A review of volunteers’ motivations to monitor and control invasive alien species

Abstract

People make an important contribution to the study and management of biological invasions, as many monitoring and control projects rely heavily on volunteer assistance. Understanding the reasons why people participate in such projects is critical for successful recruitment and retention of volunteers. We used a meta-synthesis approach to extract, analyze and synthesize the available information from 28 selected studies investigating motivations of volunteers to engage in monitoring and control of invasive alien species (IAS). Our findings show how motivations fit three broad themes, reflecting environmental concerns, social motivations, and personal reasons. An important outcome of this study is the description of motivations that are unique to the IAS context: supporting IAS management, protecting native species and habitats, and livelihood/food/income protection or opportunities. In addition, our study reflects on important methodological choices for investigating volunteer motivations as well as ethical issues that may arise in practice. We conclude with a set of recommendations for project design and future research on volunteer motivations in IAS contexts, emphasizing the importance of collaboration with social scientists.

Eyes on the aliens: citizen science contributes to research, policy and management of biological invasions in Europe

“…Unexpectedly, provision of feedback related positively to the number of publications, and negatively to the number of records; provision of support also negatively related to the number of publications. While citizen scientists often claim that receiving feedback is important to their continued participation (Geoghegan et al 2016;Anđelković et al 2022), a reduced sample size and the fact that many projects are relatively new (17 started in 2017 and 21 in 2019), may have influenced the results. In addition, the number of publications may be influenced by several other factors such as the publishing dynamic of the project team, or the level of knowledge of the survey respondent on the publications stemming from the project.…”

‘Many eyes on the water’: The role of citizen science in freshwater conservation

“…Occurrence data collected through citizen science can improve knowledge on distribution and inform the modelling of species range expansion. Occurrence data are particularly relevant for early detection, as they can alert decision makers for a rapid response to newly arrived species (reviewed in Encarnação, Teod osio & Morais, 2021;Anđelkovi c et al, 2022). Citizens can also collect data on impacts and the management of invasive alien species, thus providing useful inputs to managers and researchers (Encarnação, Teod osio & Morais, 2021;Price-Jones et al, 2022).…”

“…One of the main objectives and values of citizen science projects is their strong educational value (Walker, Smigaj & Tani, 2021;Metcalfe et al, 2022). Engaging citizens leads to increased public knowledge and awareness of threatened species and habitats and of biological invasions, potentially resulting in greater support for conservation and management actions, as well as preventing new introductions and encouraging proactive behaviours to protect the environment (Clusa et al, 2018;Anđelkovi c et al, 2022;Metcalfe et al, 2022). Many benefits provided by citizen science for freshwater conservation, including advantages for management, awareness, education, recreation, social and economic research, increasing ecological knowledge, improving methods of monitoring and evaluation, and discovering unexpected information or events, have been outlined by Walker, Smigaj & Tani (2021).…”

Citizen science is a vital partnership for invasive alien species management and research

“…The breadth of IAS impacts means that they are often of direct concern to the public. 9 The public can contribute to knowledge, and hence action, through the collection of data in “citizen science” or “community science” initiatives. (Here, we use the widely used term “citizen science” to encompass the diversity of the ways in which public audiences voluntarily participate in scientific research and monitoring.)…”