Mediterranean countries, including Malta, has been modelled within a new flagship peer-reviewed publication.
The University of Malta, through resident academic staff within the Department of Geosciences at the Faculty of Science, has participated in a recently-released flagship publication detailing the outcomes of jellyfish spotting citizen science campaigns conducted in four different Mediterranean countries. Within such a comprehensive study, in fact, around 100,000 citizen science reports of jellyfish submitted to campaigns conducted in Malta, Italy, Spain and Tunisia over the 2009 to 2015 period were assessed, with the aim of (i) identifying trends in the blooming of different jellyfish species and (ii) forecasting future blooming events for the same species. Prof. Alan Deidun and Dr Adam Gauci participated in this study through the provision and interpretation of multi-annual jellyfish data collected within Maltese waters since June 2010 through the Spot the Jellyfish campaign.
The publication in question demonstrated the usefulness of well-managed citizen science campaigns in determining jellyfish dynamics at broad spatial scales, in this case within the Ionian, Adriatic, Tyrrhenian, Balearic and Ligurian Seas. The same publication also managed to deliver a useful jellyfish bloom mitigation tool in the form of a bloom forecasting model for two of the most commonly-encountered jellyfish species in the Mediterranean (i.e. Pelagia noctiluca and Rhizostoma pulmo). The forecasting model in question was developed by incorporating inputs from different modelling protocols based on GAM (Generalised Additive Model), ANN (Artificial Neural Network) and RF (Random Forest) – its outputs are considered reliable since they are closely aligned with field observations.
(Pictured above: Aequorea forskalea - A bloom of the uncommon multi-ribbed jellyfish was documented last spring by the Spot the Jellyfish campaign)
The is acclaimed as an example of good practice in terms of citizen science, given (i) the array of seamless alternatives (social media, campaign website and email, smart phone app) through which the public can submit a report to the same campaign, given (ii) the free online access to the same validated jellyfish reports, (iii) the insightful scientific contributions made by the same campaign as well as the gamut of outreach and ocean literacy activities conducted by the same campaign over the years within different communication channels/portals, including the UK’s The Guardian newspaper and revamped seaside panels and online jellyfish identification and .
In fact, over the years, the Spot the Jellyfish team, supported by the International Ocean Institute (IOI) as well as by the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA), managed to document the occurrence of a number of non-indigenous jellyfish species in Maltese waters (e.g. Phyllorhiza punctata, Rhopilema nomadica) as well as the blooming of a number of previously-known alien jellyfish species (e.g. Cassiopea andromeda) and the occurrence of previously-unknown indigenous species (e.g. Aequorea forskalea, Porpita porpita, Chrysaora hysoscella, Apolemia uvaria, Physophora hydrostatica and Phacellophora camtschatica), through a substantial number of papers within peer-reviewed journals, thus further underscoring the scientific contribution of the same campaign. A jellyfish identification algorithm has also been developed by Dr Gauci within the ambit of . The Spot the Jellyfish campaign is currently coordinated by Prof. Alan Deidun, Malta’s Ocean Governance Ambassador.
The peer-reviewed manuscript has been published within the Diversity journal (Impact Factor = 2.33) and can be accessed through .
