• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Tuesday, August 16, 2022
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Concerned about native biodiversity, volunteers join the fight against invasive alien species

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
July 18, 2022
in Science News
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Public involvement is an important component of many invasive species programmes. Volunteers perform early detection of invasive species, track their spread, and also play active roles in their capture, control and removal. Their involvement helps raise awareness of invasive species and encourages support for their management. Finding, recruiting and retaining a corps of committed volunteers, however, can be a challenge. Understanding the reasons why people participate in invasive species projects is critical for successful volunteer recruitment and the long-term sustainability of volunteer-driven projects.

Volunteers remove giant hogweed

Credit: RINSE, www.rinse-europe.eu

Public involvement is an important component of many invasive species programmes. Volunteers perform early detection of invasive species, track their spread, and also play active roles in their capture, control and removal. Their involvement helps raise awareness of invasive species and encourages support for their management. Finding, recruiting and retaining a corps of committed volunteers, however, can be a challenge. Understanding the reasons why people participate in invasive species projects is critical for successful volunteer recruitment and the long-term sustainability of volunteer-driven projects.

A multidisciplinary team of invasion biologists and social scientists from the AlienCSI network funded by the COST programme, led by Ana Anđelković, used a meta-synthesis approach to analyze volunteer motivations in the monitoring and control of invasive alien species. They published their study in the open-access journal NeoBiota.

“Citizen participation in invasion monitoring and control is clearly a booming business. Yet almost nothing is known about why volunteers engage in such programmes. We wanted to close that knowledge gap and make recommendations to project managers to keep their volunteer armies engaged, which is often as hard as tackling the invasive species itself. For this, we mined the literature for motivation statements”, explains Anđelković.

Searching through literature, the team found 264 motivations, which they then classified into 15 broader motivations. Generally, motivations fit three broad themes: reflecting environmental concerns, social motivations, and personal reasons.

“Some motivations, such as being in the great outdoors, making friends, taking care of a particular nature reserve, learning something new and having fun, are in line with other forms of environmental volunteering. They apply to many projects where citizen-scientists help to record sightings of invasive species around the world. But volunteers in invasive species projects seem to be unique in their desire to take part in the control and eradication of these species, to protect native biodiversity in the places they value,” says Anđelković.

“For instance, on Scottish seabird islands, people helped remove invasive tree mallow to protect the breeding puffins. In South Africa, volunteers want to rid the unique Fynbos of invasive trees. In some regions of the world people also take part in harvest management for food provision, as is the case with lionfish in the Caribbean or common carp in Australia.” 

However, the relative lack of published studies and invasive species projects that have actually measured volunteer motivations was striking. “Motivations change over time and the reasons why people remain active in invasive species management are often not the same as their initial self-reported motivation,” they comment. “Also, the social implications for people taking part in eradication campaigns that involve the killing of invasive animals, or the cutting of trees to prevent the spread of insect pests, are not sufficiently understood.”

In conclusion, the authors call upon researchers and project managers to gather data on participant motivations in collaboration with social scientists, especially when volunteers are also involved in control. This way, projects can be inclusive of diverse groups of people, tailoring tasks and roles to everyone’s interests and capabilities.

Original source:

Anđelković AA, Lawson Handley L, Marchante E, Adriaens T, Brown PMJ, Tricarico E, Verbrugge LNH (2022) A review of volunteers’ motivations to monitor and control invasive alien species. NeoBiota 73: 153-175. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.73.79636



Journal

NeoBiota

DOI

10.3897/neobiota.73.79636

Article Title

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

Article Publication Date

25-May-2022

Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

Steps in a diagnostic test

A fast, accurate, equipment-free diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2 and its variants

August 16, 2022
Large, Flexible, and Efficient Indium-Tin-Oxide Free Organic Solar Cells

Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology scientists realize large-area organic solar cells that are low-cost, flexible, and efficient

August 16, 2022

Old drug, new trick: Researchers find combining antiviral drugs and antibody therapy could treat seasonal flu and help prevent next flu pandemic

August 16, 2022

How the brain gathers threat cues and turns them into fear

August 16, 2022

POPULAR NEWS

  • Picture of the horse specimen.

    Ancient DNA clarifies the early history of American colonial horses

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • Fatigue, headache among top lingering symptoms months after COVID

    40 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • Ill-fated ‘Into the Wild’ adventurer was victim of unfortunate timing, Oregon State study suggests

    39 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • Skin: An additional tool for the versatile elephant trunk

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

VaccinesZoology/Veterinary ScienceVaccineUniversity of WashingtonVirusViolence/CriminalsWeather/StormsUrogenital SystemVehiclesWeaponryVirologyUrbanization

Recent Posts

  • A fast, accurate, equipment-free diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2 and its variants
  • Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology scientists realize large-area organic solar cells that are low-cost, flexible, and efficient
  • Old drug, new trick: Researchers find combining antiviral drugs and antibody therapy could treat seasonal flu and help prevent next flu pandemic
  • How the brain gathers threat cues and turns them into fear
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In