Speaker
Description
1. Introduction
In the context of a global biodiversity crisis, biodiversity in agroecosystems has been shown to be particularly affected by the intensification of agricultural practices. As agricultural land accounts for 39 % of land use in Europe, farmers are key actors in biodiversity conservation initiatives. Local initiatives have already proven beneficial, showcasing the potential for proactive approaches. To develop collective solutions, it is crucial to re-establish the connection between agriculture, science, and society, despite the negative public perception of management decisions regarding the environment. To address the environmental crisis, it is imperative to establish a communication space that will help to clarify the causes and consequences of the crisis, and to raise awareness among all stakeholders related to the issue, who rarely have the opportunity to talk to each other. To restore this social connection and to foster the relationships between various stakeholder groups, we implemented a participatory biodiversity inventory, a BioBlitz in an agricultural field. This citizen science event aimed to present flowering strips as an effective tool to enhance habitat for biodiversity. Using a questionnaire and observations of the event organization in each country, we evaluated if such a BioBlitz may raise awareness among a large and diversified group of participants, thus indirectly contributing to changes of agricultural practices, and thereby to conservation of biodiversity in a conventional agricultural environment.
2. Materials and methods
The study is based on 5 study sites of the ConservES project (West and North of France, Belgium, Germany and Czech Republic), located along a European climate gradient, between May and June 2023. The Breton team provided the organizational guidelines for their colleagues in the other sites in order to ensure a similar organization in each country. We implemented a questionnaire about motivations to participate, expected and effective outcomes to evaluate the success of the BioBlitz towards the objective to show that conventional fields harbor a small but important biodiversity, which can be increased by planting flower strips alongside hedgerows as proposed by the Conserves project. We also compared the coordination of the event between different countries to understand the factors that influence the success of the BioBlitz.
3. Results
There were between 55 and 1085 observations per site and between 55 and 445 different species were identified. The observations were opportunistic or followed either a simplified protocol used by scientists in the project or an existing citizen science protocol. The database was standardized among all sites and filled in by the participants ("experts" and "non-experts"). Taxonomic identifications were done to genus or species levels. The uncertainty associated with the observers remains in the database, but is minimized by expert verification and in case of doubts by indicating a higher taxonomic level. The questionnaire has been completed by 124 people. Although they were the target profile, few farmers were able to attend .. In terms of knowledge gained during the event, participants (n=94) reported that they mainly learned how to identify species (n=30) and learned new sampling or observation protocols (n=24). Some participants were amazed at the biodiversity they encountered. According to our experience, the success of the BioBlitz depended on (i) the involvement of researchers from the agricultural sector, (ii) the choice of location and (iii) communication before and during the event.
4. Discussion
Although bioblitzes are not very common in agricultural settings, they should be given more attention in participatory science. As people were surprise to observe so many species, Bioblitzes appear as potential tools to raise public awareness of biodiversity in conventional agricultural areas. They may thus highlight its intrinsic value, and its role in ecosystem services as well as the need for its conservation in agroecosystems. Despite the relevance of Bioblitzes as a participatory observation and sampling tool along a broad geographical gradient, the experience gained from ConservES’s Bioblitzes shows that their design requires to leave room for plasticity to take account of local factors. In general, bioblitzes offer a privileged space and time for science-society interactions, making it possible to combine the needs for science to obtain data and for citizens to take ownership of conservation.
| Keywords | Citizen Sciences; Biodiversity inventories; Biodiversity knowledge; Participation outcomes |
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