Handling uncertainty in citizen science data: Towards an improved amateur-based large-scale classification

Citizen science projects have the potential to address hypotheses requiring extremely large datasets that cannot be collected with the financial and labour constraints of most scientific projects. Data collection by the general public could expand the scope of scientific enquiry if these data accurately capture the system under study. However, data collection inconsistencies by the untrained public may result in biased datasets that do not accurately represent the natural world. In this paper, we harness the availability of scientific and public datasets of the Lyme disease tick vector to identify and account for biases in citizen science tick collections. Estimates of tick abundance from the citizen science dataset correspond moderately with estimates from direct surveillance but exhibit consistent biases. These biases can be mitigated by including factors that may impact collector participation or effort in statistical models, which, in turn, result in more accurate estimates of tick population sizes. Accounting for collection biases within large-scale, public participation datasets could update species abundance maps and facilitate using the wealth of citizen science data to answer scientific questions at scales that are not feasible with traditional datasets.

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Winners and losers over 35 years of dragonfly and damselfly distributional change in Germany

10.1101/2020.08.03.234104 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

D.E Bowler ◽

D. Eichenberg ◽

K.J. Conze ◽

F. Suhling ◽

K. Baumann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Large Scale ◽

Positive Trend ◽

Science Data ◽

Running Water ◽

Distributional Change ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Occupancy Detection ◽

Declining Species

AbstractRecent studies suggest insect declines in parts of Europe; however, the generality of these trends across different taxa and regions remains unclear. Standardized data are not available to assess large-scale, long-term changes for most insect groups but opportunistic citizen science data is widespread for some taxa. We compiled over 1 million occurrence records of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) from different regional databases across Germany. We used occupancy-detection models to estimate annual distributional changes between 1980 and 2016 for each species. We related species attributes to changes in the species’ distributions and inferred possible drivers of change. Species showing increases were generally warm-adapted species and/or running water species while species showing decreases were cold-adapted species using standing water habitats such as bogs. We developed a novel approach using time-series clustering to identify groups of species with similar patterns of temporal change. Using this method, we defined five typical patterns of change for Odonata – each associated with a specific combination of species attributes. Overall, trends in Odonata provide mixed news – improved water quality, coupled with positive impacts of climate change, could explain the positive trend status of many species. At the same time, declining species point to conservation challenges associated with habitat loss and degradation. Our study demonstrates the great value of citizen science data for assessing large-scale distributional change and conservation decision-making.

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Latitudinal variation in arrival and breeding phenology of the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca using large‐scale citizen science data

Journal of Avian Biology ◽

10.1111/jav.02646 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 52 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Pedro G. Nicolau ◽

Malcolm D. Burgess ◽

Tiago A. Marques ◽

Stephen R. Baillie ◽

Nick J. Moran ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Large Scale ◽

Ficedula Hypoleuca ◽

Pied Flycatcher ◽

Latitudinal Variation ◽

Breeding Phenology ◽

Science Data

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Comparison of large‐scale citizen science data and long‐term study data for phenology modeling

Ecology ◽

10.1002/ecy.2568 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 100 (2) ◽

pp. e02568 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Shawn D. Taylor ◽

Joan M. Meiners ◽

Kristina Riemer ◽

Michael C. Orr ◽

Ethan P. White

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Large Scale ◽

Study Data ◽

Science Data ◽

Term Study ◽

Long Term Study

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Estimating conservation metrics from atlas data: the case of southern African endemic birds

Bird Conservation International ◽

10.1017/s0959270916000307 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. 323-336 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

