An atlas of orchids distribution in the Campania region (Italy), a citizen science project for the most charming plant family

Abstract

A database of the orchids of Campania has been built up since 2000 with data collected for academic purposes, research projects and, more recently, with the contributions of enthusiastic amateurs and scholars, thus becoming a real citizen science project leading to the realization of an online Atlas (http://www.floracampana.unina.it/Orchidee/index.html). In this paper, the collection and storage of the data and the synthesis of them are presented. On 31 December 2016, the database accounted for 14680 records from more than 30 contributors relating to 126 taxonomic entities (species, subspecies, hybrids and a few “sensu lato”). The bibliographic records number 3663 (24.9%) and cover a time range of four centuries (from 1616 to 2016). Amongst the 11017 field records (observations), more than 99% are geo-referred and are “punctual” type (precision less than 100 m). The spatial and temporal distribution of the data has been analysed and biases have been underlined. The observations show a clear difference in the study effort year by year but always with a significant contribution of the citizen scientists. The analysis of the spatial distribution shows that the observations are preferably collected in protected areas, around main roads and on the roadsides. Many cells of the grid still lack information and these should be the object of future research.