Abstract
A database of the orchids of Campania has been built up since 2000 with data collected for academic purposes, research projects and, more recently, with the contributions of enthusiastic amateurs and scholars, thus becoming a real citizen science project leading to the realization of an online Atlas (http://www.floracampana.unina.it/Orchidee/index.html). In this paper, the collection and storage of the data and the synthesis of them are presented. On 31 December 2016, the database accounted for 14680 records from more than 30 contributors relating to 126 taxonomic entities (species, subspecies, hybrids and a few “sensu lato”). The bibliographic records number 3663 (24.9%) and cover a time range of four centuries (from 1616 to 2016). Amongst the 11017 field records (observations), more than 99% are geo-referred and are “punctual” type (precision less than 100 m). The spatial and temporal distribution of the data has been analysed and biases have been underlined. The observations show a clear difference in the study effort year by year but always with a significant contribution of the citizen scientists. The analysis of the spatial distribution shows that the observations are preferably collected in protected areas, around main roads and on the roadsides. Many cells of the grid still lack information and these should be the object of future research.
Highlights
A database of the orchids of Campania has been built up since 2000 with data collected for academic purposes, research projects and, more recently, with the contributions of enthusiastic amateurs and scholars, becoming a real citizen science project leading to the realization of an online Atlas
The expression “citizen science” is becoming a hot topic and the phenomenon itself is facing a great development worldwide (Bonney et al 2009, Silvertown 2009, Conrad and Hilchey 2011, Gura 2013), it has never diminished in the study of orchids as generations of enthusiastic amateurs and non-professional researchers have always significantly contributed to the knowledge of this charming plant family in many fields
The knowledge on orchid distribution in the Campania region is far from being satisfactory since large areas remain unexplored. This database and the related atlas may represent the first step towards the increase in fine-scale knowledge of orchid distribution in this important Mediterranean region
Summary
The expression “citizen science” is becoming a hot topic and the phenomenon itself is facing a great development worldwide (Bonney et al 2009, Silvertown 2009, Conrad and Hilchey 2011, Gura 2013), it has never diminished in the study of orchids as generations of enthusiastic amateurs and non-professional researchers have always significantly contributed to the knowledge of this charming plant family (van der Cingel 2001) in many fields (cultivation, morphometry, taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, plant-pollinator relationship etc.). Starting from the last years of the 20th century, many research projects on the distribution of native orchids have taken place in the Campania region (Southern Italy) from the grid maps prepared by Büel 1982 followed by Nazzaro et al 1996, to the recent surveys which put a higher precision (GPS data) on the basis of the cartographic restitution (Nazzaro et al 2002, Croce 2012; Croce and Nazzaro 2012). Many contributors have taken part in the implementation of the database and as a result of the development of the internet and of devices such as smartphones and tablets, which have allowed faster communications and data collection and sharing, as well as the increasing number of nature lovers attending websites, forums and social networks have all led to a significant rise in the numbers of contributors Contributors share their data in very different ways, from a unique photograph of a plant needing help for its identification to the. Since sampling bias is a problem affecting large databases concerning plants and animal distribution (Kadmon et al 2004), simple analysis to evaluate the temporal and spatial bias in the sampling patterns have been undertaken
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