ALAN T. K. LEE ◽

RES ALTWEGG ◽

PHOEBE BARNARD

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Large Scale ◽

Population Change ◽

Conservation Status ◽

Bird Species ◽

Science Data ◽

Atlas Data ◽

Endemic Birds ◽

Change Metrics ◽

Threatened Status

SummaryThe robust assessment of conservation status increasingly requires population metrics for species that may be little-researched, with no prospect of immediate improvement, but for which citizen science atlas data may exist. We explore the potential for bird atlas data to generate population metrics of use in red data assessment, using the endemic and near-endemic birds of southern Africa. This region, defined here as South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, is home to a large number of endemic bird species and an active atlas project. The Southern African Bird Atlas Projects (SABAP) 1 and 2 are large-scale citizen science data sets, consisting of hundreds of thousands of bird checklists and > 10 million bird occurrence records on a grid across the subcontinent. These data contain detailed information on species’ distributions and population change. For conservationists, metrics that guide decisions on the conservation status of a species for red listing can be obtained from SABAP, including range size, range change, population change, and range connectivity (fragmentation). We present a range of conservation metrics for these bird species, focusing on population change metrics together with an associated statistical confidence metric. Population change metrics correlate with change metrics calculated from dynamic occupancy modelling for a set of 191 common species. We identify four species with neither international nor local threatened status, yet for which bird atlas data suggest alarming declines, and two species with threatened status for which our metrics suggest could be reconsidered. A standardised approach to deciding the conservation status of a species is useful so that charismatic or flagship species do not receive disproportionate attention, although ultimately conservation status of any species must always be a consultative process.

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Integrating structured and unstructured citizen science data to improve wildlife population monitoring

10.1101/2021.03.03.431294 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Philipp H Boersch-Supan ◽

Robert A Robinson

Keyword(s):

Data Integration ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Large Scale ◽

Population Monitoring ◽

Analytical Framework ◽

Good Evidence ◽

Population Trends ◽

Data Sources ◽

Science Data ◽

Widespread Species

Accurate and robust population trend assessments are key to successful biodiversity conservation. Citizen science surveys have provided good evidence of biodiversity declines whilst engaging people with them. Citizen scientists are also collecting opportunistic biodiversity records at unprecedented scales, vastly outnumbering records gathered through structured surveys. Opportunistic records exhibit spatio-temporal biases and heterogeneity in observer effort and skill, but their quantity offers a rich source of information. Data integration, the combination of multiple information sources in a common analytical framework, can potentially improve inferences about populations compared to analysing either in isolation. We combine count data from a structured citizen science survey and detection-nondetection data from an opportunistic citizen science programme. Population trends were modelled using dynamic N-mixture models to integrate both data sources. We applied this approach to two different inferential challenges arising from sparse data: (i) the estimation of population trends for an area smaller than a structured survey stratum, and (ii) the estimation of national population trends for a rare but widespread species. In both cases, data integration yielded population trajectories similar to those estimated from structured survey data alone but had higher precision when the density of opportunistic records was high. In some cases this allowed inferences about population trends where indices derived from single data sources were too uncertain to assess change. However, there were differences in the trend magnitude between the integrated and the standard survey model. We show that data integration of large-scale structured and unstructured data is feasible and offers potential to improve national and regional wildlife trend estimates, although a need to independently validate trends remains. Smaller gains are achieved in areas where uptake of opportunistic recording is low. The integration of opportunistic records from volunteer-selected locations alone may therefore not adequately address monitoring gaps for management and policy applications. To achieve the latter, scheme organisers should consider providing incentives for achieving representative coverage of target areas in both structured and unstructured recording schemes.

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Measuring epistemic success of a biodiversity citizen science program: A citation study

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0258350 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (10) ◽

pp. e0258350

Author(s):

Baptiste Bedessem ◽

Romain Julliard ◽

Eleonora Montuschi

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Comparative Evaluation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Web Of Science ◽

Longitudinal Data Analysis ◽

Science Program ◽

Science Data ◽

Scientific Impact ◽

National Network ◽

Number Of Citations

This paper offers a comparative evaluation of the scientific impact of a citizen science program in ecology, ‘‘Vigie-Nature”, managed by the French National Museum of Natural History. Vigie-Nature consists of a national network of amateur observatories dedicated to a participative study of biodiversity in France that has been running for the last twenty years. We collected 123 articles published by Vigie-Nature in international peer-reviewed journals between 2007 and 2019, and computed the yearly amount of citations of these articles between 0–12 years post-publication. We then compared this body of citations with the number of yearly citations relative to the ensemble of the articles published in ecology and indexed in the ‘‘Web of Science” data-base. Using a longitudinal data analysis, we could observe that the yearly number of citations of the Vigie-Nature articles is significantly higher than that of the other publications in the same domain. Furthermore, this excess of citations tends to steadily grow over time: Vigie-Nature publications are about 1.5 times more cited 3 years after publication, and 3 times more cited 11 years post-publication. These results suggest that large-scale biodiversity citizen science projects are susceptible to reach a high epistemic impact, when managed in specific ways which need to be clarified through further investigations.

