scholarly journals Integrating citizen‐science and planned‐survey data improves species distribution estimates

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viviane Zulian ◽  
David A. W. Miller ◽  
Gonçalo Ferraz
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Species Distribution

scholarly journals Integrating citizen science data with expert surveys increases accuracy and spatial extent of species distribution models

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
O.J. Robinson ◽  
V. Ruiz-Gutierrez ◽  
M.D. Reynolds ◽  
G.H. Golet ◽  
M. Strimas-Mackey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
Habitat Associations ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Wide Range

AbstractInformation on species’ habitat associations and distributions, across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, are a fundamental source of ecological knowledge. However, collecting biological information at relevant scales if often cost prohibitive, although it is essential for framing the broader context of more focused research and conservation efforts. Citizen-science data has been signaled as an increasingly important source of biological information needed to fill in data gaps needed to make more comprehensive and robust inferences on species distributions. However, there are perceived trade-offs of combining highly structured, scientific survey data with largely unstructured, citizen-science data. As a result, the focus of most methodological advances to combine these sources of information has been on treating these sources as independent. The degree to which each source of information is allowed to directly inform a common underlying process (e.g. species distribution) depends on the perceived quality of the data. In this paper, we explore these trade-offs by applying a simplified approach of filtering citizen-science data to resemble structured survey data, and analyze both sources of data under a common framework. To accomplish this, we explored ways of integrating high-resolution survey data on shorebirds in the northern Central Valley of California with observations in eBird for the entire region that were filtered to improve their quality. The integration of survey data with the filtered citizen-science data in eBird resulted in improved inference and predictive ability, and increased the extent and accuracy of inferences on shorebirds for the Central Valley. The structured surveys were found to improve the overall accuracy of ecological inference based only on citizen-science data, by increasing the representation of data collected from high quality habitats for shorebirds (e.g. rice fields). The practical approach we have shown for data integration can be also be used to improve the efficiency of designing biological surveys in the context of larger, citizen-science monitoring efforts, ultimately reducing the financial and time expenditures typically required of monitoring programs and focused research. The simple processing and filtering method we present can be used to integrate other types of data (e.g. camera traps) with more localized efforts (e.g. research projects), ultimately improving our ecological knowledge on the distribution and habitat associations of species of conservation concern worldwide.

scholarly journals The impact of data quality filtering of opportunistic citizen science data on species distribution model performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 444 ◽  
pp. 109453
Author(s):  
Camille Van Eupen ◽  
Dirk Maes ◽  
Marc Herremans ◽  
Kristijn R.R. Swinnen ◽  
Ben Somers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Quality ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Species Distribution Model ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Distribution Model ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Quality Filtering ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Promoting Ocean Literacy in Elementary School Students Through Investigation Activities and Citizen Science

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Boaventura ◽  
Ana Teresa Neves ◽  
Jaime Santos ◽  
Paula Colares Pereira ◽  
Cristina Luís ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Elementary School ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Rocky Shore ◽  
School Students ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Ocean Literacy

To enable the process of energy transition towards carbon neutrality, it is important to educate the community on the need for social, economic, environmental and institutional transformation, and to educate and inform citizens to participate proactively in this change. This study evaluated the effectiveness of participation by elementary school students in educational activities and citizen science actions in enhancing their scientific knowledge and skills related to Ocean Literacy in the context of climate change. The activities were directed to children (aged 9–11) and involved pre-service teachers, in-service teachers and researchers, in formal and non-formal contexts. A total of 329 elementary school students participated in interdisciplinary science activities, focusing on the cause & effect of climate change in the ocean. They learned to identify rocky shore marine species used to monitor climate change and acquired ICT skills by inserting species observations in a biodiversity mapping platform. Finally, students worked collaboratively to communicate to the community what they have learned through an exhibition at the Museum João de Deus. To assess the impact of the activities on acquisition of scientific knowledge and skills by the students, a mixed methodology was applied using pre and post-tests, analysis of the data inserted by students in the platform, and content analysis of the students’ work for the museum exhibition. The results of pre and post-tests revealed a significant increase in knowledge of the effects of climate change on the rocky shore species distribution, as well as of the importance of monitoring these species distribution. The data from the online biodiversity platform showed that 42% of the species identifications made by the students were correct. The ability of the students to communicate their learning to the wider community was evaluated by the scientific content, structure, presentation and creativity and of posters, models, videos and games produced. Most of students focused their communications and creations on the greenhouse effect, cause & effect of climate change in the ocean and biodiversity. This study reinforces the importance of addressing Ocean Literacy and climate change through formal and non-formal educational activities with an investigative nature.

