Ants are considered a useful model for biodiversity monitoring and several of their characteristics make them promising for citizen science (CS) projects. Involving a wide range of public figures into collecting valuable data on the effect of human impact on ant biodiversity, the School of Ants (SoA) project represents one of the very few attempts to explore the potential of these insects in CS. Through the collaboration with the “BioBlitz Lombardia” project, we tested the SoA protocol on 12 Northern Italy parks, ranging from urban green to subalpine protected sites. As a result, we obtained some of the very first quantitative data characterizing the ants of this region, recording 30 species and highlighting some interesting ecological patterns. These data revealed the ubiquitous presence of the recently taxonomically defined cryptic species Tetramorium immigrans, which appears to be probably introduced in the region. We also discuss advantages and criticisms encountered applying the SoA protocol, originally intended for schools, to new categories of volunteers, from BioBlitz participants to park operators, suggesting best practices based on our experience.

中文翻译：

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公众参与对大埔平原蚂蚁群落提供了首次见解，并揭示了隐性四翅目四翅目（膜翅目，昆虫纲）的普遍性

蚂蚁被认为是用于生物多样性监测的有用模型，其一些特征使其对于公民科学（CS）项目很有前途。蚂蚁学院（SoA）项目涉及广泛的公众人物收集有关人类对蚂蚁生物多样性影响的宝贵数据，是探索这些昆虫在CS中的潜力的极少数尝试之一。通过与“ BioBlitz Lombardia”项目的合作，我们在意大利北部的12个公园（从城市绿地到亚高山保护区）测试了SoA协议。结果，我们获得了一些最早的定量数据，这些数据表征了该地区的蚂蚁，记录了30种物种并突出了一些有趣的生态模式。这些数据揭示了最近在分类学上定义的神秘物种的普遍存在似乎已经在该地区引入的四合mor。我们还将讨论最初用于学校的SoA协议对新类别的志愿者（从BioBlitz参与者到公园运营商）的应用所遇到的优势和批评，并根据我们的经验提出最佳实践。