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Continental-scale citizen science data reveal no changes in acoustic responses of a widespread tree frog to an urbanisation gradient

Journal of Urban Ecology ◽

10.1093/jue/juaa002 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Brittany A Mitchell ◽

Corey T Callaghan ◽

Jodi J L Rowley

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Large Scale ◽

Acoustic Properties ◽

Tree Frog ◽

Remotely Sensed Data ◽

Science Data ◽

Natural Habitats ◽

Advertisement Calls ◽

Continental Scale ◽

Urbanisation Gradient

Abstract One of the major drivers of global biodiversity declines is habitat loss and modification, often associated with anthropogenic environments. To mitigate biodiversity declines, a comprehensive understanding of how species respond to novel anthropogenic environments is required. Compared to natural habitats, human-modified environments often have increased noise and light pollution, potentially affecting acoustically communicating species, such as frogs. These areas may force animals to modulate or alter their calls to communicate with potential mates, as they compete with anthropogenic noise. Using large-scale citizen science data, coupled with remotely sensed data, we examined how the advertisement calls of the Australian red tree frog (Litoria rubella) varied in response to a gradient consistent with anthropogenic disturbance. After measuring a suite of acoustic properties of L.rubella across its range, we discovered that their advertisement calls showed no response to a disturbance urbanisation gradient. The advertisement calls of the species were highly variable, both at continental and local scales. Our results indicate that acoustic communication in male L.rubella may not be impeded in human-modified habitats as (1) they are a loud species typically heard over background noise and multi-species choruses and (2) their calls are highly variable—potentially serving as a buffer to any acoustic disturbances. Overall, our results provide evidence that some frog species may be acoustically urban tolerant and provide a greater understanding of the responses frogs exhibit to human-mediated environmental change.

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The Use of Citizen Science to Achieve Multivariate Management Goals on Public Lands

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d13070293 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 293

Author(s):

Sara Souther ◽

Vincent Randall ◽

Nanebah Lyndon

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Land Management ◽

Ecological Integrity ◽

Public Land ◽

Suitable Habitat ◽

Science Data ◽

Public Land Management ◽

Federal Land ◽

Botanical Research ◽

Federal Land Management

Federal land management agencies in the US are tasked with maintaining the ecological integrity of over 2 million km2 of land for myriad public uses. Citizen science, operating at the nexus of science, education, and outreach, offers unique benefits to address socio-ecological questions and problems, and thus may offer novel opportunities to support the complex mission of public land managers. Here, we use a case study of an iNaturalist program, the Tribal Nations Botanical Research Collaborative (TNBRC), to examine the use of citizen science programs in public land management. The TNBRC collected 2030 observations of 34 plant species across the project area, while offering learning opportunities for participants. Using occurrence data, we examined observational trends through time and identified five species with 50 or fewer digital observations to investigate as species of possible conservation concern. We compared predictive outcomes of habitat suitability models built using citizen science data and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data. Models exhibited high agreement, identifying the same underlying predictors of species occurrence and, 95% of the time, identifying the same pixels as suitable habitat. Actions such as staff training on data use and interpretation could enhance integration of citizen science in Federal land management.

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Abundant Citizen Science Data Reveal That the Peacock Butterfly Aglais io Recently Became Bivoltine in Belgium

Insects ◽

10.3390/insects12080683 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 683

Author(s):

Marc Herremans ◽

Karin Gielen ◽

Jos Van Kerckhoven ◽

Pieter Vanormelingen ◽

Wim Veraghtert ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Citizen Science ◽

Western Europe ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Early Summer ◽

Science Data ◽

The Public ◽

Online Portal ◽

Spring Generation ◽

Reproductive Cycles ◽

New Generation

The peacock butterfly is abundant and widespread in Europe. It is generally believed to be univoltine (one generation per year): adults born in summer overwinter and reappear again in spring to reproduce. However, recent flight patterns in western Europe mostly show three peaks during the year: a first one in spring (overwintering butterflies), a second one in early summer (offspring of the spring generation), and a third one in autumn. It was thus far unclear whether this autumn flight peak was a second new generation or consisted of butterflies flying again in autumn after a summer rest (aestivation). The life cycle of one of Europe’s most common butterflies is therefore still surprisingly inadequately understood. We used hundreds of thousands of observations and thousands of pictures submitted by naturalists from the public to the online portal observation.orgin Belgium and analyzed relations between flight patterns, condition (wear), reproductive cycles, peak abundances, and phenology to clarify the current life history. We demonstrate that peacocks have shifted towards two new generations per year in recent decades. Mass citizen science data in online portals has become increasingly important in tracking the response of biodiversity to rapid environmental changes such as climate change.

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