Evaluating the performance of volunteers in mapping invasive plants in public conservation lands. Environ Manage 2012 Feb;49(2):425-34
Date
12/03/2011Pubmed ID
22134737DOI
10.1007/s00267-011-9789-yScopus ID
2-s2.0-84856972327 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 36 CitationsAbstract
Citizen science programs are touted as useful tools for engaging the public in science and for collecting important data for scientists and resource managers. To accomplish the latter, it must be shown that data collected by volunteers is sufficiently accurate and reliable. We engaged 119 volunteers over three years to map and estimate abundance of invasive plants in New York and New Jersey parklands. We tested their accuracy via collected pressed samples and by subsampling their transect points. We also compared the performances of volunteers and botanical experts. Our results support the notion that volunteer participation can enhance the data generated by scientists alone. We found that the quality of data collected might be affected by the environment in which the data are collected. We suggest that giving consideration to how people learn can not only help to achieve educational goals but can also help to produce more data to be used in scientific study.
Author List
Jordan RC, Brooks WR, Howe DV, Ehrenfeld JGAuthor
Jesse Ehrenfeld MPH, MD Adjunct Professor in the Anesthesiology department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Conservation of Natural ResourcesHumans
Introduced Species
Magnoliopsida
New Jersey
New York
Research Design
Task Performance and Analysis
Volunteers
