Gallagher Rachael, Roger Erin, Packer Jasmin, Slatyer Cameron, Rowley Jodi, Cornwell Will, Ens Emilie, Legge Sarah, Simpfendorfer Colin, Stephens Ruby, Mesaglio Thomas
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia.
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Atlas of Living Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Conserv Biol. 2025 Apr;39(2):e14329. doi: 10.1111/cobi.14329. Epub 2024 Aug 27.
Many citizen scientists are highly motivated to help address the current extinction crisis. Their work is making valuable contributions to protecting species by raising awareness, identifying species occurrences, assessing population trends, and informing direct management actions, such as captive breeding. However, clear guidance is lacking about how to use existing citizen science data sets and how to design effective citizen science programs that directly inform extinction risk assessments and resulting conservation actions based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. This may be because of a mismatch between what citizen science can deliver to address extinction risk and the reality of what is needed to inform threatened species listing based on IUCN criteria. To overcome this problem, we examined each IUCN Red List criterion (A-E) relative to the five major types of citizen science outputs relevant to IUCN assessments (occurrence data, presence-absence observations, structured surveys, physical samples, and narratives) to recommend which outputs are most suited to use when applying the IUCN extinction risk assessment process. We explored real-world examples of citizen science projects on amphibians and fungi that have delivered valuable data and knowledge for IUCN assessments. We found that although occurrence data are routinely used in the assessment process, simply adding more observations of occurrence from citizen science information may not be as valuable as inclusion of more nuanced data types, such as presence-absence data or information on threats from structured surveys. We then explored the characteristics of citizen science projects that have already delivered valuable data to support assessments. These projects were led by recognized experts who champion and validate citizen science data, thereby giving greater confidence in its accuracy. We urge increased recognition of the value of citizen science data within the assessment process.
许多公民科学家都有着强烈的动机，希望帮助应对当前的物种灭绝危机。他们的工作通过提高公众意识、识别物种出现情况、评估种群趋势以及为诸如圈养繁殖等直接管理行动提供信息，为保护物种做出了宝贵贡献。然而，在如何使用现有的公民科学数据集以及如何设计有效的公民科学项目方面，缺乏明确的指导，这些项目要能根据国际自然保护联盟（IUCN）红色名录标准，直接为灭绝风险评估及后续的保护行动提供信息。这可能是因为公民科学能够为应对灭绝风险所提供的内容，与依据IUCN标准确定受威胁物种名录所需的实际情况之间存在不匹配。为克服这一问题，我们对照与IUCN评估相关的公民科学产出的五种主要类型（出现数据、有无观测、结构化调查、实物样本和叙述），审视了IUCN红色名录的各项标准（A - E），以推荐在应用IUCN灭绝风险评估流程时最适合使用的产出类型。我们探究了两栖动物和真菌方面的公民科学项目的实际案例，这些项目为IUCN评估提供了有价值的数据和知识。我们发现，虽然出现数据在评估过程中经常被使用，但仅仅增加来自公民科学信息的出现情况观测，可能不如纳入更细致的数据类型有价值，比如有无数据或结构化调查中有关威胁的信息。然后，我们探究了那些已经提供了有价值数据以支持评估的公民科学项目的特点。这些项目由知名专家牵头，他们支持并验证公民科学数据，从而增强了对其准确性的信心。我们敦促在评估过程中更多地认识到公民科学数据的价值。
