Avian monitoring – comparing structured and unstructured citizen science

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey T. Callaghan ◽  
John M. Martin ◽  
Richard E. Major ◽  
Richard T. Kingsford
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Urban Greenspace ◽  
Shannon Diversity ◽  
Spatial Coverage ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Urban Greenspaces

Context Citizen science is increasingly used to collect biodiversity data to inform conservation management, but its validity within urban greenspaces remains largely unresolved. Aims To assess the validity of eBird data for generating biodiversity estimates within an urban greenspace. Methods We compared data from structured avian surveys with eBird data at an urban greenspace in Sydney during 2012–16, using species richness and Shannon diversity indices. We also compared community composition, using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and dissimilarities using non-parametric MANOVA. Key results Structured surveys had a lower overall species richness (80 versus 116) and Shannon diversity (3.64 versus 3.94) than eBird data, but we found no significant differences when using years as replicates. After standardising the richness and diversity indices by time spent surveying in a given year, structured surveys produced significantly higher biodiversity estimates. Further, when grouped into species occupying different broad habitats, there were no significant differences in waterbird or landbird species richness, or in Shannon diversity between data sources. Conclusions The most likely explanation for the larger magnitudes of the biodiversity indices from the eBird data is the increase in effort manifested in the number of observers, time spent surveying and spatial coverage. This resulted in increased detection of uncommon species, which in turn accounted for a significant difference (R2 = 0.21, P = 0.015) in overall community composition measured by the two methods. Implications Our results highlight the opportunities provided by eBird data as a useful tool for land managers for monitoring avian communities in urban areas.

scholarly journals Community composition and species richness of parasitoids infesting Yponomeuta species in the Netherlands

2004 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 255-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel F.R. Cleary
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Community Structure ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Community Similarity ◽  
Parasitoid Species ◽  
Temporal And Spatial Variation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Temporal And Spatial

Parasitoid assemblages infesting Yponomeuta species in the Netherlands were investigated. Parasitoid species richness and community composition were related to host species, habitat, temporal and spatial variation. Both community structure and species richness did not differ among habitats. There was no significant difference in species richness between years (1994 and 1995) but there was a significant difference in community composition. Community composition and species richness both differed among host species, although this latter result was solely due to the host species Y. evonymellus. There was no significant relationship between community similarity and distance. These results indicate that the parasitoids of the moth genus Yponomeuta in the Netherlands appear to form a spatially stable, but temporally variable community. Most of the variation in community structure was, however, related to the host species. The marked difference in parasitoid species richness and community composition of Y. evonymellus when compared to the other species warrants further study.

scholarly journals Sponge-Associated Amphipod Communities as Bioindicators for Pollution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ronja Hauke
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Community Structure ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Life Cycle Stage ◽  
Sponge Species ◽  
Pollution Level ◽  
Sponge Tissue ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Significant Difference

<p>Pollution negatively impacts organisms across all marine ecosystems. Coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to pollution due to their proximity to human settlements. Amphipods are commonly used as bioindicators to monitor pollution burdens, due to their high sensitivities and their ubiquity. Pollution can reduce amphipod abundance, species richness, evenness and diversity. Community structure, proportionality of adults to juveniles and sex ratios may also be affected. Sponges often harbour high densities of amphipods, offering food, refuge and nurseries to their symbionts. Sponge-associated amphipods differ in their level of specialization on their host. This study provides first insights into the usefulness of sponge-associated amphipod communities as bioindicators. For this, it hypothesized that amphipod densities, species diversity, community structure, sex ratio and age proportionality will differ according to pollution levels.  To test this, sponges were collected from three sites with varying degrees of pollution in Wellington Harbour. The sponges were weighed, and their volume was measured. They were dissected and their amphipods were identified to species level, counted, measured (length) and their sex and life cycle stage (adult or juvenile) were recorded. From this data, amphipod densities, species richness, evenness and Shannon-Wiener diversity indices were calculated and compared among pollution levels. Community structure was also compared between sites and sponge species. Pollution level significantly affected species richness, evenness, diversity and community structure. The highest values for species richness, evenness and diversity were found in sponges from the least polluted. The lowest levels of these factors were found in sponges from the most polluted site. Sponges from the intermediate site generally harboured moderate richness, evenness and diversity compared to the other sites. Community composition was significantly affected by pollution, although effect sizes differed between sponge species. Higher pollution levels seemed to favour dominance of species that are better adapted to living in sponges. Generalists seemed to thrive in low to intermediate pollution levels. The majority of sex ratios measured had a female bias, which appeared to increase with increasing pollution although the difference was not statistically significant. The proportion of adults also showed a non-significant increase with pollution level. There was no significant difference in amphipod abundance per litre of sponge tissue between pollution levels, possibly because pollution levels may have been too low to cause a reduction in amphipod density. These results show that sponge-associated amphipod communities are useful as bioindicators, as amphipod diversity, richness and evenness were significantly reduced by pollution and the sponge association allows for these community-scale comparisons to be made within an easily measurable framework. Species evenness in particular provided an accurate indication of different pollution levels.</p>

