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All the abstracts of the Final Conference of the project LIFE17 ESC/IT/001 ‘‘LIFE ESC 360’’ - 360 volunteers for monitoring forest biodiversity in the Italian Natura 2000 Network have been gathered in the present publication. LIFE ESC360 started in November 2018 and aimed at engaging young volunteers (aged 18—30) in the monitoring of protected species and habitats in Italian Natura 2000 sites managed by six Reparti Carabinieri Biodiversità (RCB) (project booklet is available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7400475). At the end of the project (June 2022), a Final Conference was held in the Nature Reserve Murge Orientali (RCB Martina Franca), one of the study areas investigated within LIFE ESC360. The conference disseminated the project outcomes and focused on the characteristics and impacts of environmental volunteering. Moreover, a specific session was dedicated to similar citizen science experiences, with the contributions by researchers of other projects. Finally, this networking event promoted the sharing of experiences and best practices and encouraged future initiatives., The project partnership included Arma dei Carabinieri - Comando Unità Forestali, Ambientali Agroalimentari - Raggruppamento Carabinieri Biodiversità (coordinator), Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria - Centro di ricerca Difesa e Certificazione di Firenze (CREA-DC) (associated beneficiary) and D.R.E.Am. Italia Soc. Coop (associated beneficiary). LIFE ESC360 as well as its Final Conference was co-financed by the LIFE ESC Programme of the European Union Project n. LIFE 17/ESC/IT/001 (https://www.life360esc.eu/it/)

The Layman’s Report of the project LIFE17 ESC/IT/001 ‘‘LIFE ESC 360’’ - 360 volunteers for monitoring forest biodiversity in the Italian Natura 2000 Network has the main objective of sharing with the public the project experience and describe the different actions carried out. The project stared in 2018, under the coordination of Arma dei Carabinieri - Comando Unità Forestali, Ambientali Agroalimentari - Raggruppamento Carabinieri Biodiversità. Associated beneficiaries of the project were: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria - Centro di ricerca Difesa e Certificazione di Firenze (CREA-DC) and D.R.E.Am. Italia Soc. Coop. LIFE ESC360 is a citizen science project aimed at engaging young volunteers (aged 18—30) in the monitoring of protected species and habitats in Italian Natura 2000 sites included in six Nature State Reserves managed by CUFA. After a period of training, the volunteers moved to their study area hosted in the Reserve managed by Carabinieri where they spent 2 months (42 working days). The field activities in charge of the volunteers included: the preparation of the surveys, survey sessions, collection and management of data, organisation of dissemination events. Each activity was guided and supported by the project staff. A total of 8 volunteering shifts were completed with 345 volunteers engaged and more than 40 targets monitored, including habitats, plants, and animals (both protected and invasive). At the end of the project (June 2022), a three-day final event was held, during which the former volunteers were celebrated, the project results were discussed at a scientific conference and the experiences and good practices were shared with other citizen science projects (book of abstracts at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7442508). This Layman’s Report describes the activities mentioned above by providing a comprehensive overview of what LIFE ESC360 was and the achieved results. The report has been developed with the contribution of all the project partners and it is available both in Italian and English languages., LIFE ESC360 was co-financed by the LIFE ESC Programme of the European Union. Project n. LIFE 17/ESC/IT/001 https://www.life360esc.eu/it/

The Odonata have well resolved taxonomy, conspicuous diurnal adults, contact with aquatic and terrestrial environments, and a broad range of environmental sensitivity across species, making them a valuable group for environmental appraisals. Odonate nymphs are commonly tested in aquatic ecotoxicological and bioaccumulation studies and often applied with other aquatic macroinvertebrate taxa in pollution-based biotic indices. Some of the more recent work aims to explain the evolutionary context of contamination risk and to increase mechanistic understanding of contaminant effects. Adults or exuviae are typically featured in habitat quality assessments with tools such as the Dragonfly Biotic Index, regional lotic quality indices, and coarse taxonomic metrics that will be especially useful in regions lacking descriptions and keys. Adults are further being used in landscape disturbance assessments where removal of non-breeding occurrences can reduce noise and strengthen signal. The future may move toward macro-ecological health assessments enabled by extensive citizen science and vulnerability trait data.

One aim of the MIPP Project (http://www.lifemipp.eu) was to develop non-invasive monitoring methods for selected saproxylic beetles. In this paper, a method is proposed for monitoring the larvae of Osmoderma eremita in their natural habitat (i.e. hollow trees), using a conservation detection dog (CDD). Wood mould sampling (WMS), the standard method to detect hermit beetles and other saproxylic insects inside tree hollows, is time-consuming and exposes the target species and the whole saproxylic communities to some risks. In contrast, CDDs pose no risk to the species living inside trees while, at the same time, offer a powerful tool for surveying the insects. In this paper, the methods applied to train the dog are presented, together with the results for accuracy (the overall proportion of correct indications), sensitivity (the proportion of correct positive indications) and specificity (the proportion of correct negative indications) obtained once the CDD had been fully trained. Results are presented for nitrocellulose filters with the odour of the target species, for larvae living inside hollow trees, for frass and for the remains of adults. A comparison of the efficiency between CDD and WMS showed that employing the dog was much less time-consuming than WMS. The literature on training CDDs for nature conservation tasks, with particular reference to cases involving Coleoptera, was also reviewed.