Kalaentzis Konstantinos, Kazilas Christos, Demetriou Jakovos, Koutsoukos Evangelos, Avtzis Dimitrios N, Georgiadis Christos
Sylvius Laboratory, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Science, Leiden University, 2333 Leiden, The Netherlands.
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, PO Box 9517, 2300 Leiden, The Netherlands.
Insects. 2021 Dec 8;12(12):1101. doi: 10.3390/insects12121101.
Invasive alien species have been increasingly acknowledged as a major threat to native biodiversity and ecosystem services, while their adverse impacts expand to human health, society and the economy on a global scale. Insects represent one of the most numerous alien organismic groups, accounting for about one fifth of their total number. In Greece, a large number of alien insects have been identified, currently reaching 469 species. In recent decades, the contribution of citizen science towards detecting and mapping the distribution of alien insects has been steeply increasing. Addressing the need for up-to-date information on alien species as well as encouraging public participation in scientific research, the Alientoma website-derived from "alien" and the Greek word "entoma", meaning insects, is presented. The website aims towards providing updated information on alien species of insects to the public as well as the scientific community, raising awareness about biological invasions and addressing their distribution and impacts inter alia. By maintaining a dynamic online database alongside a strong social media presence since its launch, Alientoma has attracted individuals mainly from Greece and Cyprus, interacting with the website through a total of 1512 sessions. Alientoma intends to establish a constantly increasing network of citizen scientists and to supplement early detection, monitoring and management efforts to mitigate the adverse impacts of alien insects in Greece.
外来入侵物种日益被公认为是对本地生物多样性和生态系统服务的重大威胁，其负面影响在全球范围内扩展到人类健康、社会和经济领域。昆虫是数量最多的外来生物群体之一，约占外来生物总数的五分之一。在希腊，已识别出大量外来昆虫，目前达到469种。近几十年来，公民科学在检测和绘制外来昆虫分布方面的贡献急剧增加。为满足对外来物种最新信息的需求并鼓励公众参与科学研究，推出了Alientoma网站——该名称源自“alien”（外来的）和希腊语单词“entoma”（意为昆虫）。该网站旨在向公众以及科学界提供有关外来昆虫物种的最新信息，提高对生物入侵的认识，并特别关注其分布和影响。自推出以来，Alientoma通过维护动态在线数据库并在社交媒体上保持强大影响力，吸引了主要来自希腊和塞浦路斯的个人，通过总共1512次会话与该网站进行互动。Alientoma打算建立一个不断扩大的公民科学家网络，并补充早期检测、监测和管理工作，以减轻外来昆虫对希腊的不利影响。
