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Gallagher R, Roger E, Packer J, Slatyer C, Rowley J, Cornwell W, Ens E, Legge S, Simpfendorfer C, Stephens R, Mesaglio T. Incorporating citizen science into IUCN Red List assessments. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2024:e14329. [PMID: 39190609 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2024] [Revised: 05/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/16/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024]
Abstract
Many citizen scientists are highly motivated to help address the current extinction crisis. Their work is making valuable contributions to protecting species by raising awareness, identifying species occurrences, assessing population trends, and informing direct management actions, such as captive breeding. However, clear guidance is lacking about how to use existing citizen science data sets and how to design effective citizen science programs that directly inform extinction risk assessments and resulting conservation actions based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. This may be because of a mismatch between what citizen science can deliver to address extinction risk and the reality of what is needed to inform threatened species listing based on IUCN criteria. To overcome this problem, we examined each IUCN Red List criterion (A-E) relative to the five major types of citizen science outputs relevant to IUCN assessments (occurrence data, presence-absence observations, structured surveys, physical samples, and narratives) to recommend which outputs are most suited to use when applying the IUCN extinction risk assessment process. We explored real-world examples of citizen science projects on amphibians and fungi that have delivered valuable data and knowledge for IUCN assessments. We found that although occurrence data are routinely used in the assessment process, simply adding more observations of occurrence from citizen science information may not be as valuable as inclusion of more nuanced data types, such as presence-absence data or information on threats from structured surveys. We then explored the characteristics of citizen science projects that have already delivered valuable data to support assessments. These projects were led by recognized experts who champion and validate citizen science data, thereby giving greater confidence in its accuracy. We urge increased recognition of the value of citizen science data within the assessment process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael Gallagher
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Erin Roger
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Atlas of Living Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Jasmin Packer
- Environment Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Cameron Slatyer
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Atlas of Living Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Jodi Rowley
- Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Will Cornwell
- Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Emilie Ens
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Sarah Legge
- Research Institute of Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia
- Fenner School Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Acton, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Colin Simpfendorfer
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
| | - Ruby Stephens
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Thomas Mesaglio
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Atlas of Living Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
- Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Li M, Masri S, Chiu CH, Sun Y, Wu J. Mapping wild vascular plant species diversity in urban areas in California using crowdsourcing data by regression kriging: Examining socioeconomic disparities. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 905:166995. [PMID: 37717761 PMCID: PMC10947671 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 09/09/2023] [Accepted: 09/09/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023]
Abstract
Biodiversity is crucial for human health, but previous methods of measuring biodiversity require intensive resources and have other limitations. Crowdsourced datasets from citizen scientists offer a cost-effective solution for characterizing biodiversity on a large spatial scale. This study has two aims: 1) to generate fine-resolution plant species diversity maps in California urban areas using crowdsourced data and extrapolation methods; and 2) to examine their associations with sociodemographic factors and identify subpopulations with low biodiversity exposure. We used iNaturalist observations from 2019 to 2022 to calculate species diversity metrics by exploring the sampling completeness in a 5 × 5-km2 grid and then computing species diversity metrics for grid cells with at least 80 % sample completeness (841 out of 4755 grid cells). A generalized additive model with ordinary kriging (GAM OK) provided moderately reliable estimates, with correlations of 0.64-0.66 between observed and extrapolated metrics, relative mean absolute errors of 21 %-23 %, and relative root mean squared errors of 27 %-30 % for grid cells with ≥80 % sample completeness from 10-fold cross-validation. GAM OK was further applied to extrapolate species diversity metrics from saturated grid cells (N = 841) to the remaining grid cells with <80 % sample completeness (N = 3914) and generate diversity maps that cover the grid. Further, generalized linear mixed models were used to examine the associations between species diversity and sociodemographic indicators at census tract level. The wild vascular plant species diversity metrics were inversely associated with neighborhood socioeconomic status (i.e., unemployment, linguistic isolation, educational attainment, and poverty rate). Minority populations (i.e., African American, Asian American, and Hispanic) and children had significantly lower diversity exposure in their neighborhoods. Crowdsourcing data offers a cost-effective solution for characterizing large-scale biodiversity in urban areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengyi Li
- Department of Disease Prevention, Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Shahir Masri
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Chun-Huo Chiu
- Department of Agronomy, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yi Sun
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA; Institute of Medical Information, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
| | - Jun Wu
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Program in Public Health, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
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Ellis-Soto D, Chapman M, Locke DH. Historical redlining is associated with increasing geographical disparities in bird biodiversity sampling in the United States. Nat Hum Behav 2023; 7:1869-1877. [PMID: 37679441 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01688-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023]
Abstract
Historic segregation and inequality are critical to understanding modern environmental conditions. Race-based zoning policies, such as redlining in the United States during the 1930s, are associated with racial inequity and adverse multigenerational socioeconomic levels in income and education, and disparate environmental characteristics including tree canopy cover across urban neighbourhoods. Here we quantify the association between redlining and bird biodiversity sampling density and completeness-two critical metrics of biodiversity knowledge-across 195 cities in the United States. We show that historically redlined neighbourhoods remain the most undersampled urban areas for bird biodiversity today, potentially impacting conservation priorities and propagating urban environmental inequities. The disparity in sampling across redlined neighbourhood grades increased by 35.6% over the past 20 years. We identify specific urban areas in need of increased bird biodiversity sampling and discuss possible strategies for reducing uncertainty and increasing equity of sampling of biodiversity in urban areas. Our findings highlight how human behaviour and past social, economic and political conditions not just segregate our built environment but may also leave a lasting mark on the digital information we have about urban biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego Ellis-Soto
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
| | - Melissa Chapman
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Dexter H Locke
- Baltimore Field Station, Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Baltimore, MD, USA
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