How useful are volunteers for visual biodiversity surveys? An evaluation of skill level and group size during a conservation expedition

The ability of volunteers to undertake different tasks and accurately collect data is critical for the success of many conservation projects. In this study, a simulated herpetofauna visual encounter survey was used to compare the detection and distance estimation accuracy of volunteers and more experienced observers. Experience had a positive effect on individual detection accuracy. However, lower detection performance of less experienced volunteers was not found in the group data, with larger groups being more successful overall, suggesting that working in groups facilitates detection accuracy of those with less experience. This study supports the idea that by optimizing survey protocols according to the available resources (time and volunteer numbers), the sampling efficiency of monitoring programs can be improved and that non-expert volunteers can provide valuable contributions to visual encounter-based biodiversity surveys. Recommendations are made for the improvement of survey methodology involving non-expert volunteers

Links between poverty, climate-induced migration and deforestation in western Madagascar

Recently, people from arid regions in Madagascar have migrated to greener and wetter areas, creating socioeconomic and environmental challenges from increased demand for natural resources. This paper examines the relationship between human migration and land use change in five communes in and around the Menabe Antimena protected area, a critical biodiversity hotspot in western Madagascar. We analysed poverty and climate differences between migrants' origins and destinations by conducting 92 semi-structured interviews, 46 with migrants in Menabe and 46 with residents of Androy, a region contributing to migration flow. We also investigated population dynamics and ecological indicators, including forest cover and number of VIIRS active fires detected weighted with precipitations between 2017 and 2022. Results show that migrants moved to areas with more rainfall and less poverty, with 89.1 % leaving their home villages due to famine and poor lifestyle. The number of migrants entering the protected area has increased 3.2 times with 63.0 % of them directly involved in illegal agricultural practices. The forest cover in areas of communes inside the protected area declined by 22.1 % though 36.4 % outside, while weighted active fires rose by 24.7 % inside and 55.9 % outside, with higher fire occurrences in communes with larger forest. Among migrants, 45.7 % plan to return home once they have saved sufficient funds, 28.3 % intend to settle permanently, and 13.0 % aim to relocate to more productive areas after clearing local forest. These findings can guide authorities and conservation managers in making policies to support migrants in adopting sustainable farming practices, addressing links to deforestation

On the use of parataxonomy in biodiversity monitoring: a case study on wild flora

International audienceMonitoring programs that assess species-richness and turnover are now regarded as essential to document biodiversity loss worldwide. Implementation of such programs is impeded by a general decrease in the number of skilled naturalists. Here we studied how morphotypes, instead of species, might be used by unskilled participants (referred to as “volunteers”) to survey common plant communities. Our main questions were: (1) Can morphotypes be used as a robust estimator of species-richness (alpha-diversity) and assemblage turnover (Beta-diversity)? and (2) What is the robustness (reproducibility and repeatability) of such methods? Double inventories were performed on 150 plots in arable Weld margins, one by a non-expert using morphotypes, the other by a taxonomist using species. To test the robustness of morphotype identiWcation among participants, 20 additional plots were surveyed by eight volunteers using the same protocol. We showed that (1) the number of morphotypes identiWed by unskilled volunteers in a plot was always strongly correlated with species-richness. (2) Morphotypes were sensitive to diVerences among habitats but were less accurate than species to detect these diVerences. (3) Morphotype identiWcation varied signiWcantly within and between volunteers. Due to this lack of repeatability and reproducibility, parataxonomy cannot be considered a good surrogate for taxonomy. Nevertheless, assuming that morphotypes are identiWed with standardized methods, and that results are used only to evaluate gross species-richness but not species turnover, parataxonomy might be a valuable tool for rapid biodiversity assessment of common wild flora

Involving citizens in monitoring the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

Acknowledgements: This study was supported by the EC projects FRAMEwork, ECS, BESTLIFE2030 and more4nature (grant nos. 862731, 101058509, 101096887 and 101133983; F.D., N.D.B.), the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education through the UArctic (grant no. 5228-00001B; F.D.), Nordic Council of Ministers’ Nordic Working Group for Biodiversity (F.D.), Danida (Maarifa; F.D.) and the UK Research and Innovation’s Global Challenges Research Fund under the Trade, Development and the Environment Hub project (grant no. ES/S008160/1; N.D.B.).AbstractThe Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and its monitoring framework aims to reverse the decline of nature. The GBF tasks governments to report progress towards 23 targets and four goals but also “invites Parties and relevant organizations to support community-based monitoring and information systems and citizen science” to improve information for decision-making and build support for conservation efforts throughout society. We assessed how Indigenous Peoples, local communities and citizen scientists and professional scientists can help monitor the GBF. Of the 365 indicators of the GBF monitoring framework, 110 (30%) can involve Indigenous Peoples, local communities and citizen scientists in community-based monitoring programmes, 185 (51%) could benefit from citizen involvement in data collection and 180 (49%) require scientists and governmental statistical organizations. A smaller proportion of indicators for GBF targets are amenable to citizen monitoring than for the previous Aichi targets or other multilateral environment agreements—largely because 196 GBF indicators are analytically complex (54%) and 175 require legislative overview (48%). Greater involvement of citizens in the GBF would increase societal engagement in international agreements, harness knowledge from those living close to nature to fill data gaps and enhance local to national decision-making based on improved information, leading to better conservation actions.</jats:p