The Cyprus Herp Atlas: An initiative for systematic recording of amphibian and reptile occurrences in Cyprus

Even though the reptiles and amphibians of Cyprus are of scientific and conservation importance and although several books, guides and scientific reports have been published the past 30 years, there is a clear absence of a systematic recording and archiving scheme of all available data in a structural database. Towards this end, the Cyprus Herp (= reptiles and amphibians) Atlas has been developed. The Atlas constitutes the first effort to collect all existing locality data of the herpetofauna species of the island (i.e. scientific reports, books, journals, grey literature) in a single database and simultaneously promote a citizen-science approach in order to collect and constantly update the database with new records. The website of the Atlas contains basic educational and informational material for the public, along with the visibility tool of the database in the form of occurrence maps, in 5 km x 5 km grid cells, openly available for download in kmz format. The Atlas is a powerful tool for citizens, scientists and decision-makers, aiming to contribute to the study and conservation of the reptile and amphibian species of Cyprus. In this short communication, we give details on the structure of the Atlas.

Digitizing Wildlife: The Case of a Reptile 3-D Virtual Museum

In this article, we design and develop a 3-D virtual museum with holistic metadata documentation and a variety of reptile behaviors and movements. First, we reconstruct the reptile's mesh in high resolution, and then create its rigged/skinned digital counterpart. We acquire the movement of two subjects using an optical motion capture system, accelerometers, and RGB-vision cameras; these movements are then segmented and annotated to various behaviors. The 3-D environment, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) functionalities of our online repository serve as tools for interactively educating the public on animals, which are difficult to observe and study in their natural environment. It also reveals important information regarding animals' intangible characteristics (e.g., behavior), that is critical for the preservation of wildlife. Our museum is publicly accessible, enabling motion data reusability, and facilitating learning applications through gamification. We conducted a user study that confirms the naturalness and realism of our reptiles, along with the ease of use and usefulness of our museum.

Environmental citizen science in Greece: perceptions and attitudes of key actors

Citizen Science (CS), the voluntary participation of lay people in scientific work, is well-established in the fields of nature conservation and biodiversity monitoring due to its potential to create large environmental datasets. This study aims to understand the familiarity, perceptions and attitudes towards CS of the key environmental actors in Greece. The target group consisted of employees and/or representatives of Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (ENGOs), scientists and civil servants related to nature conservation. Quantitative data were collected using an electronic questionnaire, 178 fully completed questionnaires and subsequently eight semi-structured interviews with experts were conducted. Descriptive statistics were used to measure the familiarity and attitude of the actors, as well as the obstacles to the development of CS in Greece. We used Cronbach’s test to measure the reliability of the used Likert scale and Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test to identify significant differences amongst the three groups of actors. Qualitative data were analysed following a Thematic Analysis methodology. The results show that ca. 40% of the key actors are familiar with the terms and CS practice while over 65% with the concept. The general attitude of the actors towards CS is positive although concerns about data quality collected were highlighted. “Lack of cooperation culture”, “Ignorance of the existence of the phenomenon” and “Lack of know-how” emerged as the most important obstacles to CS development in Greece. Although CS is present in Greece, it is not visible enough. The main reasons are that relevant projects employ different terms, are under-represented in the formal literature and include limited, if at all, project dissemination. There are significant differences regarding familiarity and the attitude towards CS between actors, but also similarities concerning the main obstacles. The study sets a baseline which can be employed to improve and further expand Environmental Citizen Science (ECS) in Greece.

