DataSheet_1_Surveying the scope, success, and challenges of plant conservation community science.zip

First emerging at the end of the 20th century, community science (a.k.a. citizen science), utilizing volunteers and volunteer-contributed data, has become a major component of biological conservation worldwide. Interacting factors including limited funding, technology availability, and public interest present a unique opportunity for conservation scientists and practitioners to benefit from larger datasets with broader spatial and temporal reach than possible from professional researchers alone. In tandem with benefits to science, volunteers gain hands-on research experience, scientific knowledge, outdoor opportunities, and community. However, this approach is far from universally adopted, as some researchers question the accuracy and value of community science data and entrusting volunteers with sensitive data, such as rare plant locations. We assessed community science projects that conduct rare plant monitoring to examine the value of community science in plant conservation. We identified projects through research and targeted outreach. Through digital surveys of project managers and volunteers, we collected qualitative and quantitative data addressing the efficacy of projects in regard to a number of predictor variables (e.g., staffing, funding, program size, data management, volunteer training, and demographics) and metrics of success (e.g., number of volunteers engaged, monitoring assignments, and publications). We reported the qualities of successful plant conservation community science projects to encourage the establishment of new projects, the improvement of existing ones, and the maximum application of volunteer-contributed rare plant monitoring datasets. We propose the establishment of a community science rare plant monitoring network to facilitate sharing ideas, strategies, and tools for project success.

自20世纪末初露端倪以来，社区科学（亦称公民科学），通过志愿者及其贡献的数据，已成为全球生物保护的重要构成部分。资金限制、技术可得性以及公众兴趣等交互因素，为保护科学家和实践者提供了一个独特的机会，使他们能够从比专业研究人员单独获取的更大数据集中获益，这些数据集在空间和时间范围上更为广泛。与科学收益并行，志愿者亦能获得实践研究经验、科学知识、户外机会以及社区归属感。然而，这种方法尚未得到普遍采纳，因为一些研究者对社区科学数据的准确性和价值持怀疑态度，并对将敏感数据，如稀有植物位置，委托给志愿者表示担忧。我们评估了进行稀有植物监测的社区科学项目，以探讨社区科学在植物保护中的价值。通过研究和定向推广，我们确定了这些项目。通过针对项目经理和志愿者的数字调查，我们收集了定性和定量数据，这些数据涉及项目在多个预测变量（例如，人员配备、资金、项目规模、数据管理、志愿者培训和人口统计）以及成功指标（例如，参与志愿者数量、监测任务和出版物）方面的有效性。我们报告了成功植物保护社区科学项目的特点，以鼓励新项目的建立、现有项目的改进以及志愿者贡献的稀有植物监测数据集的最大化应用。我们提议建立一个社区科学稀有植物监测网络，以促进项目成功的理念、策略和工具的共享。