Julia Parrish

Julia Parrish is an ecologist and conservation biologist at the University of Washington known for her research on seabirds and for her leadership in citizen science.

[12] Parrish's research has linked dead birds found on the beach with changing seawater off California,[13] the presence of harmful algal blooms,[14] and marine heatwaves.

[15][16] Through the collection of data from volunteers, Parrish was able to link recent observations of the by-the-wind sailor jellyfish with seawater conditions off the beaches of California.

[17][18][19] Parrish founded and directs the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team, COASST, a citizen science project started in 1999 that organizes volunteers to gather details about dead birds and marine debris on beaches along the west coast of the United States.

[20][1] Parrish's activities include research into the scale of citizen science projects, the value of in-kind contributions made by volunteers,[21] factors limiting the use of data collected by citizen scientists,[22] and demographic factors leading to the success of data collection by citizen science projects.