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Daykin GM, Aizen MA, Barrett LG, Bartlett LJ, Batáry P, Garibaldi LA, Güncan A, Gutam S, Maas B, Mitnala J, Montaño-Centellas F, Muoni T, Öckinger E, Okechalu O, Ostler R, Potts SG, Rose DC, Topp CFE, Usieta HO, Utoblo OG, Watson C, Zou Y, Sutherland WJ, Hood ASC. AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0285478. [PMID: 37310957 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2022] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Many publications lack sufficient background information (e.g. location) to be interpreted, replicated, or reused for synthesis. This impedes scientific progress and the application of science to practice. Reporting guidelines (e.g. checklists) improve reporting standards. They have been widely taken up in the medical sciences, but not in ecological and agricultural research. Here, we use a community-centred approach to develop a reporting checklist (AgroEcoList 1.0) through surveys and workshops with 23 experts and the wider agroecological community. To put AgroEcoList in context, we also assessed the agroecological community's perception of reporting standards in agroecology. A total of 345 researchers, reviewers, and editors, responded to our survey. Although only 32% of respondents had prior knowledge of reporting guidelines, 76% of those that had said guidelines improved reporting standards. Overall, respondents agreed on the need of AgroEcolist 1.0; only 24% of respondents had used reporting guidelines before, but 78% indicated they would use AgroEcoList 1.0. We updated AgroecoList 1.0 based on respondents' feedback and user-testing. AgroecoList 1.0 consists of 42 variables in seven groups: experimental/sampling set-up, study site, soil, livestock management, crop and grassland management, outputs, and finances. It is presented here, and is also available on github (https://github.com/AgroecoList/Agroecolist). AgroEcoList 1.0 can serve as a guide for authors, reviewers, and editors to improve reporting standards in agricultural ecology. Our community-centred approach is a replicable method that could be adapted to develop reporting checklists in other fields. Reporting guidelines such as AgroEcoList can improve reporting standards and therefore the application of research to practice, and we recommend that they are adopted more widely in agriculture and ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgia M Daykin
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Marcelo A Aizen
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medio Ambiente (INIBIOMA), Universidad Nacional del Comahue - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina
| | | | - Lewis J Bartlett
- Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases, Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Péter Batáry
- "Lendület" Landscape and Conservation Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Alkomány, Hungary
| | - Lucas A Garibaldi
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Viedma, Río Negro, Argentina
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural, Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina
| | - Ali Güncan
- Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ordu, Ordu, Turkey
| | - Sridhar Gutam
- ICAR-AICRP on Fruits, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
| | - Bea Maas
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Agroecology, University of Goettingen, Göettingen, Germany
| | - Jayalakshmi Mitnala
- Regional Agricultural Research Station, Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
| | - Flavia Montaño-Centellas
- Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America
| | - Tarirai Muoni
- CIMMYT Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe
- Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Erik Öckinger
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Ode Okechalu
- Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, University of Jos, Plateau, Nigeria
| | - Richard Ostler
- Computational and Analytical Sciences, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, United Kingdom
| | - Simon G Potts
- Centre for Agri-environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - David C Rose
- Centre for Agri-environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
- School of Water, Energy, and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield, United Kingdom
| | - Cairistiona F E Topp
- Agriculture, Horticulture and Engineering Sciences, Scotland's Rural College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Hope O Usieta
- Leventis Foundation Nigeria, F. C. T. Abuja, Nigeria
| | - Obaiya G Utoblo
- Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, University of Jos, Plateau, Nigeria
| | - Christine Watson
- Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
- Rural Land Use, Scotland's Rural College, Craibstone Estate, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
| | - Yi Zou
- Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, P. R. China
| | | | - Amelia S C Hood
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Centre for Agri-environmental Research, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
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