Assessing insect monitoring protocols for expanded community participation

Continuous biodiversity monitoring is not feasible for most areas but leveraging community science can maximize data collection efforts for better quality data across a large scale. Pollinator insects are ideal candidates for community science participation as they are easier to identify in the field, charismatic, and indicators of heterogeneity in the environment. A variety of preexisting protocols allows for a wide degree of involvement by the public, from spontaneous record collection to rigorous routine monitoring routes. Tradeoffs exist between quality of data capture, community involvement, and amount of data generated, therefore exploring a number of modifications to “traditional” monitoring schemes is imperative for implementation in community science initiatives. I tested modifications to the widely used Pollard walk scheme for collecting butterfly and bumble bee data and contrasedt various native bee monitoring tools in urban environments, to inform how future projects can be designed to increase participation and data output. Additionally, I assessed how potential limitations of non-specialists compare to professional monitoring and the impact on downstream analyses of using community collected data.