Data Quality of National Monitoring Schemes: Filling the Gap between Specialists and the General Public

Benjamin Bergerot () and Benoît Fontaine
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Benjamin Bergerot: University of Rennes, CNRS UMR 6553 ECOBIO, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France
Benoît Fontaine: PatriNat (OFB-MNHN-CNRS-IRD), UMR 7204 CESCO (MNHN-CNRS-SU), 75005 Paris, France

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-10

Abstract: Worldwide, large-scale biodiversity monitoring schemes are developing and involve many non-specialist volunteers. If the opening of schemes to non-specialists allows for the gathering of huge amounts of data, their quality represents a controversial issue. In the framework of the French Garden Butterfly Observatory (FGBO), we studied non-specialist volunteer identification errors based on identifications provided during a one-shot experiment. With 3492 butterfly pictures sent by 554 non-specialist volunteers, we directly measured identification errors and misidentification rates for each butterfly species or species group targeted by the FGBO. The results showed that when non-specialist volunteers identified butterflies at the species level, identification errors (i.e., the misidentification rate) reached 20.9%. It was only 5.0% when FGBO species groups were used. This study provides novel insights into the trade-off between data quantity and quality provided by non-specialist volunteers and shows that if protocols, research questions and identification levels are adapted, participatory monitoring schemes relying on non-specialists represent a powerful and reliable tool to study common species at a large scale and on a long-term basis.

Keywords: citizen science; French Garden Butterfly Observatory; volunteers; misidentification rate; undetection rate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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