1. Ecological data are increasingly collected by networks of collaborators using replicated designs and methods, which can significantly improve the quality and quantity of data collected throughout the ecological niche and geographic range of a species. The coordinated generation and management of data is critical to producing coherent datasets (Standard Data Products) across multiple sites that can be used by different researchers, over extended time periods and for multiple purposes. 2. Here, we describe and use a Quality Assurance framework for the design, collection and production of reproducible Standard Data Products for population ecology. We identified six critical project elements of a Quality Assurance framework (QA1-6) to produce ecological Standard Data Products with high immediate and future value. 3. We applied the Quality Assurance framework to the Plantpopnet project as a case-study. Plantpopnet is a coordinated distributed system for demography and population macroecology which uses the model species Plantago lanceolata. We mapped Plantpopnet activities to the Quality Assurance Framework as: QA1) Measurable objectives: research project objectives with data requirements, QA2) Process control: governance policies, QA3) Project specific procedures: model organism selection and data collection protocol, QA4) Supporting production of high quality data: recruitment, retention and engagement of participants, QA5) Data management: data management plan and reproducible data cleaning workflow, QA6) Production and management of outputs: Standard Data Products and papers. The framework allows for flexibility and adaptation to changing circumstances. 4. Explicit use of Quality Assurance, project and data management tools together with standardised ecological methods enabled the design, collection, maintenance and sustainability of high-quality data products. We provide a Quality Assurance framework together with governance documents, code and data for a reproducible Standard Data Product. This framework can be applied to the goals of the Plantpopnet project as well as facilitate future research and applications of coordinated distributed ecology projects more generally.

Large bird species, such as cranes are involved in human-wildlife conflicts as they often forage in croplands. The Eurasian crane (Grus grus) is a large iconic bird species, protected across Europe, which, thanks to conservation programs and its ability to utilize croplands for foraging, shows a strongly increasing population trend. This exaggerates the already existing conflicts between crop farmers and cranes spilling over to natural habitats, where foraging by large flocks can lead to land degradation. To date, no studies have evaluated the effects of biopedturbation by cranes in grasslands, despite these habitats provide important feeding grounds for this large bird across its whole range. Here we evaluated the effect of biopedturbation by foraging Eurasian cranes on the vegetation of dry grasslands in Hungary. We used indicators of vegetation naturalness, forage quality and floral resource provision to evaluate the ecosystem state from multiple aspects. We sampled 100 quadrats in disturbed patches and 100 in intact grasslands in two seasons and two years (800 observations). We found that cranes created distinct habitat patches with different species composition compared to undisturbed areas. These early-successional patches that increased the plant diversity and floral resources but decreased the area of intact grasslands. Although crane-disturbed patches could provide forage for livestock early in the season, the forage quality of the vegetation became poor later in the year. Given the strong increase of the global crane population, monitoring the landscape-level extent of the disturbed areas, and developing a complex prevention and mitigation strategy would be important.