DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k98sf7mmm
title: Citizen science in pollinator monitoring: Current approaches, challenges and recommendations

description: The current decline in pollinator abundance and diversity poses a
 significant threat to the natural world and the food and economic security
 of human societies. A major challenge faced by the scientific community in
 pollinator conservation is the lack of sufficient data. Citizen science
 has emerged as a promising avenue for addressing this issue. In this
 article, we present the global perspective of citizen science projects
 focused on pollinator monitoring. Our analysis reveals a notable
 underrepresentation of developing and tropical countries in citizen
 science-driven data generation efforts. More than 70% of the listed
 studies are conducted in North America (n:64), followed by Europe (n:22).
 Together, Europe and North America account for 98.85% (n:86) of all the
 projects listed. Thirty-three percent of the projects are hosted on
 iNaturalist. Majority of projects focus on insects as pollinators, and 52%
 of the projects additionally document the identity of the pollinated plant
 species. We classified these projects into structured, semi-structured,
 and unstructured categories based on their methodologies. Linear
 regression analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of various
 factors on the potential for generating outputs. The regression model
 explained 82% of the variance in document production (Adjusted R-squared =
 0.766, F(10, 33) = 15.06, p &lt; 0.001). Structured projects
 significantly contributed to document output (Estimate = 12.44, p &lt;
 0.001), as did the inclusion of training (Estimate = 6.89, p &lt;
 0.001). Fisher's Exact Test for Count Data also revealed a
 significant association for outputs generated with the structured
 methodology (p &lt; 0.001). Additionally, we discuss the merits and
 drawbacks of different approaches and propose recommendations for
 subsequent research.
description: # Citizen science in pollinator monitoring: Current approaches, challenges
 and recommendations Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.k98sf7mmm](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.k98sf7mmm) ##
 Description of the data and file structure The data contains details on
 citizen science projects related to pollinator monitoring collated from
 online sources using web-harvesting techniques. Searches were carried out
 using different keyword combinations including “Pollinator” AND “Project”
 OR “Monitoring” OR “Survey” OR “Find” OR “Search” OR “Count.” Only
 English-language sources were considered. The search was carried out
 across four platforms: Google, SciStarter, Zooniverse, and iNaturalist.
 Relevant projects were identified from the first 100 results of each
 keyword combination on each platform. Thirty-three parameters including
 the objectives of the project, location, methods followed, platforms used,
 number of participants, number of observations generated, outputs from the
 project such as research articles and other documents produced, etc.,
 provided on the project websites were collected.  ### Files and variables
 #### File: Pollinator_Count_citizen_science_data.xlsx This file contains
 two sheets: 1. List of all the citizen science projects on pollinators
 identified, and 2. List of projects included in the analysis
 **Description:** Data on citizen science projects on pollinator monitoring
 ##### Variables (column header) and their descriptions: | Sl. No |
 Variable | Description | | :----- | :-------------------------------- |
 :--------------------------------------------------- | | 1 | Title |
 Project title | | 2 | Training (0/1) | Presence or absence of training | |
 3 | No. of Training per year | Number of tranings per year | | 4 | Type |
 Geographic coverage type | | 5 | Class | categories of projects | | 6 |
 Research article | Number of Research article produced | | 7 | Technical
 reports | Number of Technical reports produced | | 8 | Other reports |
 Number of Other reports produced | | 9 | Policy Recommendation documents |
 Number of Policy Recommendation documents | | 10 | tot_doc | Total number
 of outputs  | | 11 | Physical Data sheet (0/1) | Presence or absence of
 physical data sheets  | | 12 | P_Diversity (0/1) | Was Pollinator
 Diversity recorded (0/1) | | 13 | P_Distribution (0/1) | Was Pollinator
 Distribution recorded (0/1) | | 14 | P_Abunance (0/1) | Was Pollinator
 Abunance recorded (0/1) | | 15 | Plant_Intertn (0/1) | Was Pollinator
 Plant Interaction recorded (0/1) | | 16 | Plant_Diversity (0/1) | Was
 Plant Diversity recoded (0/1) | | 17 | Specific objective (0/1) | Specific
 objective (0/1) | | 18 | Total Observations | Total Observations | | 19 |
 Observations | Observations of the last session | | 20 | Observers |
 Number of observers | | 21 | Observations % Observer | Observations per
 observer (%) | | 22 | Newsletters | Number of Newsletters in last year | |
 23 | Blogposts | Number of Blogposts in last year  | | 24 | Frequency of
 interactive sessions | Frequency of interactive sessions | | 25 |
 Interactive sessions (0/1) | Were Interactive sessions conducted (0/1) | |
 26 | Key_Plants (0/1) | Was Key for Plants provided (0/1) | | 27 |
 Key_Pollinators (0/1) | Was Key for Pollinators provided (0/1) | | 28 |
 Pollinator Identified (0/1) | Was Pollinator Identified (0/1) | | 29 |
 Pollinator Species level (0/1) | Was Pollinator identified to the species
 level (0/1) | | 30 | Plants Identified (0/1) | Was Plants Identified (0/1)
 | Note: n/a indicates that no data is available.