Using verified citizen science as a tool for monitoring the European hornet (Vespa crabro) in the island of Sardinia (Italy)

Abstract

The European hornet, Vespa crabro L. (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), is a eusocial insect native to Eurasia that was accidentally introduced in the island of Sardinia (Italy) in 2010. This alien generalist predator could impact on native insect species through predation or competition by modifying interspecific relations in sensitive island ecosystems. As part of the Interreg project ALIEM, the present work regarded the first monitoring activity of the European hornet conducted in Sardinia by means of verified citizen science. The main goals of this study were to define the distribution area of the wasp in 2018 and evaluate the profile and the performance of citizen scientists. Our results showed that V. crabro is mainly located in north-eastern Sardinia and that the hotspot was probably the commercial port of Olbia. Furthermore, data provided by contributors were very accurate and none of the parameters considered to define the participants (age, gender, education level, job category) was a true predictor of a volunteer’s ability to recognise the wasp. In conclusion, this small-scale study suggests that citizen scientists could be a valuable aid to monitor already-established alien species and could be part of a surveillance network for early detection of other potentially invasive alien species not yet introduced in Sardinia, such as the yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, which is already present in northern Italy.

Giants are coming? Predicting the potential spread and impacts of the giant Asian hornet (Vespa mandarinia, Hymenoptera:Vespidae) in the USA

“…In Europe, the yellow‐legged hornet has resulted in serious costs associated with the loss of honey bee colonies, reduction of honey bees for crop pollination and control actions 12,13,15 . A strategy to reduce outcomes associated with sampling and monitoring of invasive species would involve the implementation of citizen science programs 61,62 . These programs are very useful when the species that we need to identify is conspicuous, as V. mandarinia .…”

“…These programs are very useful when the species that we need to identify is conspicuous, as V. mandarinia . In fact, a successful program was implemented for Vespa crabro Linnaeus 11 in Italy 61 . Another important issue is associated with economic help programs for small and medium honey bee owners, who can suffer significant losses.…”

“…12,13,15 A strategy to reduce outcomes associated with sampling and monitoring of invasive species would involve the implementation of citizen science programs. 61,62 These programs are very useful when the species that we need to identify is conspicuous, as V. mandarinia. In fact, a successful program was implemented for Vespa crabro Linnaeus 11 in Italy.…”

“…In fact, a successful program was implemented for Vespa crabro Linnaeus 11 in Italy. 61 Another important issue is associated with economic help programs for small and medium honey bee owners, who can suffer significant losses. In this regard we provide a spatially explicit tool for decision making by state-and county-level governments.…”

The Verification of Ecological Citizen Science Data: Current Approaches and Future Possibilities

“…Verification by experts, although not flawless (McBride, Fidler, and Burgman 2012), has a high accuracy (Yu et al 2012), and therefore may be a more suitable approach to obtain the level of data quality required for published research outputs (Bonter and Cooper 2012). Furthermore, schemes that monitor rare (Donnelly et al 2014) or invasive species, for which accuracy of individual records is crucial to guide management actions (Crall et al 2011;Pusceddu et al 2019), require expert verification to pinpoint occurrences and ensure high-quality data. Expert verification can be time consuming for large datasets (Kelling et al 2011;Yu et al 2012), and schemes that operate at a large geographic scale rely on extensive networks of taxonomic and regional experts (Sutherland, Roy, and Amano 2015).…”