Using aerial surveys and citizen science to create species distribution models for an imperiled grouse

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 967-986
Author(s):  
Ashley M. Tanner ◽  
Evan P. Tanner ◽  
Monica Papeş ◽  
Samuel D. Fuhlendorf ◽  
R. Dwayne Elmore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Species Distribution Models ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Aerial Surveys

scholarly journals Dispatches from the neighborhood watch: Using citizen science and field survey data to document color morph frequency in space and time

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 1526-1538
Author(s):  
Richard M. Lehtinen ◽  
Brian M. Carlson ◽  
Alyssa R. Hamm ◽  
Alexis G. Riley ◽  
Maria M. Mullin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Color Morph ◽  
Neighborhood Watch ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Morph Frequency

scholarly journals Trends and gaps in the use of citizen science derived data as input for species distribution models: A quantitative review

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0234587
Author(s):  
Mariano J. Feldman ◽  
Louis Imbeau ◽  
Philippe Marchand ◽  
Marc J. Mazerolle ◽  
Marcel Darveau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
Species Distribution Models ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Innovative Technology ◽  
Data Types ◽  
Species Occurrence ◽  
Distribution Models ◽  
Digital Platforms

Citizen science (CS) currently refers to the participation of non-scientist volunteers in any discipline of conventional scientific research. Over the last two decades, nature-based CS has flourished due to innovative technology, novel devices, and widespread digital platforms used to collect and classify species occurrence data. For scientists, CS offers a low-cost approach of collecting species occurrence information at large spatial scales that otherwise would be prohibitively expensive. We examined the trends and gaps linked to the use of CS as a source of data for species distribution models (SDMs), in order to propose guidelines and highlight solutions. We conducted a quantitative literature review of 207 peer-reviewed articles to measure how the representation of different taxa, regions, and data types have changed in SDM publications since the 2010s. Our review shows that the number of papers using CS for SDMs has increased at approximately double the rate of the overall number of SDM papers. However, disparities in taxonomic and geographic coverage remain in studies using CS. Western Europe and North America were the regions with the most coverage (73%). Papers on birds (49%) and mammals (19.3%) outnumbered other taxa. Among invertebrates, flying insects including Lepidoptera, Odonata and Hymenoptera received the most attention. Discrepancies between research interest and availability of data were as especially important for amphibians, reptiles and fishes. Compared to studies on animal taxa, papers on plants using CS data remain rare. Although the aims and scope of papers are diverse, species conservation remained the central theme of SDM using CS data. We present examples of the use of CS and highlight recommendations to motivate further research, such as combining multiple data sources and promoting local and traditional knowledge. We hope our findings will strengthen citizen-researchers partnerships to better inform SDMs, especially for less-studied taxa and regions. Researchers stand to benefit from the large quantity of data available from CS sources to improve global predictions of species distributions.

scholarly journals New records of Tachybaptus dominicus (Linnaeus, 1766) (Aves, Podicipedidae) south of its currently known distribution in Argentina

Check List ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-424
Author(s):  
Santiago Castillo ◽  
Santiago Martín Costas ◽  
Martín Toledo ◽  
Adrián Giaquinta
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Species Distribution ◽  
New Records ◽  
The South ◽  
Distributional Limit

We report on 4 records of the Least Grebe, Tachybaptus dominicus (Linnaeus, 1766), to the south of its theoretical distributional limit in Córdoba Province, Argentina. In recent years, these records and others uploaded to citizen science platforms suggest that this species’ distribution extends south of its currently known range. 

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