Using expert-elicitation to deliver biodiversity monitoring priorities on a Mediterranean island

RESEARCH ARTICLE Using expert-elicitation to deliver biodiversity monitoring priorities on a Mediterranean island J. PeytonID1*, M. Hadjistylli2, I. TziortzisID3, E. Erotokritou4, M. Demetriou5, Y. Samuel5,6, V. Anastasi7,8, G. Fyttis5,9, L. HadjioannouID10,11, C. Ieronymidou8, N. Kassinis12, P. KleitouID13,14, D. Kletou13,15, A. Mandoulaki16, N. Michailidis17, A. Papatheodoulou9, G. Payiattas17, D. Sparrow18, R. Sparrow18, K. Turvey1, E. Tzirkalli19,20, A. I. Varnava16, O. L. Pescott1 1 UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, United Kingdom, 2 Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Lefkosia, Cyprus, 3 Water Development Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Lefkosia, Cyprus, 4 Department of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Lefkosia, Cyprus, 5 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, Lefkosia, Cyprus, 6 Oceanography Centre, University of Cyprus, Lefkosia, Cyprus, 7 Terra Cypria - The Cyprus Conservation Foundation, Lefkosia, Cyprus, 8 BirdLife Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus, 9 I.A.CO Environmental & Water Consultants Ltd., Lefkosia, Cyprus, 10 Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre, Lefkosia, Cyprus, 11 CMMI – Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute, Larnaca, Cyprus, 12 Game and Fauna Service, Ministry of Interior, Lefkosia, Cyprus, 13 Marine & Environmental Research (MER) Lab, Lemesos, Cyprus, 14 School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom, 15 Department of Maritime Transport and Commerce,

Frederick University, Lemesos, Cyprus, 16 Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science, Cyprus University of Technology, Lemesos, Cyprus, 17 Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Lefkosia, Cyprus, 18 Cyprus Dragonfly Study Group, Pafos, Cyprus, 19 School of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus, 20 Department of Biological Applications and Technology, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece * joyt@ceh.ac.uk Abstract Biodiversity monitoring plays an essential role in tracking changes in ecosystems, species distributions and abundances across the globe. Data collected through both structured and unstructured biodiversity recording can inform conservation measures designed to reduce, prevent, and reverse declines in valued biodiversity of many types. However, given that resources for biodiversity monitoring are limited, it is important that funding bodies prioritise investments relative to the requirements in any given region. We addressed this prioritisa- tion requirement for a biodiverse Mediterranean island (Cyprus) using a three-stage process of expert-elicitation. This resulted in a structured list of twenty biodiversity monitoring needs; specifically, a hierarchy of three groups of these needs was created using a consensus approach. The most highly prioritised biodiversity monitoring needs were those related to the development of robust survey methodologies, and those ensuring that sufficiently skilled

citizens are available to contribute. We discuss ways that the results of our expert-elicitation process could be used to support current and future biodiversity monitoring in Cyprus. PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256777 March 24, 2022 1 / 20 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Peyton J, Hadjistylli M, Tziortzis I, Erotokritou E, Demetriou M, Samuel Y, et al. (2022) Using expert-elicitation to deliver biodiversity monitoring priorities on a Mediterranean island. PLoS ONE 17(3): e0256777. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256777 Editor: Agnese Marchini, University of Pavia, ITALY Received: August 13, 2021 Accepted: February 24, 2022 Published: March 24, 2022 Copyright: © 2022 Peyton et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting information files. Funding: The authors are grateful to the UK Defra Darwin Initiative Plus for funding this study (reference DarwinPlus056 Assessment of current and future Invasive Alien Species in Cyprus and DPLUS088 Addressing drivers of ecological change in Lake Akrotiri SBA, Cyprus). This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering