Citizen science is a powerful tool that allows researchers to address new, situated, societal questions. In the field of quantitative plant biology, citizen science has revolutionized the way we understand the natural world. By engaging the public in data collection, researchers can obtain information on a scale that was previously unimaginable. This information is critical for understanding how plants grow, how they respond to environmental changes, and how to create innovative answers to the socio-ecological crisis, building on plant biodiversity and citizen technodiversity.

Citizen science is not only important for quantitative plant biology, but for all fields that rely on data-driven research.

• Allows researchers to gather large amounts of field data, with statistically significant variance, to obtain robust scientific conclusions

• Promotes scientific literacy and public engagement with science.

• Can be tailored to specific research questions, allowing for targeted data collection and analysis.

• Helps identify patterns and trends that would be difficult to detect with traditional research methods.

• Cost-effective way to gather data, making it accessible to researchers with limited resources.

• Helps bridge the gap between scientists and the public, fostering a sense of cooperation and shared responsibility for scientific research

Citizen science: How to extend reciprocal benefits from the project community to the broader socio-ecological systemAurore Receveur

Lucie Poulet, Benjamin Dalmas, Barbara Gonçalves and Antoine Vernay

The use of citizen science in quantitative plant biology has the potential to greatly increase data collection and analysis, while also promoting scientific literacy and involvement among volunteers, leading to a cascade effect of benefits for both the scientific community and the socio-ecological system.

This review aims to demonstrate that citizen science has a huge potential:

1. For science with the development of different tools to collect and analyse much larger datasets

2. For volunteers by increasing their involvement in the project governance

3. For the socio-ecological system by increasing the share of the knowledge, thanks to a cascade effect and the help of ‘facilitators’

Ecosystem natural capital accounting: The landscape approach at a territorial watershed scale

Jazmin Argüello, Jean-Louis Weber, and Ioan Negrutiu

Most approaches to estimate ecological value use monetary valuation. Here, we propose a different framework accounting ecological value in biophysical terms. More specifically, we are implementing the ecosystem natural capital accounting framework as an operational adaptation and extension of the UN System of Economic and Environmental Accounting/Ecosystem Accounting. The proof-of-concept study was carried out at the Rhône river watershed scale (France). Four core accounts evaluate land use, water and river condition, bio-carbon content of various stocks of biomass and its uses, and the state of ecosystem infrastructure. Integration of the various indicators allows measuring ecosystems overall capability and their degradation. The 12-year results are based on spatial–temporal geographic information and local statistics. Increasing levels of intensity of use are registered over time, that is, the extraction of resources surpasses renewal. We find that agriculture and land artificialisation are the main drivers of natural capital degradation.

Directional phyllotactic bias in calatheas (Goeppertia, Marantaceae): A citizen science approach

Benjamin Durrington, Fiona Chong, Daniel H. Chitwood, Twitter Calathea Poll Participants and iNaturalist Citizen Scientists

Lateral organs arranged in spiral phyllotaxy are separated by the golden angle, ≈137.5°, leading to chirality: either clockwise or counter-clockwise. In some species, leaves are asymmetric such that they are smaller and curved towards the side ascending the phyllotactic spiral. As such, these asymmetries lead to mirroring of leaf shapes in plants of opposite phyllotactic handedness. Previous reports had suggested that the pin-stripe calathea (Goeppertia ornata) may be exclusively of one phyllotactic direction, counter-clockwise, but had limited sampling to a single population. Here, we use acitizen science approach leveraging a social media poll, internet image searches, in-person verification at nurseries in four countries and digitally-curated, research-grade observations to demonstrate that calatheas (Goeppertia spp.) around the world are biased towards counter-clockwise phyllotaxy. The possibility that this bias is genetic and its implications for models of phyllotaxy that assume handedness is stochastically specified in equal proportions is discussed.

As a citizen scientist, you can contribute to the progress of quantitative plant biology by participating in exciting research projects that allow you to collect and analyze data, and help researchers to understand the natural world on a larger scale. You can use your smartphone or computer to record observations, take photos, and contribute to data sets that are used to study everything from plant growth to climate change.

Get involved and help us shape the future of quantitative plant biology! Contact olivier.hamant@ens-lyon.fr for more information.