Aletta Bonn

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I am interested in ecosystem services and biodiversity research. I work in the fields of participatory conservation, global change and knowledge management and relish the challenges at the science-policy interface.

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Papers by Aletta Bonn

D2.3 EuropaBON Proposal for an EU Biodiversity Observation Coordination Centre (EBOCC)

Exploring the motivation and challenges for land-users engaged in sustainable grazing in Europe

Land use policy, Jun 1, 2024

Transformative Potential of Citizen Science (Keynote)

Exploring the motivation and challenges for land-users engaged in sustainable grazing in Europe

Grazing of both domestic and wild large herbivores can contribute to multiple ecosystem services.... more Grazing of both domestic and wild large herbivores can contribute to multiple ecosystem services. However, grazing systems strongly differ in the intensity of management and outcomes, and we define sustainable grazing as grazing which benefits multiple environmental ecosystem services. Previous studies have found that, in general, grazing systems with relatively low densities of animals, and with minimal and only targeted applications of deworming and other medicinal treatments, are most sustainable. However, for people engaged in such grazing management, a key question is what are their challenges and motivation. We conducted interviews with 74 land-users, who are engaged in sustainable grazing management, in eight case-study areas in Europe. Employing the capability, opportunity and motivation-behaviour model (COM-B), we identified key motivation factors driving sustainable grazing management and the challenges which these landusers face. We found that capability and opportunity linked to land abandonment and rural exodus impact upon land-users' management, especially in parts of South and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, challenges linked to the environment were particularly important in remote areas. In addition, we found economic aspects to be important in driving land-users' behaviour, especially fiscal measures of the Common Agricultural Policy. Moreover, our results indicate that engagement in sustainable grazing management is often intrinsically motivated by the interest in nature conservation, intergenerational continuity and cohesion in the rural community. Based on these results, using the Behaviour Change Wheel, we identify key interventions that could facilitate and encourage the capabilities and opportunities to conduct sustainable grazing management. These include incentivising extensification using subsidies, developing direct market possibilities and removing administrative hurdles for practises related to very extensive and semi-wild grazing.

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Scenarios of land degradation and restoration

Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, 2018

This chapter assesses scenarios of future land degradation and restoration in terms of change in:... more This chapter assesses scenarios of future land degradation and restoration in terms of change in: (i) soil properties; (ii) biodiversity; and (iii) ecosystem services as a result of human activities up to 2050. The ecosystem services considered are provisioning services, such as production of food, bioenergy, fibre and timber as well as regulating services, such as water and climate regulation through carbon storage and sequestration. The effects of land degradation and restoration on cultural services are less explored in scenarios. This chapter outlines the different types and roles of scenarios, assesses global and regional scenario outcomes and recommends future scenario developments. Impacts are described at the global and regional scale

Citizen Science, Health, and Environmental Justice

The Science of Citizen Science, 2021

This chapter considers the interface of citizen science, health, and environmental justice. We re... more This chapter considers the interface of citizen science, health, and environmental justice. We review citizen science research undertaken by civic educators, scientists, and communities that aims to broaden scientific knowledge and encourage democratic engagement and, more specifically, to address complex problems related to public health and the environment. We provide a review of the current state of existing citizen science projects and examine how citizen science, health, and environmental justice impact each other, both positively and negatively. Specific challenges that relate to these projects are discussed, especially those that are not obvious or applicable to more traditional citizen science projects.

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Social media records hold valuable information for conservation planning

Citizen science plays a crucial role in helping monitor biodiversity and inform conservation. Wit... more Citizen science plays a crucial role in helping monitor biodiversity and inform conservation. With the widespread use of smartphones, many people share biodiversity information on social media, but this information is still not widely used in conservation. Here, focussing on Bangladesh-a tropical mega-diverse and mega-populated country, we examine the potential importance of social media records in conservation decision-making. We show that adding Facebook data to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) data improved the accuracy of conservation planning assessments by identifying additional important conservation areas in the northwest, southeast and centre parts of Bangladesh, extending priority conservation areas by 2,000-5,000 km 2. Community efforts are needed to drive the implementation of the ambitious Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets, especially in mega-diverse tropical countries with a lack of reliable and up-to-date species distribution data. We highlight that conservation planning can be enhanced by including available data gathered from social media platforms.