scholarly journals Ephemeroptera (Mayflies) Assemblages and Environmental Variation along Three Streams Located in the Dry-Hot Valleys of Baima Snow Mountain, Yunnan, Southwest China

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 775
Author(s):  
Muhammad Farooq ◽  
Xianfu Li ◽  
Lu Tan ◽  
Davide Fornacca ◽  
Yanpeng Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Environmental Variation ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Elevation Gradients ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Impact

Mountain freshwater ecosystems are threatened all over the world by a range of human-induced stresses, ensuing in a rapid loss of habitats and species diversity. Many macroinvertebrates are reactive to habitat disturbance, and mayflies (Ephemeroptera) are amongst the most sensitive groups. Despite they are susceptible to environmental deviation, knowledge concerning their species richness and diversity is still unknown in remote areas. The objectives of this study were to (1) investigate the mayfly species assemblage and community composition along different mountain streams and assess potential differences, and (2) identify the environmental variation and its influence on the structure of mayfly communities within such freshwater systems. We collected biological and environmental data from 35 sites situated along elevation gradients in the Baima Snow Mountain, northwest Yunnan, China. Multivariate analyses were performed on the environmental variables and the mayfly species composition, as well as on richness and diversity indices. We found that the community composition of mayflies was different across all three watercourses. Among the 18 Ephemeroptera taxa identified, Baetis sp. and Baetiella marginata were highly dominant, accounting for over 50% of the dissimilarity of each stream. In terms of species assemblages, almost all sites in the Yeri stream hosted good-quality habitats for several mayfly species, as reflected by the highest species richness. The Benzilan stream followed, whereas the Sharong stream showed relatively low mayfly assemblage. This variation was explained by the high environmental heterogeneity between the three watercourses. In particular, the RDA model revealed that among the different environmental factors analyzed, altitude, conductivity, total dissolved solids, water temperature, dissolved silicon, and pH explained most of the variation in species composition. Moreover, the altitude alone explained 17.74% of the variation, and in-depth analysis confirmed its significant effect on diversity indices. Further research should focus on evaluating the scale of threats to this important group of insects in the mountain freshwater ecosystem, particularly the impact of human-induced disturbances such as land use/landcover alterations.

scholarly journals Urbanization alters small rodent community composition but not abundance

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica N. Alvarez Guevara ◽  
Becky A. Ball
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Small Rodent ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Desert Ecosystems ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Genus Richness ◽  
Rural Sites

Desert ecosystems are one of the fastest urbanizing areas on the planet. This rapid shift has the potential to alter the abundances and species richness of herbivore and plant communities. Herbivores, for example, are expected to be more abundant within urban desert remnant parks located within cities due to anthropogenic activities that concentrate food resources and reduce native predator populations. Despite this assumption, previous research conducted around Phoenix, AZ, USA has shown that top-down herbivory led to equally reduced plant biomass in both urban and outlying locations. It is unclear if this insignificant difference in herbivory at urban and outlying sites is due to unaltered desert herbivore populations or altered activity levels that counteract abundance differences. Small rodent herbivore/granivore populations were surveyed at four sites inside and four sites outside of the core of Phoenix during fall 2014 and spring 2015 in order to determine whether abundances and richness differ significantly between urban and rural sites. In order to survey species composition and abundance at these sites, 100 Sherman traps and eight larger wire traps that are designed to attract and capture small vertebrates such as mice, rats, and squirrels were set at each site for two consecutive trap nights. Results suggest that the commonly assumed effect of urbanization on herbivore abundances does not apply to small rodent populations in a desert city, as overall small rodent abundances were statistically similar regardless of location. Though a significant difference was not found for species richness, a significant difference between small rodent genus richness at these sites was observed, with altered community composition. The compositional differences likely reflect the altered vegetative community and may impact ecological interactions at these sites.

