Community Scientists Fill Gaps in Knowledge Generation, Education, and Enforcement in Social-Ecological Systems

Community Scientists Fill Gaps in Knowledge Generation, Education, and Enforcement in Social-Ecological Systems | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Community Scientists Fill Gaps in Knowledge Generation, Education, and Enforcement in Social-Ecological Systems Ryan O'Connor, Giulio De Leo, Nicole Ardoin This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4752491/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 08 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Community scientists play a critical role in developing, interpreting, and sharing the science needed to understand complex human and ecological systems. In this paper, we present a novel framework for analyzing the complex interactions of community scientists, highlighting their vital role in filliing capacity gaps throughout social-ecological systems. Our framework identifies three key boundaries spanned by community scientists: knowledge generation, education, and enforcement. We further show that these boundary spanning roles emerge in response to limitations in the capacity of institutions. Community scientists provide valuable support to institutions by acting as “eyes and ears,” augmenting and supporting the activities of government agencies throughout social-ecological systems. We empirically support this framework through a case study of a coastal community in California, USA. By emphasizing the diverse ways community scientists' engage with their communities, our framework provides a foundation for more effective integration of their efforts in environmental research and policy. We also highlight the need for careful consideration of the ethical and practical implications of relying on community scientists to accommodate gaps in institutional capacity. This study advances our understanding of community science and offers broadly applicable insights for improving collaborative approaches to social-ecological challenges across scales and systems. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Sustainability Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Sociology Scientific community and society/Scientific community/Institutions Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Government Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Boundary Objects Boundary Spanners Social-Ecological Systems Community Science Citizen Science Community Engaged Research Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 08 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4752491","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":331278005,"identity":"2fbffd27-ff75-4ea0-bd8d-26621a0781fe","order_by":0,"name":"Ryan O'Connor","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDADfjBpA8QHGBgkiNIi2cAMJNNI0WJwgFgt5u3NDx8X7rDJNz5//uDnggSbfL4DzAdv8+DRInPmmLHxzDNplttuJDNLz0hIs5x5gC3ZGp8WCYkcNmnetsMGZjeYGaR5fxw2MDjAYyZNlBbj/sPMv3kSQFr4vxGnxYAhmU0aooWHDb8WHqBfeNvSDCRuJJtZ8ySkGUgeZjO2nINPCzswxHjbbAz4+w8+vs2TYGPAd7z54Y03eLRgAcykKR8Fo2AUjIJRgAUAALaOQku9paieAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3398-7628","institution":"Stanford University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ryan","middleName":"","lastName":"O'Connor","suffix":""},{"id":331278006,"identity":"75a18c3b-1934-4bef-9d7a-8220c8d2848e","order_by":1,"name":"Giulio De Leo","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4186-3369","institution":"Stanford University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Giulio","middleName":"","lastName":"De Leo","suffix":""},{"id":331278007,"identity":"36c72c0e-21c2-4b26-9edd-511ae833f090","order_by":2,"name":"Nicole Ardoin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Stanford University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nicole","middleName":"","lastName":"Ardoin","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-16 22:35:09","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4752491/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4752491/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02066-x","type":"published","date":"2025-02-08T05:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":75778597,"identity":"28013351-fa15-4e9a-ad53-d6c75e7ec11d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-08 08:09:18","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":883896,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"CommunityScienceBoundarySpanningFullText.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4752491/v1_covered_ce195225-94a0-470b-b60b-a63806d17d64.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Community Scientists Fill Gaps in Knowledge Generation, Education, and Enforcement in Social-Ecological Systems","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Boundary Objects, Boundary Spanners, Social-Ecological Systems, Community Science, Citizen Science, Community Engaged Research","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4752491/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4752491/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Community scientists play a critical role in developing, interpreting, and sharing the science needed to understand complex human and ecological systems. In this paper, we present a novel framework for analyzing the complex interactions of community scientists, highlighting their vital role in filliing capacity gaps throughout social-ecological systems. Our framework identifies three key boundaries spanned by community scientists: knowledge generation, education, and enforcement. We further show that these boundary spanning roles emerge in response to limitations in the capacity of institutions. Community scientists provide valuable support to institutions by acting as “eyes and ears,” augmenting and supporting the activities of government agencies throughout social-ecological systems. We empirically support this framework through a case study of a coastal community in California, USA. By emphasizing the diverse ways community scientists' engage with their communities, our framework provides a foundation for more effective integration of their efforts in environmental research and policy. We also highlight the need for careful consideration of the ethical and practical implications of relying on community scientists to accommodate gaps in institutional capacity. This study advances our understanding of community science and offers broadly applicable insights for improving collaborative approaches to social-ecological challenges across scales and systems.","manuscriptTitle":"Community Scientists Fill Gaps in Knowledge Generation, Education, and Enforcement in Social-Ecological Systems","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-09-03 14:30:13","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4752491/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"communications-earth-and-environment","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"commsenv","sideBox":"Learn more about [Communications Earth and Environment](https://www.nature.com/commsenv/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Communications Earth \u0026 Environment","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Communications Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"4c077a48-7b23-49e0-b8ed-1d2a6166acbf","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 3rd, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":35073325,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental social sciences/Sustainability"},{"id":35073326,"name":"Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Sociology"},{"id":35073327,"name":"Scientific community and society/Scientific community/Institutions"},{"id":35073328,"name":"Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Government"},{"id":35073329,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-02-08T08:09:12+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-4752491","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02066-x","journal":{"identity":"communications-earth-and-environment","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Communications Earth \u0026 Environment"},"publishedOn":"2025-02-08 05:00:00","publishedOnDateReadable":"February 8th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-09-03 14:30:13","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s43247-025-02066-x","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02066-x","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4752491","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4752491","identity":"rs-4752491","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}