Vigie-Nature: Sciences participatives et biodiversité à grande échelle

Vigie-Nature (Nature Watch) is a French biodiversity monitoring program, which relies entirely on data collected by volunteers. Derived from an informal collaboration between biologists and birders, this monitoring program has gradually institutionalized along with the development of new study fields and new partners. Monitoring protocols result from a compromise between standardization of tools and procedures, and the need to leave room for individual initiative. Finally, beyond the use of the Internet for communication, which often remains virtual and impersonal, actual meetings between researchers and volunteers play a key role in the cohesion of networks.