Communicating data quality from citizen science: lessons learned from environmental monitoring studies

The global expansion of citizen science has fundamentally transformed environmental monitoring and conservation practices.While volunteer-contributed data offers unprecedented spatial and temporal coverage, it introduces significant challenges in data quality assessment and communication.This work presents methodological approaches and lessons learned from two long-term citizen science projects focused on environmental monitoring: (1) mosquito outbreak mapping in a protected landscape area in Czechia, and (2) international monitoring of honey bee colony losses through the COLOSS network.Both projects demonstrate the critical importance of visualizing and communicating data uncertainty to diverse stakeholder groups, from local communities to policymakers.