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Park and Landscape Features Influence Urban Park Soundscapes

Social Science Research Network, 2021

The European citizen science landscape – a snapshot

UCL Press eBooks, Oct 15, 2018

The increased importance of open science in the European Commission research policy makes it impo... more The increased importance of open science in the European Commission research policy makes it important to understand and analyse the development of the field. The Open Science Monitor of the European Commission is being developed to meet this need (European Commission 2017). In 2016, the authors conducted the first large-scale explorative survey of the European citizen science landscape to help establish a baseline for the monitor. The survey focused on five major areas of interest, including the types of citizen science projects being undertaken, their perceived impact and added value, challenges, current funding schemes for citizen science, and project outcomes. Data was collected through an online survey in October and November 2016, predominantly with closed question formats to facilitate participant response and to cover as many projects as possible. This provided reliable and quantifiable basic information about different citizen science projects across Europe. The data is available upon request. This snapshot covers the main findings. Geographical scale of projects The survey attracted responses from 174 coordinators of citizen science projects. Most of the respondents are either from Central (40 per cent) or Western Europe (32 per cent), with only a few respondents from Southern

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Chapter One - A multitrophic perspective on biodiversity–ecosystem functioning research

Advances in Ecological Research, 2019

NFDI4BioDiversity - A Consortium for the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI)

Names and numbers of the DFG review boards (DFG Fachkollegien) that reflect the subject orientati... more Names and numbers of the DFG review boards (DFG Fachkollegien) that reflect the subject orientation of the proposed consortium 201 Basic Research in Biology and Medicine 202 Plant Sciences 203 Zoology 204 Microbiology, Virology and Immunology 207 Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine 2 Consortium 2.1 Research domains or research methods addressed by the consortium, objectives Biodiversity is more than just the diversity of living species. It includes genetic and phenotypic diversity of organisms, functional diversity, interactions and the diversity of populations and whole ecosystems. Mankind continues to dramatically impact the earth's ecosystem which is the foundation of human well-being [1]. A general understanding of the status, trends, and drivers of

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Notwendigkeit eines Brückenschlags zwischen Wissenschaft und Praxis im Naturschutz - Chancen und Herausforderungen

NATUR UND LANDSCHAFT, Jul 29, 2020

Fur ein erfolgreiches Handeln im Naturschutz sind ein enger Austausch und eine Ruckkopplung zwisc... more Fur ein erfolgreiches Handeln im Naturschutz sind ein enger Austausch und eine Ruckkopplung zwischen Wissenschaft sowie Akteurinnen und Akteuren der Praxis auf allen Ebenen notwendig. Viele Beispiele und Erfahrungen deuten jedoch darauf hin, dass dieser wechselseitige Austausch nicht optimal und bedarfsgerecht funktioniert. Aus Sicht der Autorinnen und Autoren besteht die Notwendigkeit fur einen neuen "Bruckenschlag" im Naturschutz, um die Ubertragung gesicherter Forschungsergebnisse in die Praxis und umgekehrt die Vermittlung der Bedarfe aus der Praxis hin zur Wissenschaft zu optimieren. Ausgehend von einer Analyse der aktuellen Herausforderungen und Ursachen in diesem Kontext werden im vorliegenden Beitrag - differenziert nach den wichtigsten Akteursgruppen - verschiedene Losungsansatze fur einen Bruckenschlag abgeleitet und zur Diskussion gestellt. Erganzend finden sich vier Praxisbeispiele. Fur eine Verbesserung der Situation muss die Naturschutzforschung vermehrt die Bedarfe der Praxis berucksichtigen und entsprechende Forschung muss auch von der "scientific community" anerkannt werden. Gleichzeitig soll die Diskussion dazu beitragen, dass die Praxis ihr Handeln starker evidenzbasiert ausrichtet und noch aktiver die Kooperation mit der Wissenschaft sucht.

Citizen science for assessing pesticide impacts in agricultural streams

Science of The Total Environment, 2023

Analysis of citizen science data accuracy for bio-indicator based pesticide monitoring. • Macroin... more Analysis of citizen science data accuracy for bio-indicator based pesticide monitoring. • Macroinvertebrate data were used to derive the biological indicator SPEAR pesticides. • Citizen science and professional data for SPEAR and hydromorphology agreed well. • Citizen science SPEAR values and measured pesticide concentrations correlated well. • Citizen science stream data is suitable to complement official monitoring programs.

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The Risk to Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services: A Framework for the Atlas of Ecosystem Services

Springer eBooks, 2019

Our framework (Fig. 1.1) depicts different components of a dynamic in which ecosystem services ar... more

Sustainable protected areas: Synergies between biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development

People and nature, Apr 30, 2022

Reconciling conservation and socioeconomic development goals is key to sustainability but remains... more Reconciling conservation and socioeconomic development goals is key to sustainability but remains a source of fierce debate. Protected areas (PAs) are believed to play an essential role in achieving these seemingly conflicting goals. Yet, there is limited evidence as to whether PAs are actually achieving the two goals simultaneously. Here, we investigate when and to what extent synergies or trade‐offs between biodiversity conservation and local socioeconomic development occur. To explore these relationships, we collected data across a wide range of socioeconomic settings through face‐to‐face survey with PA managers from 114 African and European PAs using structured questionnaire. We found synergies between biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development for 62% of the PAs, albeit with significant differences between African (55%) and European PAs (75%). Moreover, the sustainability of PAs in conserving biodiversity was strongly correlated with the empowerment of the PA management and the involvement of local communities in PA planning and decision‐making processes. Our results demonstrate that for PAs to promote synergies between biodiversity conservation and local socioeconomic development, and to enhance their long‐term sustainability, they should invest in the empowerment of their respective management and involvement of local communities in their planning and management activities. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Motivation and support services in citizen science insect monitoring: A cross-country study

Biological Conservation, Nov 1, 2021

Abstract The design and successful performance of citizen science-based monitoring require an und... more Abstract The design and successful performance of citizen science-based monitoring require an understanding of the motivation and the needs of participants. Herem we use a questionnaire to assess intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and investigate in links between project support service and motivations in 181 participants taking part in three insect-focused citizen science projects in Denmark, Germany and Israel. Across all three countries, main intrinsic motivation for participating in the projects were “to have fun” and to “do something (good) for nature”. Equally important across all countries were extrinsic motivations such as “contribute to science” and “contribute to nature conservation”. Interestingly, differences in the projects (country or program-type) were more strongly related to respondent's motivation than demographic variables such as age and gender. Linking project support services to participants' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations revealed that the intrinsic motivation of “feeling a part of the community” as well as the extrinsic motivation “learning” and the service to provide “training on insect identification” were positively related. Interestingly, the support service of “monetary incentives” was negatively related with the motivation to “conserve species generally” and “conserve insects specifically”. We conclude, that early identification of the citizen scientists' motivation and the assessment of how motivations may change over time are important to foster successful and sustainable citizen science monitoring programs. International networks of (potentially similar) biodiversity monitoring schemes should consider differences in cultural background and citizen scientist's requirements, and accordingly tailor the projects designs to activate, train, and support participants according to their needs.

Co‐production of nature's contributions to people: What evidence is out there?

People and nature, Jun 13, 2023

Nature's contributions to people (NCP) rarely originate from nature alone. Often, only by joi... more Nature's contributions to people (NCP) rarely originate from nature alone. Often, only by joining natural capital with forms of anthropogenic capital, NCP emerge benefitting people. Understanding how NCP are co‐produced by natural and anthropogenic capitals is needed to inform decision‐making on sustainable land‐use practices. Through a systematic review of the literature, we compile existing empirical evidence on NCP co‐production and how this evidence was arrived at. We identified 237 observations from 25 publications on anthropogenic capital indicators co‐producing NCP. The reviewed studies were conducted mainly in cropland and forest ecosystems and at the landscape level. Our results show that most evidence for co‐production exists for material NCP, with physical capital and/or human capital as main input. Interestingly, non‐material NCP relied mostly on human or social capital only, while material and regulating NCP involved multiple types of anthropogenic capital. Our findings provide guidance for future research on how to explicitly incorporate NCP co‐production to analytically assess the relationships between anthropogenic capitals and NCP provision. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Citizen science for assessing ecosystem services: Status, challenges and opportunities

Ecosystem services, Dec 1, 2017

Citizen science approaches provide opportunities to support ecosystem service assessments. To eva... more Citizen science approaches provide opportunities to support ecosystem service assessments. To evaluate the recent trends, challenges and opportunities of utilizing citizen science in ecosystem service studies we conducted a systematic literature and project review. We reviewed the range of ecosystem services and formats of participation in citizen science in 17 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 102 ongoing or finished citizen science projects, out of over 500 screened publications and over 1400 screened projects. We found that citizen science is predominantly applied in assessing regulating and cultural services. The assessments were often performed by using proxy indicators that only implicitly provide information on ecosystem services. Direct assessments of ecosystem services are still rare. Participation formats mostly comprise contributory citizen science projects that focus on volunteered data collection. However, there is potential to increase citizen involvement in comprehensive ecosystem service assessments, including the development of research questions, design, data analysis and dissemination of findings. Levels of involvement could be enhanced to strengthen strategic knowledge on the environment, scientific literacy and the empowerment of citizens in helping to inform and monitor policies and management efforts related to ecosystem services. We provide an outlook how to better operationalise citizen science approaches to assess ecosystem services.

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Citizen science and marine conservation: a global review

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Nov 2, 2020

One contribution of 17 to a theme issue 'Integrative research perspectives on marine conservation'.

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Mismatches in the ecosystem services-wellbeing nexus: a case study for Chilean Patagonia

Ecosystems and people, Jun 26, 2023

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