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

By

Anđelković, Ana
Lawson Handley, Lori Jayne
Marchante, Elizabete
Adriaens, Tim
Brown, Peter
Tricarico, Elena
Verbrugge, Laura

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2022

Original Publication

NeoBiota : advancing research on alien species and biological invasions

Volume

73

Pages

153--175

Subjects

biodiversity monitoring , Biological invasions , Citizen science , perceptions , public engagement , social dimensions

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sophia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.73.79636

 

Abstract

People make an important contribution to the study and management of biological invasions, as many monitoring and control projects rely heavily on volunteer assistance. Understanding the reasons why people participate in such projects is critical for successful recruitment and retention of volunteers. We used a meta-synthesis approach to extract, analyze and synthesize the available information from 28 selected studies investigating motivations of volunteers to engage in monitoring and control of invasive alien species (IAS). Our findings show how motivations fit three broad themes, reflecting environmental concerns, social motivations, and personal reasons. An important outcome of this study is the description of motivations that are unique to the IAS context: supporting IAS management, protecting native species and habitats, and livelihood/food/income protection or opportunities. In addition, our study reflects on important methodological choices for investigating volunteer motivations as well as ethical issues that may arise in practice. We conclude with a set of recommendations for project design and future research on volunteer motivations in IAS contexts, emphasizing the importance of collaboration with social scientists.