Within the Horizon Europe project ‘GuardIAS’ (Guarding European waters from Ivasive Alien Species), a citizen science project was designed to achieve a deep level of citizens engagement (stimulating behavioural changes and desire to take action), with activities related to IAS management. Target species of the activity, structured as an ‘OpenLab’ in the field, is the swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii, while target group of participants includes citizens of any age, recruited through local associations.

After filling in a pre-event questionnaire that explores their perceptions on IAS, citizens are exposed to a short info-session on the biodiversity of the study area and impacts of aquatic IAS, specifically P. clarkii, using an online brochure that is also distributed to participants before the event. Subsequently, participants are instructed and encouraged to use crayfish trapping systems, and to collect and record biometric data, under the guidance of scientists. These data will be part of the Lombardy regional IAS database.

During the activity, discussions are stimulated about the challenges of IAS management, dealing with topics such as: pros and cons of capture strategies; compliance with the EU IAS Regulation; bioethics issues. In this ways, participants can provide ideas that can eventually contribute to improve management strategies. After the activity, citizens receive an email with a short report on the biological results of the fieldwork, along with the link of a post-activity questionnaire to fill in. The latter is functional to assess the impact of the OpenLab in terms of knowledge improvement and levels of engagement, as well as to collect further recommendations.

So far, activities have been carried out in three natural and semi-natural oxbow lakes in southwestern Lombardy, and almost 50 citizens have been involved: nearly 75% of them have shown increased awareness and concern on biodiversity loss due to IAS after the activity.