Towards more effective identification keys: A study of people identifying plant species characters

Accurate species identification is essential for ecological monitoring and biodiversity conservation. Interactive plant keys have been considerably improved in recent years, mainly by providing iconic symbols, illustrations, or images the users, as these are also commonly used people with relatively little knowledge. Only a few studies investigated how well morphological characteristics can be recognized correctly identified people, which ultimately basis of an key's success. This study consists systematic evaluation people's abilities identifying plant-specific characters. We conducted online survey where 484 participants were asked to identify 25 different character states on six showing from perspectives. found that 79% characters, botanical novices no previous experience performing slightly worse than experienced botanists. flower characters more often leaf resulted higher errors. Additionally, longer time participant needed answering, probability wrong answer. Understanding what influences users' improve development interactive keys, example, designing adapt experts. Furthermore, our act blueprint empirical identifications keys. Read free Plain Language Summary this article Journal blog.