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Identifying, reducing, and communicating uncertainty in community science: a focus on alien species

Community science (also often referred to as citizen science) provides a unique opportunity to address questions beyond the scope of other research methods whilst simultaneously engaging communities in the scientific process. This leads to broad educational benefits, empowers people, and can increase public awareness of societally relevant issues such as the biodiversity crisis. As such, community science has become a favourable framework for researching alien species where data on the presence, absence, abundance, phenology, and impact of species is important in informing management decisions. However, uncertainties arising at different stages can limit the interpretation of data and lead to projects failing to achieve their intended outcomes. Focusing on alien species centered community science projects, we identified key research questions and the relevant uncertainties that arise during the process of developing the study design, for example, when collecting the data and during the statistical analyses. Additionally, we assessed uncertainties from a linguistic perspective, and how the communication stages among project coordinators, participants and other stakeholders can alter the way in which information may be interpreted. We discuss existing methods for reducing uncertainty and suggest further solutions to improve data reliability. Further, we make suggestions to reduce the uncertainties that emerge at each project step and provide guidance and recommendations that can be readily applied in practice. Reducing uncertainties is essential and necessary to strengthen the scientific and community outcomes of community science, which is of particular importance to ensure the success of projects aimed at detecting novel alien species and monitoring their dynamics across space and time.

Details

Aantal pagina's 27
Type A1: Web of Science-artikel
Categorie Onderzoek
Tijdschrift Biological Invasions|Biological Invasions online
Issns 1387-3547|1573-1464
Taal Engels
Bibtex

@misc{3e606c7e-fd29-4ba3-a3bc-4d251f79bbe2,
title = "Identifying, reducing, and communicating uncertainty in community science: a focus on alien species",
abstract = "Community science (also often referred to as citizen science) provides a unique opportunity to address questions beyond the scope of other research methods whilst simultaneously engaging communities in the scientific process. This leads to broad educational benefits, empowers people, and can increase public awareness of societally relevant issues such as the biodiversity crisis. As such, community science has become a favourable framework for researching alien species where data on the presence, absence, abundance, phenology, and impact of species is important in informing management decisions. However, uncertainties arising at different stages can limit the interpretation of data and lead to projects failing to achieve their intended outcomes. Focusing on alien species centered community science projects, we identified key research questions and the relevant uncertainties that arise during the process of developing the study design, for example, when collecting the data and during the statistical analyses. Additionally, we assessed uncertainties from a linguistic perspective, and how the communication stages among project coordinators, participants and other stakeholders can alter the way in which information may be interpreted. We discuss existing methods for reducing uncertainty and suggest further solutions to improve data reliability. Further, we make suggestions to reduce the uncertainties that emerge at each project step and provide guidance and recommendations that can be readily applied in practice. Reducing uncertainties is essential and necessary to strengthen the scientific and community outcomes of community science, which is of particular importance to ensure the success of projects aimed at detecting novel alien species and monitoring their dynamics across space and time.",
author = "Anna F. Probert and Daniel Wegmann and Lara Volery and Tim Adriaens and Rigers Bakiu and Sandro Bertolino and Franz Essl and Eugenio Gervasini and Quentin Groom and Guillaume Latombe and Dragana Marisavljevic and John Mumford and Jan Pergl and Cristina Preda and Helen E. Roy and Riccardo Scalera and Heliana Teixeira and Elena Tricarico and Sonia Vanderhoeven and Sven Bacher",
year = "2022",
month = aug,
day = "29",
doi = "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-022-02858-8",
language = "Nederlands",
publisher = "Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek",
address = "België,
type = "Other"
}

Auteurs

Anna F. Probert
Daniel Wegmann
Lara Volery
Tim Adriaens
Rigers Bakiu
Sandro Bertolino
Franz Essl
Eugenio Gervasini
Quentin Groom
Guillaume Latombe
Dragana Marisavljevic
John Mumford
Jan Pergl
Cristina Preda
Helen E. Roy
Riccardo Scalera
Heliana Teixeira
Elena Tricarico
Sonia Vanderhoeven
Sven Bacher