Predavec Martin, Lunney Daniel, Hope Ben, Stalenberg Eleanor, Shannon Ian, Crowther Mathew S, Miller Indrie
Ecosystem Management Science Branch, Office of Environment and Heritage NSW, P.O. Box 1967, Hurstville, NSW 2220, Australia.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Conserv Biol. 2016 Jun;30(3):496-505. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12698. Epub 2016 Apr 25.
Scientists have traditionally collected data on whether a population is increasing, decreasing, or staying the same, but such studies are often limited by geographic scale and time frame. This means that for many species, understanding of trends comes from only part of their ranges at particular periods. Working with citizen scientists has the potential to overcome these limits. Citizen science has the added benefit of exposing citizens to the scientific process and engaging them in management outcomes. We examined a different way of using citizen scientists (instead of data collection). We asked community members to answer a question directly and thus examined whether community wisdom can inform conservation. We reviewed the results of 3 mail-in surveys that asked community members to say whether they thought koala populations were increasing, decreasing, or staying the same. We then compared the survey results with population trends derived from more traditional research. Population trends identified through community wisdom were similar to the trends identified by traditional research. The community wisdom surveys, however, allowed the question to be addressed at much broader geographical scales and time frames. Studies that apply community wisdom have the benefit of engaging a broad section of the community in conservation research and education and therefore in the political process of conserving species.
传统上，科学家们收集有关种群数量是在增加、减少还是保持不变的数据，但这类研究往往受到地理范围和时间框架的限制。这意味着对于许多物种而言，对其趋势的了解仅来自特定时期内其分布范围的一部分。与公民科学家合作有可能克服这些限制。公民科学还有额外的好处，即让公民接触科学过程并使他们参与管理成果。我们研究了一种使用公民科学家的不同方式（而非数据收集）。我们让社区成员直接回答一个问题，从而考察社区智慧是否能为保护工作提供信息。我们回顾了3次邮寄调查的结果，这些调查要求社区成员说出他们认为考拉种群数量是在增加、减少还是保持不变。然后，我们将调查结果与通过更传统研究得出的种群趋势进行了比较。通过社区智慧确定的种群趋势与传统研究确定的趋势相似。然而，社区智慧调查能够在更广泛的地理范围和时间框架内解决这个问题。应用社区智慧的研究具有让广大社区参与保护研究和教育，进而参与物种保护政治进程的益处。
