Practice makes the expert: The importance of training volunteers in the generation of phenological data from photographs of biodiversity observation platforms

Supporting information S1 Fig. Frequency distributions of Fleiss’ K values of the three groups of raters, for the immature flower phenophase. Dark gray: Expert group, light gray: Trained volunteers, white: Untrained volunteers Data from Leonotis nepetifolia (left) and Nicotiana glauca (right). (TIF) S2 Fig. Frequency distributions of Fleiss’ K values of the three groups of raters for the mature flower phenophase. Dark gray: Expert group, light gray: Trained volunteers, white: Untrained volunteers Data from Leonotis nepetifolia (left) and Nicotiana glauca (right). (TIF) S3 Fig. Frequency distributions of Fleiss’ K values of the three groups of qualifiers for the dry fruit phenophase. Dark gray: Expert group, light gray: Trained volunteers, white: Untrained volunteers. Data from Leonotis nepetifolia (left) and Nicotiana glauca (right). (TIF) S4 Fig. Frequency distributions of Fleiss’ K values of the three groups of raters for the ini- tial growth phenophase. Dark gray: Expert group, light gray: Trained volunteers, white: Untrained volunteers. Data from Leonotis nepetifolia (left) and Nicotiana glauca (right). (TIF) S1 Appendix. Records rated by each rating group. The different spreadsheets show the reviewed observations of each species, with the classifications made by each rating group. (XLSX) S2 Appendix. Results of the generalized linear model to test the relationship between observations rated as Dk and rating group. Generalized linear models with a binomial distri- bution and logarithmic link function used to explore the relationship between the proportion

of observations rated as Dk (Don’t know) as the dependent variable, and the rating group as independent variables. (DOCX) Acknowledgments This article is one of the requirements of the Posgrado en Ciencias Biolo´gicas, Universidad Nacional Auto´noma de Me´xico (UNAM), for first author to obtain the degree of Doctor of Sci- ences. The authors appreciate the participation of all the volunteers who participated in this study, undergraduate students from the Universidad Auto´noma Metropolitana and the biolo- gist Juan de Jesu´s Caldero´n. We appreciate the statistical advice provided by Dr. Ernesto Vicente Vega Peña and the technical support of Leonardo Reyes and Sandino Guerrero-Eloisa. We appreciate the comments and critical review by A. Ludlow and two anonymous reviewers who significantly improved the manuscript. We thank the Programa en Ciencias Biolo´gicas, UNAM, and the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologı´a (CONACyT) for providing the necessary conditions to carry out this research. Author Contributions Conceptualization: Julieta Salome´-Dı´az, Patricia Koleff, Esther Quintero. Data curation: Julieta Salome´-Dı´az, Jordan Golubov, Omar Dı´az-Segura, Ma. Cristina Ramı´rez-Gutie´rrez, Sarah Sifuentes de la Torre. Formal analysis: Julieta Salome´-Dı´az, Jordan Golubov, Armando Jesu´s Martı´nez. PLOS ONE The training of volunteers as a promoter of phenological studies PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282750 March 7, 2023 13 / 17