scholarly journals Modeling Avian Full Annual Cycle Distribution and Population Trends with Citizen Science Data

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Fink ◽  
Tom Auer ◽  
Alison Johnston ◽  
Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez ◽  
Wesley M. Hochachka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Spatiotemporal Resolution ◽  
Neotropical Migrant ◽  
Mobile Species ◽  
Animal Populations

AbstractInformation on species’ distributions and abundances, and how these change over time are central to the study of the ecology and conservation of animal populations. This information is challenging to obtain at relevant scales across range-wide extents for two main reasons. First, local and regional processes that affect populations vary throughout the year and across species’ ranges, requiring fine-scale, year-round information across broad — sometimes hemispheric — spatial extents. Second, while citizen science projects can collect data at these scales, using these data requires appropriate analysis to address known sources of bias. Here we present an analytical framework to address these challenges and generate year-round, range-wide distributional information using citizen science data. To illustrate this approach, we apply the framework to Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina), a long-distance Neotropical migrant and species of conservation concern, using data from the citizen science project eBird. We estimate occurrence and relative abundance with enough spatiotemporal resolution to support inference across a range of spatial scales throughout the annual cycle. Additionally, we generate intra-annual estimates of the range, intra-annual estimates of the associations between species and the local environment, and inter-annual trends in relative abundance. This is the first example of an analysis to capture intra- and inter-annual distributional dynamics across the entire range of a broadly distributed, highly mobile species.

Mismatched spatial scales can limit the utility of citizen science data for estimating wildlife‐habitat relationships

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javan M. Bauder ◽  
Alyson M. Cervantes ◽  
Alexandra C. Avrin ◽  
Laura S. Whipple ◽  
Morgan J. Farmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Science Data

scholarly journals Estimating the annual distribution of monarch butterflies in Canada over 16 years using citizen science data

FACETS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 238-253
Author(s):  
D. T. Tyler Flockhart ◽  
Maxim Larrivée ◽  
Kathleen L. Prudic ◽  
D. Ryan Norris
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Danaus Plexippus ◽  
The United States ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
Breeding Distribution

Monarch butterflies ( Danaus plexippus, Linnaeus, 1758) are comprised of two migratory populations separated by the Rocky Mountains and are renowned for their long-distance movements among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Both populations have declined over several decades across North America prompting all three countries to evaluate conservation efforts. Monitoring monarch distribution and abundance is a necessary aspect of ongoing management in Canada where they are a species at risk. We used presence-only data from two citizen science data sets to estimate the annual breeding distribution of monarch butterflies in Canada between 2000 and 2015. Monarch breeding distribution in Canada varied widely among years owing to natural variation, and when considering the upper 95% of the probability of occurrence, the annual mean breeding distribution in Canada was 484 943 km2 (min: 173 449 km2; max: 1 425 835 km2). The area of occurrence was approximately an order of magnitude larger in eastern Canada than in western Canada. Habitat restoration for monarch butterflies in Canada should prioritize productive habitats in southern Ontario where monarchs occur annually and, therefore, likely contribute most to the long-term viability of monarchs in eastern North America. Overall, our assessment sets the geographic context to develop successful management strategies for monarchs in Canada.

scholarly journals Tracking dragons: stable isotopes reveal the annual cycle of a long-distance migratory insect

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 20180741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Hallworth ◽  
Peter P. Marra ◽  
Kent P. McFarland ◽  
Sara Zahendra ◽  
Colin E. Studds
Keyword(s):  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Anax Junius ◽  
Migration Timing ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Insect Migration

Insect migration is globally ubiquitous and can involve continental-scale movements and complex life histories. Apart from select species of migratory moths and butterflies, little is known about the structure of the annual cycle for migratory insects. Using stable-hydrogen isotope analysis of 852 wing samples from eight countries spanning 140 years, combined with 21 years of citizen science data, we determined the full annual cycle of a large migratory dragonfly, the common green darner ( Anax junius ). We demonstrate that darners undertake complex long-distance annual migrations governed largely by temperature that involve at least three generations. In spring, the first generation makes a long-distance northbound movement (further than 650 km) from southern to northern range limits, lays eggs and dies. A second generation emerges and returns south (further than 680 km), where they lay eggs and die. Finally, a third resident generation emerges, reproducing locally and giving rise to the cohort that migrates north the following spring. Since migration timing and nymph development are highly dependent on temperature, continued climate change could lead to fundamental changes in the biology for this and similar migratory insects.

scholarly journals A continental measure of urbanness predicts avian response to local urbanization

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey Thomas Callaghan ◽  
Richard E. Major ◽  
William K. Cornwell ◽  
Ailstair G. B. Poore ◽  
John Wilshire ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Systematic Sampling ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Specific Variation ◽  
Species Specific