The Greenspace Bird Calculator: a citizen-driven tool for monitoring avian biodiversity in urban greenspaces

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-476
Author(s):  
Corey T. Callaghan ◽  
John H. Wilshire ◽  
John M. Martin ◽  
Richard E. Major ◽  
Mitchell B. Lyons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Bird Diversity ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Urban Greenspaces ◽  
Avian Biodiversity ◽  
Web App ◽  
The Web

Urbanisation is altering local flora and fauna, but urban greenspaces can provide refugia for a variety of taxa. However, we often lack basic biodiversity information (e.g., species richness) for these urban greenspaces. Citizen science projects are continuously improving our understanding of ecology at broad temporal and spatial scales. But, many conservation-relevant decisions are idiosyncratic and made at small management scales (e.g., local government). Given a general bias of citizen science data towards areas with large human populations, citizen scientists are best placed to contribute to improving our understanding of the biodiversity within cities and urban greenspaces. We introduce the Greenspace Bird Calculator: a web-app aimed at enhancing our collective knowledge of bird diversity in urban greenspaces. Users of the web-app could be land managers seeking to understand the bird diversity in the greenspaces they manage. It is built in a reproducible workflow, allowing anyone to delineate a greenspace and submit it to the web-app administrator, receiving an output comprising the greenspace’s total bird diversity. The Greenspace Bird Calculator web-app provides an automated tool to utilise existing eBird citizen science data to calculate species richness for urban greenspaces globally. Critically, the GBC web-app statistically assesses available data that otherwise would be unlikely to be considered by decision-makers. This web-app is an example of the evolution of citizen science, whereby the data collected has been analysed to allow accessible interpretation and inclusion into urban greenspace management and planning.

An evaluation of Sea Search as a citizen science programme in Marine Protected Areas

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 116 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Koss ◽  
K. Miller ◽  
G. Wescott ◽  
A. Bellgrove ◽  
A. Boxshall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Rocky Shore ◽  
Rocky Reef ◽  
Training Requirements ◽  
Intertidal Rocky Shore ◽  
Science Programme ◽  
Significant Difference

Citizen science involves collaboration between multi-sector agencies and the public to address a natural resource management issue. The Sea Search citizen science programme involves community groups in monitoring and collecting subtidal rocky reef and intertidal rocky shore data in Victorian Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Australia. In this study we compared volunteer and scientifically collected data and the volunteer motivation for participation in the Sea Search programme. Intertidal rocky shore volunteer-collected data was found to be typically comparable to data collected by scientists for species richness and diversity measures. For subtidal monitoring there was also no significant difference for species richness recorded by scientists and volunteers. However, low statistical power suggest only large changes could be detected due to reduced data replication. Generally volunteers recorded lower species diversity for biological groups compared to scientists, albeit not significant. Species abundance measures for algae species were significantly different between volunteers and scientists. These results suggest difficulty in identification and abundance measurements by volunteers and the need for additional training requirements necessary for surveying algae assemblages. The subtidal monitoring results also highlight the difficulties of collecting data in exposed rocky reef habitats with weather conditions and volunteer diver availability constraining sampling effort. The prime motivation for volunteer participation in Sea Search was to assist with scientific research followed closely by wanting to work close to nature. This study revealed two important themes for volunteer engagement in Sea Search: 1) volunteer training and participation and, 2) usability of volunteer collected data for MPA managers. Volunteer-collected data through the Sea Search citizen science programme has the potential to provide useable data to assist in informed management practices of Victoria?s MPAs, but requires the support and commitment from all partners involved.

