Citizen science project characteristics: Connection to participants' gains in knowledge and skills

Background: Biodiversity is being lost rapidly and its conservation is thus one of the most urgent tasks today. For biodiversity conservation to be successful, the public needs to gain an awareness and understanding of biodiversity and its importance. Moreover, species experts are needed who have the skills necessary for identifying and recording biodiversity. Previous research showed that citizen science projects can contribute to educating the public about biodiversity. However, it is still unclear how project characteristics connect to participants' knowledge and skills and how citizen science projects should be designed if they are to foster participants' learning. Aim: We aimed to investigate specific characteristics of biodiversity citizen science projects that could potentially influence participants' learning. We explored the following project characteristics from both the project coordinators' and the participants' perspectives: information and training provided to participants, social interaction among participants, contact between participants and staff, and feedback and recognition provided to participants. Methods and results: In order to examine the extent to which these project characteristics are connected to participants' gains in knowledge and skills, we conducted a comprehensive study across 48 biodiversity citizen science projects in Europe and Australia. We found that participants' perceived gains in knowledge and skills were significantly related to the five project characteristics as reported by the participants: information received by the participants, training received by the participants, social interaction among participants, contact between participants and staff, and feedback and recognition received by the participants. Conclusion: We conclude that by deliberately designing citizen science projects to include features such as interaction and feedback, these projects could achieve higher learning outcomes for the participants. Thereby, suitable modes of communication between projects and their participants are crucial. We provide specific suggestions for the design of biodiversity citizen science projects and for future research on project characteristics and participant outcomes

Participant Outcomes of Biodiversity Citizen Science Projects: A Systematic Literature Review

Citizen science is becoming increasingly popular as a format in environmental and sustainability education. Citizen science not only allows researchers to gather large amounts of biodiversity-related data, it also has the potential to engage the public in biodiversity research. Numerous citizen science projects have emerged that assume that participation in the project affects participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. We investigated what evidence really exists about the outcomes of biodiversity citizen science projects on the side of the individual participants. For this purpose, we conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed research articles published up to and including 2017. We found evidence for various individual participant outcomes. The outcome reported most often was a gain in knowledge. Other outcomes, found in several articles, referred to changes in behavior or attitudes. Outcomes reported less often were new skills, increased self-efficacy and interest, and a variety of other personal outcomes. We discuss the research design and methods used in the reviewed studies und formulate specific recommendations for future research. We conclude that citizen science is a promising option for environmental and sustainability education focusing on biodiversity. Partnerships between natural and social scientists in the design and evaluation of projects would allow future biodiversity citizen science projects to utilize their full educational potential

Biodiversity citizen science: Outcomes for the participating citizens

Citizen science (CS) is regarded as a promising format in environmental and sustainability education as well as in science education. CS projects often assume that participation in the project influences, for example, participants' knowledge or behaviour. We investigated whether and to what extent biodiversity citizen science (BDCS) projects, from the participants' self-reported perspective, achieve the following six participant outcomes: (a) content, process and nature of science knowledge, (b) skills of science inquiry, (c) self-efficacy for science and the environment, (d) interest in science and the environment, (e) motivation for science and the environment and (f) behaviour towards the environment. For this purpose, we conducted an online survey of 1,160 CS participants across 63 BDCS projects in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Our survey was aimed at adults participating in CS voluntarily. Survey respondents reported positive changes in all six categories. The most notable result across projects was that self-reported increases in knowledge, self-efficacy, interest and motivation were found to be more pronounced when regarding the environment rather than science. Perceived gains in data collection skills were reported to be higher than gains in skills not directly connected to data collection. Reported behaviour changes primarily concerned communication activities, to a lesser degree also gardening activities, and finally more general environmental behaviour. In addition to these six participant outcomes, respondents mentioned a variety of other positive and negative outcomes, for example, health and well-being, enjoyment, a sense of satisfaction, an increased connection to people and nature but also a more pessimistic view regarding the future of the environment. We conclude that BDCS projects could have a high potential for environmental and sustainability education as well as science education. Further research should investigate individual participant outcomes in more depth and should focus on the factors that influence these participant outcomes. Moreover, exploring the perspectives of both project participants and project coordinators would be valuable. In this way, it would be possible to improve the development and design of CS projects. As a result, BDCS projects could more effectively achieve outcomes for the participants, for science and for biodiversity. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. © 2021 The Authors. People and Nature published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Societ