Understanding species-specific relationships with their environment is essential for ecology, biogeography, and conservation biology. Moreover, understanding how these relationships change with spatial scale is critical to mitigating potential threats to biodiversity. But methods which measure inter-specific variation in responses to environmental parameters, generalizable across multiple spatial scales, are lacking. We used broad-scale citizen science data, over a continental scale, integrated with remotely-sensed products, to produce a measure of response to urbanization for a given species at a continental-scale. We then compared these responses to modelled responses to urbanization at a local-scale, based on systematic sampling within a series of small cities. For 49 species which had sufficient data for modelling, we found a significant relationship (R2 = 0.51) between continental-scale urbanness and local-scale urbanness. Our results suggest that continental-scale responses are representative of small-scale responses to urbanization. We also found that relatively few citizen science observations (~250) are necessary for reliable estimates of continental-scale urban scores to predict local-scale response to urbanization. Our method of producing species-specific urban scores is robust and can be generalized to other taxa and other environmental variables with relative ease.

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.

scholarly journals Science Autonomy for Rover Subsurface Exploration of the Atacama Desert

AI Magazine ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wettergreen ◽  
Greydon Foil ◽  
Michael Furlong ◽  
David R. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Atacama Desert ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Automatic Data ◽  
Limited Bandwidth

As planetary rovers expand their capabilities, traveling longer distances, deploying complex tools, and collecting voluminous scientific data, the requirements for intelligent guidance and control also grow. This, coupled with limited bandwidth and latencies, motivates onboard autonomy that ensures the quality of the science data return. Increasing quality of the data involves better sample selection, data validation, and data reduction. Robotic studies in Mars-like desert terrain have advanced autonomy for long distance exploration and seeded technologies for planetary rover missions. In these field experiments the remote science team uses a novel control strategy that intersperses preplanned activities with autonomous decision making. The robot performs automatic data collection, interpretation, and response at multiple spatial scales. Specific capabilities include instrument calibration, visual targeting of selected features, an onboard database of collected data, and a long range path planner that guides the robot using analysis of current surface and prior satellite data. Field experiments in the Atacama Desert of Chile over the past decade demonstrate these capabilities and illustrate current challenges and future directions.

scholarly journals Modeling avian full annual cycle distribution and population trends with citizen science data

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Fink ◽  
Tom Auer ◽  
Alison Johnston ◽  
Viviana Ruiz‐Gutierrez ◽  
Wesley M. Hochachka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Population Trends ◽  
Science Data

scholarly journals Mapping High Spatiotemporal-Resolution Soil Moisture by Upscaling Sparse Ground-Based Observations Using a Bayesian Linear Regression Method for Comparison with Microwave Remotely Sensed Soil Moisture Products

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 228
Author(s):  
Jian Kang ◽  
Rui Jin ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
Yang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Microwave Remote Sensing ◽  
In Situ Measurements ◽  
Spatial Density ◽  
Linear Regression Method ◽  
Spatiotemporal Resolution ◽  
Pixel Scale

In recent decades, microwave remote sensing (RS) has been used to measure soil moisture (SM). Long-term and large-scale RS SM datasets derived from various microwave sensors have been used in environmental fields. Understanding the accuracies of RS SM products is essential for their proper applications. However, due to the mismatched spatial scale between the ground-based and RS observations, the truth at the pixel scale may not be accurately represented by ground-based observations, especially when the spatial density of in situ measurements is low. Because ground-based observations are often sparsely distributed, temporal upscaling was adopted to transform a few in situ measurements into SM values at a pixel scale of 1 km by introducing the temperature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) related to SM. The upscaled SM showed high consistency with in situ SM observations and could accurately capture rainfall events. The upscaled SM was considered as the reference data to evaluate RS SM products at different spatial scales. In regard to the validation results, in addition to the correlation coefficient (R) of the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) SM being slightly lower than that of the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) SM, SMAP had the best performance in terms of the root-mean-square error (RMSE), unbiased RMSE and bias, followed by the CCI. The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) products were in worse agreement with the upscaled SM and were inferior to the R value of the X-band SM of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2). In conclusion, in the study area, the SMAP and CCI SM are more reliable, although both products were underestimated by 0.060 cm3 cm−3 and 0.077 cm3 cm−3, respectively. If the biases are corrected, then the improved SMAP with an RMSE of 0.043 cm3 cm−3 and the CCI with an RMSE of 0.039 cm3 cm−3 will hopefully reach the application requirement for an accuracy with an RMSE less than 0.040 cm3 cm−3.

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

Diversity ◽  
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.

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

Insects ◽  
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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