scholarly journals Sponge-Associated Amphipod Communities as Bioindicators for Pollution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Ronja Hauke
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Community Structure ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Life Cycle Stage ◽  
Sponge Species ◽  
Pollution Level ◽  
Sponge Tissue ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Significant Difference

<p>Pollution negatively impacts organisms across all marine ecosystems. Coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to pollution due to their proximity to human settlements. Amphipods are commonly used as bioindicators to monitor pollution burdens, due to their high sensitivities and their ubiquity. Pollution can reduce amphipod abundance, species richness, evenness and diversity. Community structure, proportionality of adults to juveniles and sex ratios may also be affected. Sponges often harbour high densities of amphipods, offering food, refuge and nurseries to their symbionts. Sponge-associated amphipods differ in their level of specialization on their host. This study provides first insights into the usefulness of sponge-associated amphipod communities as bioindicators. For this, it hypothesized that amphipod densities, species diversity, community structure, sex ratio and age proportionality will differ according to pollution levels.  To test this, sponges were collected from three sites with varying degrees of pollution in Wellington Harbour. The sponges were weighed, and their volume was measured. They were dissected and their amphipods were identified to species level, counted, measured (length) and their sex and life cycle stage (adult or juvenile) were recorded. From this data, amphipod densities, species richness, evenness and Shannon-Wiener diversity indices were calculated and compared among pollution levels. Community structure was also compared between sites and sponge species. Pollution level significantly affected species richness, evenness, diversity and community structure. The highest values for species richness, evenness and diversity were found in sponges from the least polluted. The lowest levels of these factors were found in sponges from the most polluted site. Sponges from the intermediate site generally harboured moderate richness, evenness and diversity compared to the other sites. Community composition was significantly affected by pollution, although effect sizes differed between sponge species. Higher pollution levels seemed to favour dominance of species that are better adapted to living in sponges. Generalists seemed to thrive in low to intermediate pollution levels. The majority of sex ratios measured had a female bias, which appeared to increase with increasing pollution although the difference was not statistically significant. The proportion of adults also showed a non-significant increase with pollution level. There was no significant difference in amphipod abundance per litre of sponge tissue between pollution levels, possibly because pollution levels may have been too low to cause a reduction in amphipod density. These results show that sponge-associated amphipod communities are useful as bioindicators, as amphipod diversity, richness and evenness were significantly reduced by pollution and the sponge association allows for these community-scale comparisons to be made within an easily measurable framework. Species evenness in particular provided an accurate indication of different pollution levels.</p>

scholarly journals Intercontinental comparison of ferns community assemblages in Malaysian and Nigerian tropical forests

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gbenga Festus Akomolafe ◽  
Rusly Binti Rosazlina ◽  
Zakaria Rahmad ◽  
Fatai Oloyede
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Tropical Forests ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Shannon Index ◽  
The Other ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Fern Species ◽  
Community Assemblages

Research on ferns ecology has gained attention in the last decade, yet there is paucity of information on the intercontinental comparison of ferns community across two continents. This study focused on comparing the ferns community assemblages in tropical forests of Malaysia and Nigeria, thereby assessing the patterns of the species richness and diversity across the two continents. The diversity and taxonomic compositions of ferns were assessed using 180 plots of size 10 m x 10 m in each country. The species richness and other diversity indices were determined using the combined forests data for each country and for the individual forests. The observed and rarefied–extrapolated fern species richness are significantly higher in Malaysian forests than Nigerian forests. Also, the other diversity indices (Simpson index, Margalef index, and Fisher’s alpha) are significantly higher in Malaysian forests except Shannon index which showed no significant difference between the two biogeographic regions. There is a very low similarity in the taxonomic composition of ferns between the two biogeographic areas, although the similarity in composition increased with increasing taxonomic levels (genus and family levels). Terrestrial and epiphytic ferns are more dominant than the other life forms in the two countries. Since the two countries receive varying degrees of environmental factors, we then hypothesize that these observed differences are due to climatic differences as well as historical and evolutionary processes.

scholarly journals Mineral Fertilizers Influence the Macrofauna of Soils Under Cocoa Trees in the South-Western Côte d’Ivoire

