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

contribute data to pan-European projects [53, 54]. Plants have been well-recorded at a broad scale [55], but, finer-scale information, such as might be used to generate “atlas”-style distribu- tion maps [27], and information on composition and change at the plant community scale, appear to be largely absent at the time of writing, although monitoring of Red Data book plants is in place [52]. Habitat mapping and conservation assessment takes place largely within the Natura 2000 network for areas in the Republic of Cyprus and the Sovereign Base Areas. The frequency of monitoring is strongly associated with reporting obligations and available funds. In addition, biodiversity data are occasionally collected as part of research projects and envi- ronmental impact studies. In order to understand the diversity of biodiversity monitoring activity currently in place across Cyprus, and in an attempt to see whether consensus could be reached on the most important monitoring needs across the island, stakeholders from across conservation and ecol- ogy reviewed and prioritised these, through both an online questionnaire and an in-person workshop, in August 2017. The workshop followed published methods [44, 56], adhering to the ten guiding principles later published by Roy, Peyton and Booy [41], to generate a priori- tised list of biodiversity monitoring needs. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that such an approach for prioritising biodiversity monitoring needs has been undertaken within a medi- terranean-climate zone. Methods

The study was designed to develop a list of prioritised biodiversity monitoring needs for Cyprus. Expert-elicitation methods used by Pocock and others [44], to develop a prioritised list of attributes for designing biodiversity monitoring programmes in the UK, were adapted for use in Cyprus (note that where Pocock and others [44] refer to attributes and needs, we use the term “biodiversity monitoring need” throughout). The expert-elicitation process for this workshop was carried out using a three-step process (Fig 1). Step 1: Developing the list of biodiversity monitoring needs in Cyprus A list of 25 biodiversity monitoring needs, taken from Pocock and others [44], was reviewed and revised by JP (author), Angeliki Martinou and Helen Roy (part of the project team for which the workshop was run) for relevance to Cyprus. The modified list was then shared with stakeholders at the Department of Environment, Government of the Republic of Cyprus for review. After consultation with MH (author) the list was supplemented with an additional monitoring need specific to Natura 2000 sites. Step 2: Assessing the importance of the biodiversity monitoring needs for Cyprus A questionnaire (see S1 File), written in both Greek and English, and hosted on the GDPR- compliant survey platform https://www.onlinesurveys.ac.uk, was distributed by email to 47 stakeholders with expertise in recording and/or monitoring biodiversity in Cyprus. These stakeholders either had strategic oversight of monitoring, extensive practical experience, and/

or participated in monitoring in a professional or voluntary capacity. Stakeholders included volunteer experts who ran biological recording schemes and coordinated others to gather spe- cies records, academics from universities and research institutes, and employees from private research and consultancy organisations. They also included stakeholders involved in data col- lection from government agencies and non-governmental conservation organizations. Those invited possessed expertise in a wide range of taxa and habitats across Cyprus (Fig 2 and Table 1). PLOS ONE Expert-elicitation to prioritise biodiversity monitoring PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256777 March 24, 2022 4 / 20