The role of citizen science in a global assessment of extinction risk in palms (Arecaceae)

Citizen science networks and tools offer researchers innovative ways of gathering data which can be used for conservation purposes. By engaging multiple stakeholders (from non-specialist members of the public to professional researchers), harnessing the enthusiasm and goodwill of a global community of interested parties can enormously speed up the collection of data. Conservationists urgently need to accelerate the rate at which the extinction risk of species are assessed, ideally using International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. The palms are a group of plants with a particularly high risk of extinction, across the family, in the face of increasing habitat destruction and overexploitation of economically important taxa; as many as 83% of palm species in Madagascar are threatened with extinction. A global assessment of conservation status for the palm family was recognized as being urgently required nearly 20 years ago, but < 20% of palm species are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The citizen science tool iNaturalist may be one way in which we can promote communities working together to gather data for prioritization and conservation outcomes. The palm community could work together using this tool to achieve this urgent target for the palm family.