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Hypolith K. Kouadio ◽  
Alain Jacques A. Kotaix ◽  
Sydiki Bakayoko ◽  
Emmanuel K. Kassin ◽  
Aïdara Sékou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Functional Groups ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Mineral Fertilizers ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mineral Fertilization ◽  
Soil Macrofauna ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Soil Monolith

A study on mineral fertilization of soils was carried out for two years in three cocoa farms in the Nawa region of south-western C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of mineral fertilizers on soil macrofauna. The experimental design was Fisher block with four treatment with three repetitions. The treatments were control without fertilizer (T0), NPK 0-23-19 fertilizer (T1), NPK 0-15-15 + 17 CaO + 5 MgO + 1 B2O3 + 0.5 Zn (T2) and NPK 4-10-10 + 19 CaO + 4 MgO + 0.8 B2O3 + 0.3 Zn (T3). Twelve soil monoliths were made per treatment and per site, to count the macrofauna of the soil. Each soil monolith was subdivided into three strata 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm. The organisms were counted and classified into functional groups. The abundance, species richness and diversity indices of Shannon-weaver and Pi&eacute;lou were determined. The analysis of variance of the numbers of individuals in the macrofauna did not show a significant difference between the treatments on different strata of the monoliths during the second year of the trial. However, during the first year, all the treatments with fertilizer in the 0-10 cm stratum had a more abundant macrofauna than that of the control without fertilizer at Soubr&eacute; and Mayo. Multivariate analyses (AFC) showed links between functional groups of organisms and treatments. Myriapods and earthworms were linked to the T2 and T3 treatments, microarthropods to T1 and other organisms to T0. As for macrofauna diversity, the highest value of species richness (7 species), Shannon-weaver (2) and Pi&eacute;lou (1) indices were found in the fertilized treatments. Mineral fertilizers thus presented better conditions for the expansion of macrofauna. A reasoned application of mineral fertilizers creates a favourable living environment for certain soil organisms.

scholarly journals Diversity patterns and drivers of soil microbial communities in urban and suburban park soils of Shanghai, China

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11231
Author(s):  
Weiwei Zhang ◽  
Jigang Han ◽  
Haibing Wu ◽  
Qicheng Zhong ◽  
Wen Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Bacterial Community Composition ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Fungal Communities ◽  
Urban Park ◽  
Fungal Abundance ◽  
Significant Difference

Background The rapid expansion of urbanization leads to significant losses of soil ecological functions. Microbes directly participate in key soil processes and play crucial roles in maintaining soil functions. However, we still have a limited understanding of underlying mechanisms shaping microbial communities and the interactions among microbial taxa in park soils. Methods In this study, the community variations of bacteria and fungi in urban and suburban park soils were investigated in Shanghai, China. Real-time PCR and high-throughput Illumina sequencing were used to examine the microbial abundance and community composition, respectively. Results The results showed that soil molecular biomass and fungal abundance in urban park soils were significantly higher than those in suburban park soils, while no significant difference was observed in the bacterial abundance between urban and suburban park soils. The alpha diversity of soil microbes in urban and suburban park soils was similar to each other, except for Chao1 index of fungal communities. The results of similarity analysis (ANOSIM) revealed remarkable differences in the composition of bacterial and fungal communities between urban and suburban park soils. Specifically, park soils in urban areas were enriched with the phyla Methylomirabilota and Verrucomicrobiota, while the relative abundance of Gemmatimonadota was higher in suburban park soils. Moreover, the fungal class Eurotiomycetes was also enriched in urban park soils. Compared with suburban park soils, nodes and average paths of the bacterial and fungal networks were higher in urban park soils, but the number of module hubs and connectors of the bacterial networks and negative interactions among bacterial taxa were lower. Compared with suburban park soils, Acidobacteriota bacterium and Mortierellomycota fungus played more important roles in the ecological networks of urban park soils. Soil available zinc (Zn), available nitrogen (N), pH, and total potassium (K) significantly affected fungal community composition in park soils in Shanghai. Soil available Zn was also the most important factor affecting the bacterial community composition in this study. Conclusion There were significant differences in the soil molecular biomass, fungal abundance, and the community composition and co-occurrence relations of both soil bacterial and fungal communities between urban and suburban park soils. Soil available Zn played an important part in shaping the structures of both the bacterial and fungal communities in park soils in Shanghai.

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