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From Dunes to Data: How Citizen Science Is Transforming Coastal Biodiversity Monitoring
24 November 2025
This guest article, written by Paula Brines i Blasco from Institut Metròpoli, highlights work within the GUARDEN project – a collaboration between European partners, including Plymouth Marine Laboratory.
Written by Paula Brines I Blasco, Institut Metropoli, Catalan
Having up-to-date biodiversity data has always been a challenge to marine scientists, especially with the marine and beach ecosystems changing constantly. Citizen science projects are more important than ever, with climate change and human pressures that affect beaches, dunes and their biodiversity, there is a real need to empower individuals to contribute valuable data.
Barcelona’s citizen science project, BioPlatgesMet – part of the EU-funded GUARDEN project (safeGUARDing biodiversity and critical ecosystem services across sectors and scales) – led by Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona, the metropolitan authority for the Barcelona region, ICM-CSIC, and Institut Metròpoli, uses MINKA tools to collect data on coastal biodiversity, with a particular emphasis on dunes and metropolitan beaches. Thanks to the data collected through the MINKA app by citizen scientists, AMB can develop environmental tools to protect coastal ecosystems and take further action – whether it’s protecting beach and dune species or managing invasive ones.
Helping urban Coastal Management with citizen-generated data
Barcelona’s metropolitan beaches, which are made up of eight municipalities along 42 Km of coast, face significant challenges due to rapid urbanization, tourism pressures (close to 11M beach users each year), and climate change impacts. The purpose of BioPlatgesMet was to evaluate the effectiveness of current and proposed coastal management actions in mitigating these pressures and preserving biodiversity and ecosystems.
Thanks to the MINKA platform, volunteers uploaded 6175 observations covering 692 different species. This data, which is validated by experts once uploaded to the platform ensuring scientific quality, provided a comprehensive biodiversity database of the species found on the beaches. It also allowed todocument and analyze changes in species distributions and vegetation cover, and helped to develop a list of problematic invasive species. This invaluable and growing data set has improved decision-making at the AMB level, providing insights into how and where to implement biodiversity programmes more effectively. For example, once a species record is verified, specific management measures can then be put into place. For example, an invasive species can be eradicated while a species with conservation status may be protected by relevant means (such as fencing). This demonstrates the power of the MINKA app because each record automatically provides a geographic reference point, allowing planners and managers to act fast and in the right place.
Communication as a key driver of citizen science projects
Social media and communication are becoming increasingly important to engage residents in projects and to inform them in such initiatives. BioPlatgesMet is a great example of how scientific data can be translated into accessible and meaningful content, turning knowledge into a tool for collective action. With an active digital presence across multiple platforms (Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, X and website), it has been possible to reach diverse audiences and share knowledge, build community, and amplify the impact of BioPlatgesMet across both digital and physical spaces. Combined with in-person citizen science activities and workshops, his approach has increased public engagement and fostered shared responsibility in beach management mobilizing the community to actively participate in their preservation.
“We need to start prioritizing communication as a core component in our citizen science project plans”, said Paula Brines i Blasco, “raising individuals’ awareness about their surroundings it can be the key to protect biodiversity”.
Further information on other work carried out in GUARDEN includes:
More information can be found on the GUARDEN website here >>
