Abstract
Using database and activity records from a participatory program for controlling and monitoring an invasive alien species, Bombus terrestris, we evaluated the roles of participants who continued the activity for more than 1 year (hereafter, "experienced participants") and the effects of several means of information transmission from researchers to public participants. The number of experienced participants steadily increased during 2006-2011. The proportion of B. terrestris (total of queens, workers, and males) captured by experienced participants was 85.5 ± 8.9% (mean ± standard deviation) during the years 2007-2011. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) revealed that the number of years of participants' experience significantly positively affected the number of spring queens that they captured. The present study suggests that experienced participants play important roles not only in effective collecting but also in recruiting new monitors, as 28 of 49 new participants (57.1%) conducted their monitoring together with experienced participants in 2011, when such data analysis was possible. The proportion of new participants for a given year who continued the activity in the subsequent year was significantly higher for participants who attended guidance courses or other types of meetings or events than for those who did not attend such training, suggesting the importance of face-to-face information transmission in acquiring experienced participants.