A hierarchical framework for mapping pollination ecosystem service potential at the local scale

Wild bees play a major role in the cultivation of crops for human use, in the reproduction of many wild plants and are a key component of biodiversity. Mainly due to human activities, wild bees, like other insects, face a rapid decline in Europe. Understanding species distribution can help to design efficient conservation measures. Species distribution can also be used to estimate pollination ecosystem service potential, which can benefit the production of crops relying on pollination and the reproduction of wild plant communities. The presence of pollinators depends on a combination of environmental and biotic factors, each playing a determining role at different spatial scales. We therefore developed a model composed as a hierarchical framework for environmental predictors: climatic data and Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) variables at the European scale and species-specific habitat information at the local scale. The model combines the advantages of two different existing approaches: pollinator species distribution predictions based on their environmental requirements and knowledge on bee species life-history traits and habitats. This paper presents the predicted distribution of twenty-five wild bee species of the Andrena genus in an agricultural region in Northern Germany. We used oilseed rape pollinators as a case study and compared the potential pollination services to the potential demand in the Case Study Area. The developed framework allows to determine the capacity of landscapes to support pollination ecosystem services from wild bees at the local scale, which can support the identification of vulnerable areas and the design of local scale measures for habitat improvement and for conservation. The hierarchical approach leaves potential for further adaptations in order to improve the prediction of wild bee species dynamics and factors influencing their spatial distribution. © 202

The Potential to Save Agrestal Plant Species in an Intensively Managed Agricultural Landscape through Organic Farming—A Case Study from Northern Germany

Intensive agriculture is among the main drivers of diversity decline worldwide. In Central Europe, pressures related with agriculture include habitat loss due to the consolidation of farming units, pesticide and fertilizer use, and shortened crop rotations. In recent decades, this development has resulted in a severe decline of agrestal plant communities. Organic farming has been suggested as a biodiversity friendly way of farming, as it strongly restricts the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and relies on longer crop rotations. It may thus help in saving agrestal plant communities in the future. In this study, we assessed the long-term effects of three types of arable field management (conventional farming, organic farming, and bio-dynamic farming) on three farms in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany. We collected data on above-ground plant communities and seed banks and analyzed them with regards to the impact of the farming system and their position in the field using nonmetric multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS) and linear mixed effects models (LME) combined with ANOVA and Tukey contrast tests. Plants in organically or bio-dynamically managed fields differed in their composition and traits from those occurring in conventionally managed fields, i.e., they showed a preference for higher temperatures and were dominated by insect-pollinated species. While conventional farming had negative effects on vegetation and the seed bank, organic and bio-dynamic farms had neutral or slightly positive effects on both. This highlights the potential of the latter two to conserve species even in an intensively managed landscape. In addition, this may halt or even reverse the decrease in arthropod, bird, and mammal species, since agrestal plants constitute an important component of food-webs in agricultural landscapes

Effects of Landscape Elements on the Distribution of the Rare Bumblebee Species Bombus muscorum in an Agricultural Landscape

The regional distribution pattern of Bombus muscorum was studied in an agricultural landscape of central Germany, one of two remaining areas with the occurrence of this nationally endangered species in the Land Hesse. To determine the landscape characteristics that facilitate the occurrence of B. muscorum, grid-based observation records were analysed in a GIS environment at a regional scale. A significantly negative effect of the number of trees on the occurrence of B. muscorum and a significantly positive one of the proportion of arable land, strongly support the species' preference for open landscapes. Yet, apart from open landscapes additional landscape features were shown to be important. A significantly positive effect of ditches in the final model revealed the importance of this landscape element for the occurrence of B. muscorum. This finding was additionally supported by recordings of nest-searching queens, nests, and flower visits along dithes. The positive effects of clover and fallow land indicate the species' need for suitable food resources throughout the season. Because B. muscorum exhibits small foraging ranges, it is essential that landscape elements that provide nesting sites, foraging habitats and undisturbed hibernation structures are next to each other. The low numbers of individuals of B. muscorum recorded indicate that the supply of these habitat elements may have reached a critical threshold in the study regio

Fertilization Rapidly Alters the Feeding Activity of Grassland Soil Mesofauna Independent of Management History

itrogen fertilization of permanent grasslands affects soil fauna communities by modifying their taxonomic composition, population dynamics and feeding activity. However, it is not well understood if the edaphic fauna adapts to these external inputs so that the immediate response to fertilizer application depends on the long-term nutrient management strategy. We performed a field experiment in permanent grasslands under agricultural management in three regions across Germany. We used experimental fertilization with an organic plant-sourced fertilizer along a long-term nutrient management gradient to study the immediate and long-term effects of fertilization and their interdependence on the taxonomic composition and feeding activity of the soil mesofauna (Nematoda, Oribatida, and Collembola). Sampling season, soil properties, vegetation structure, and geographic location were considered as additional predictor variables to reflect heterogeneity in environmental conditions. The taxonomic composition, richness and total abundance of soil mesofauna communities were significantly affected by long-term nutrient management, but not by experimental fertilization. However, N pulses rapidly (within days) reduced the feeding activity estimated with bait-lamina strips independent of long-term nutrient management strategies.There is an urgent need to develop nutrient management strategies for permanent grasslands that take into account both the conservation of the edaphic faunal community and changes of ecosystem functions caused by rapid responses of the soil mesofauna to fertilizer inputs

Patterns of habitat occupancy, genetic variation and predicted movement of a flightless bush cricket, Pholidoptera griseoaptera , in an agricultural mosaic landscape

Habitat fragmentation has been generally regarded detrimental to the persistence of many species, especially those with limited dispersal abilities. Yet, when exactly habitat elements become functionally disconnected very much depends on the dispersal ability of a species in combination with the landscape's composition in which it occurs. Surprisingly, for many small and ground-walking generalists knowledge at what spatial scale and to what extent landscape structure affects dispersal is very scarce. Because it is flightless, the bush cricket Pholidoptera griseoaptera may be regarded susceptible to fragmentation. We applied habitat occupancy surveys, population genetic analyses and movement modelling to investigate the performance of P. griseoaptera in an agricultural mosaic landscape with suitable habitat patches of varying size and isolation. Despite its presumed dispersal limitation we could show that P. griseoaptera occupied the majority of suitable habitats, including small and isolated patches, showed a very low and non-significant genetic differentiation (F ST=0.0072) and, in the model, managed to colonize around 73% of all suitable habitat patches within one generation under weak and strong landscape-effect scenarios. We conclude that P. griseoaptera possesses the behavioural attributes (frequent inter-patch dispersal) necessary to persist in this landscape characterized by a patchy distribution of habitat elements. Yet, sound recommendations to landscape planning and conservation require more research to determine whether this represents a general behaviour of the species or a behavioural adaptation to this particular landscap

Effects of Landscape Structure on Movement Patterns of the Flightless Bush Cricket Pholidoptera griseoaptera

Because the viability of a population may depend on whether individuals can disperse, it is important for conservation planning to understand how landscape structure affects movement behavior. Some species occur in a wide range of landscapes differing greatly in structure, and the question arises of whether these species are particularly versatile in their dispersal or whether they are composed of genetically distinct populations adapted to contrasting landscapes. We performed a capture-mark-resight experiment to study movement patterns of the flightless bush cricket Pholidoptera griseoaptera (De Geer 1773) in two contrasting agricultural landscapes in France and Switzerland. The mean daily movement of P. griseoaptera was significantly higher in the landscape with patchily distributed habitat (Switzerland) than in the landscape with greater habitat connectivity (France). Net displacement rate did not differ between the two landscapes, which we attributed to the presence of more linear elements in the connected landscape, resulting in a more directed pattern of movement by P. griseoaptera. Significant differences in the movement patterns between landscapes with contrasting structure suggest important effects of landscape structure on movement and dispersal success. The possibility of varying dispersal ability within the same species needs to be studied in more detail because this may provide important information for sustainable landscape planning aimed at maintaining viable metapopulations, especially in formerly well-connected landscape

Şeref Akdik:hayatı sanatı eserleri

Taha Toros Arşivi, Dosya No: 19-Akdik, Kamil-Şeref-Muhittin-Sara. Not: Kitap İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi Kütüphane Koleksiyonunda mevcuttur.Unutma İstanbul projesi İstanbul Kalkınma Ajansı'nın 2016 yılı "Yenilikçi ve Yaratıcı İstanbul Mali Destek Programı" kapsamında desteklenmiştir. Proje No: TR10/16/YNY/010