Contributions of paraecologists and parataxonomists to research, conservation, and social development

Abstract

Citizen science has been gaining momentum in the UnitedPalabras Clave: conservación de suelo virgen, cooperación para el desarrollo, desarrollo de capacidad noacadémica, evaluación de la biodiversidad, investigación participativa, manejo de recursos naturales

Does urbanization explain differences in interactions between an insect herbivore and its natural enemies and mutualists?

“…In addition to these habitat variables, plant species richness within a 30-m radius of the study sites was estimated during the experimental period by visually counting all plant morphospecies within the area surrounding each experimental colony. This method is strongly correlated with species richness and it effectively captures variance between study areas, with the advantage of reduced sampling effort and increased effectiveness to achieve statistical power (Abadie et al 2008;Schmiedel et al 2016). Distance to the urban center (m) was calculated from each study site to a point at the central area of the town (Fig.…”

Introduction to the special section Moving from Citizen to Civic Science to Address Wicked Conservation Problems. Corrected by erratum 12844

“…They develop their ecological or taxonomic knowledge in situ. Based on their studies of CS programs in Costa Rica, India, Papua New Guinea, and southern Africa, Schmiedel et al (2016) believe parataxonomists and paraecologists have the potential to contribute to scientific research. They also have a role in local capacity development and enhancing communication between local people and scientific communities.…”

Building capacity in biodiversity monitoring at the global scale

“…In the terrestrial realm, local participatory programs, such as those discussed for extensive monitoring programs, have been extended to involve "paraecologists" or "parataxonomists" (Schmiedel et al 2016). These are often specialists with good-toexcellent local knowledge, or members of the local community who have received special technical training in ecological or taxonomic survey techniques to provide more in-depth monitoring and to provide a link between researchers and the local community, for example.…”

“…Similarly, any scheme intended to engage with local paraecologists or parataxonomists and communities requires understanding of cultural differences and language limitations to positively influence levels of participation. These challenges, including budget requirements, mentorship, personal commitment, long-term perspectives, learning and working opportunities, cultural differences, and community envy, can be significant and should be dealt with adequately (Schmiedel et al 2016). …”