Insects are reportedly experiencing widespread declines, but we generally have sparse data on their abundance. Correcting this shortfall will take more effort than professional entomologists alone can manage. Volunteer nature enthusiasts can greatly help to monitor the abundance of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), iconic freshwater sentinels and one of the few nonpollinator insect groups appreciated by the public and amenable to citizen science. Although counting individual odonates is common in some locations, current data will not enable a global perspective on odonate abundance patterns and trends. Borrowing insight from butterfly monitoring efforts, we outline basic plans for a global volunteer network to count odonates, including organizational structure, advertising and recruiting, and data collection, submission, and synthesis. We hope our proposal serves as a catalyst for richer coordinated efforts to understand population trends of odonates and other insects in the Anthropocene.

中文翻译：

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走向全球义工丰度监测

据报道，昆虫的数量正在广泛减少，但是关于它们的数量，我们一般都很少有数据。纠正这一不足将比单独的专业昆虫学家需要付出更多的努力。自愿的自然爱好者可以极大地帮助监测蜻蜓和豆娘（Odonata），标志性的淡水哨兵以及为数不多的不受授粉昆虫群体之一的数量，这些昆虫群体受到了公众的赞赏，并受到公民科学的欢迎。尽管在某些位置对单个的卵酸盐进行计数很常见，但是当前数据无法全面了解卵酸盐的丰度模式和趋势。从蝴蝶监测工作中汲取的见识，我们概述了一个全球志愿者网络来计数卵子的基本计划，包括组织结构，广告和招聘以及数据收集，提交和综合。