Publication Details |
| Category | Text Publication |
| Reference Category | Qualification assignments |
| DOI | 10.25932/publishup-70510 |
| Title (Primary) | Citizen science in ecological butterfly research |
| Author | Kühn, E. |
| Year | 2026 |
| Department | NSF |
| Page To | 137 |
| Language | englisch |
| Topic | T5 Future Landscapes |
| Keywords | Bürgerwissenschaften; Monitoring; Tagfalter butterflies; citizen science; monitoring |
| Abstract | The decline in biodiversity, particularly among insect populations, has caused great concern among scientists and conservationists, who emphasise the need for long-term data collection. Collecting these data by commissioning experts is costly and time-consuming, and often cannot be funded on the scale required. The use of Citizen Science (CS) has therefore emerged as a viable alternative. This approach enables volunteers to contribute to data collection across large geographical areas, but there are potential drawbacks such as lower data quality and uneven distribution of sampling areas (sampling bias).
The Butterfly Monitoring Germany (TMD) project, which was launched in 2005 with the support of various organisations (german Television ZDF, German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation - BUND, The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union – NABU) includes a central Citizen Science component in which volunteers record butterfly populations. Project coordination, data management and data analysis are carried out by scientists of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ. In the early years of the project (from 2005 onwards), the quality of the data was questioned, particularly by experts in entomological associations, and there were doubts as to whether such a project could be carried out over a longer period of time. The aim of this work is to improve understanding of the effective use of CS in ecological butterfly research. To achieve this, four key questions are answered, the answers to which are summarised in Chapter 2 in the overview of publications.
This dissertation demonstrates how high-resolution and long-term hydrological simulations can improve the characterization and understanding of droughts and water deficits in Germany. Six key pillars for supporting locally-relevant, sector-specific and climate-resilient drought, and water management using hydrological simulations were identified: P1: Evaluation of simulations with independent observations; P2: High-resolution and local relevance; P3: Long-term perspective and variability; P4: System understanding: drivers and patterns; P5: System complexity; P6: Uncertainty and limitations. Scientific evidence and key conclusions for each of these pillars were provided. Hydrological simulations need to be evaluated against independent observations where available. Local relevance with high spatial resolution should be aimed for, although no hydrological model is intended to fully represent reality. A long-term perspective is needed to account for the natural variability of extreme events and to derive robust trends. Understanding of droughts should be improved by analyzing patterns and drivers. The complexity of droughts as well as uncertainty and limitations of hydrological simulations need to be taken into account. The methodological approaches and key pillars outlined in this dissertation are applicable to other types of droughts and water deficits. The approaches can also be applied to other regions, although the applicability depends on local data availability. Finally, large parts of the work contributed to the development of an interactive information system on water resources in Germany (accessible via https://web.app.ufz.de/wis-d/, last access 24 Nov 2024). It is designed to operate at different temporal planning scales using long-term hydrological simulation data covering past reconstructions, present monitoring and future projections. A high degree of regional relevance is achieved through high-resolution hydrological simulations combined with interactive web visualization and analysis tools. |
| Kühn, E. (2026): Citizen science in ecological butterfly research Dissertation, Universität Potsdam, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Institut für Biochemie und Biologie 137 pp. 10.25932/publishup-70510 |
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