By Barberis, Bitonto et al.
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| Process of photographic record validation, from the upload to the final certification by the team of expert taxonomists and record display on the website map, where it becomes publicly available |
The LIFE 4 Pollinators project (LIFE18/GIE/IT/000755) “Involving people to protect wild bees and other pollinators in the Mediterranean” aims to promote the conservation of pollinating insects and entomophilous plants across the Mediterranean region by fostering progressive changes in human practices that threaten wild pollinators. It’s well established that pollinators play a vital role in most terrestrial ecosystems, supporting wild plant communities and enhancing agricultural yields. However, despite their ecological and economic importance, they have been experiencing an alarming decline over the past decades, and many people still seem to be not fully aware of the consequences of such a loss. The Mediterranean region, in particular, is known for harboring highly diverse communities of plants and pollinators while being vulnerable due to intense anthropogenic pressures. In response to this urge to fill knowledge gaps and promote behavioral changes, in recent years growing attention has been directed toward the contribution that citizens can give in support of pollinator research by means of their engagement through Citizen Science. In addition to the implementation of several actions directed to raise awareness, the LIFE 4 Pollinators project launched a web platform to collect photographic records of flower–insect interaction from the public. The platform is expected to remain active for at least ten years, during which we encourage continuing record submissions by interested bodies. The dataset gathered so far is freely accessible to anyone, and it will be periodically updated with the new records collected.
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