There is increasing interest in participation by volunteers in data collection for marine ecosystems. Here we evaluate the contribution that citizen scientists can make to documenting marine biodiversity through underwater photography of targeted taxa. In a series of 13, 24-hr censuses of sea slugs, at intervals of three months from December 2013 to December 2016, volunteers recorded similar species richness (89%) to scientists at Port Stephens, NSW, Australia. Volunteer numbers only partially (24.9% of variation) explained the relative performance of volunteers against scientists, or the number of species found by volunteers (20.5%). Species richness in censuses was similar (97%) to estimates obtained during four-week lead-up periods. The programme provided novel information on diversity and seasonality of sea slugs, revealing strong seasonal patterns for chromodorid nudibranchs, and cyclical temporal change at the assemblage level. The programme inspired many of the participants to take part in multiple events, generated educational material, and led to the extension of the programme to other locations. The potential benefits of programmes such as this go beyond the generation of data to address specific research questions and, combined with extension activities, can help to deliver and reinforce messages about the importance of marine ecosystem health.

越来越多的志愿者参与到海洋生态系统数据收集中来。在这里，我们评估了公民科学家可以通过针对目标分类单元的水下摄影来记录海洋生物多样性所做出的贡献。在2013年12月至2016年12月的三个月中，每隔三个月进行了13次24小时的海普查，志愿者在澳大利亚新南威尔士州史蒂芬斯港的科学家记录了相似的物种丰富度（89％）。志愿者人数仅部分（变异的24.9％）解释了志愿者对科学家的相对表现，或志愿者发现的物种数量（20.5％）。普查中物种的丰富度与在为期四周的准备期内获得的估计值相近（97％）。该计划提供了有关海的多样性和季节性的新颖信息，揭示了色藻裸枝的强烈季节性模式，并且在集合水平上具有周期性的时间变化。该计划激发了许多参与者参加多项活动，产生了教学材料，并导致该计划扩展到其他地方。此类计划的潜在好处不仅仅在于生成数据以解决特定的研究问题，而且还与推广活动相结合，可以帮助传递和加强有关海洋生态系统健康重要性的信息。