CropPol: a dynamic, open and global database on crop pollination

Seventy five percent of the world's food crops benefit from insect pollination. Hence, there has been increased interest in how global change drivers impact this critical ecosystem service. Because standardized data on crop pollination are rarely available, we are limited in our capacity to understand the variation in pollination benefits to crop yield, as well as to anticipate changes in this service, develop predictions, and inform management actions. Here, we present CropPol, a dynamic, open and global database on crop pollination. It contains measurements recorded from 202 crop studies, covering 3,394 field observations, 2,552 yield measurements (i.e. berry weight, number of fruits and kg per hectare, among others), and 47,752 insect records from 48 commercial crops distributed around the globe. CropPol comprises 32 of the 87 leading global crops and commodities that are pollinator dependent. Malus domestica is the most represented crop (32 studies), followed by Brassica napus (22 studies), Vaccinium corymbosum (13 studies), and Citrullus lanatus (12 studies). The most abundant pollinator guilds recorded are honey bees (34.22% counts), bumblebees (19.19%), flies other than Syrphidae and Bombyliidae (13.18%), other wild bees (13.13%), beetles (10.97%), Syrphidae (4.87%), and Bombyliidae (0.05%). Locations comprise 34 countries distributed among Europe (76 studies), Northern America (60), Latin America and the Caribbean (29), Asia (20), Oceania (10), and Africa (7). Sampling spans three decades and is concentrated on 2001-05 (21 studies), 2006-10 (40), 2011-15 (88), and 2016-20 (50). This is the most comprehensive open global data set on measurements of crop flower visitors, crop pollinators and pollination to date, and we encourage researchers to add more datasets to this database in the future. This data set is released for non-commercial use only. Credits should be given to this paper (i.e., proper citation), and the products generated with this database should be shared under the same license terms (CC BY-NC-SA). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Temporary Salt Lakes: Ecosystem Services Shift in a Ramsar Site Over a 50-Year Period

Changes in land use/land cover (LULC) are the key factors driving biodiversity and ecosystem services decline globally. This study examines spatiotemporal LULC changes in a Ramsar coastal temporary wetland (Larnaca Salt Lake) on the island of Cyprus between 1963 and 2015. LULC changes in the area are related to variations in the provision of ecosystem services (ES) namely food provision, climate regulation, avifauna support and landscape aesthetics. LULC mapping was performed based on the interpretation of aerial photos taken in 1963, while 2015 mapping was based on CORINE classification validated by satellite image analysis and fieldwork. We used the following indicators for the ES examined: (1) crops’ yield for the estimation of food supply, (2) carbon storage potential for climate regulation, (3) land cover potential to support avifauna richness and (4) naturalness as a proxy for landscape aesthetics. Quantifications were based on a mixed-methods approach with the use of statistical data, expert opinion and bibliography. Estimates for every service were assigned to CORINE land use classes (CLC) present in the area. Landscape structure was measured using a suite of commonly employed landscape metrics. The results showed that between 1963 and 2015 there has been a significant reduction in food provisioning service by 75%, a 37% reduction in carbon storage capacity, an 11% reduction in the capacity to support avifauna, and a 13% reduction in landscape aesthetics. Increased soil surface sealing, mainly with the construction of the international airport, which resulted in the conversion of natural or semi-natural to artificial surfaces, has been the main reason for the decrease in ES supply over the last fifty years in the study area. The character of the area in terms of land use types richness and diversity remains fairly stable but the dominant land use types have experienced fragmentation. The study sets the basis for a monitoring scheme to evaluate the state of the temporary wetlands with emphasis placed on spatial processes as a link to ES provision.

Native plants for the remediation of abandoned sulphide mines in Cyprus: A preliminary assessment

Mining in Cyprus resulted in a significant number of abandoned sulphide mines without any rehabilitation measures. The present study aims to describe and compare the environmental parameters in three such mines with respect to water chemistry, waste dumps geochemistry, slope-topography and plant growth. The mines under study are that of Kokkinopezoula, North and South Mathiatis located at the northeast of the Troodos massif. A synopsis of the previous studies conducted for the above-mentioned mines is presented, which includes water and soil samples analyses. Although, in these areas environmental degradation is reported, there are some plants which grow naturally. Therefore, a preliminary attempt to report these plants is conducted, while remediation options presented in the literature including technosols, revegetation, phytoremediation and phytostabilization are proposed. Potential use of native plants such as Phragmites australis, Tamarix smyrnensis, Poaceae, Pinus brutia and Schoenus nigricans Poaceace could be applied for phytoremediation of the sulphide mines in Cyprus. These plants seem to have great strength at low pH values and high metal content in contaminated soils and water. The three mines under study are also compared with three other old mines located in the broader area of Cyprus; that of Xeros, Limni and Skouriotissa, which operated under similar climatic conditions. By improving abandoned mines environment with technosols, the action of native plants will be enhanced and thus work towards a successful phytoremediation treatment, resulting in the minimization of future pollutants generated by the solid waste dumps.