Citizen science: a new approach to advance ecology, education, and conservation

Interventions of citizen science for mitigation and management of plastic pollution: Understanding sustainable development goals, policies, and regulations

Plastic pollution in the natural environment has been overlooked, which leads to potential risks to human health and wildlife. This paper provides an overview on citizen science approach to mitigate and manage plastic pollution in natural environments. Also, this paper highlights the importance of citizen science in raising public awareness of environmental issues and promoting sustainable practices. Case studies and different projects, such as "Plastic Pirates", "Litterati", "Trash Hunter", "International Pellat Watch", and many more projects on the role of citizen scientists are summarized, which aims to monitor and collect plastic resin pellets from different ecosystems, for example, beaches, seas, and rivers and also engage various stakeholders, for example, citizen scientists, students, academic and research organizations, non-profits, government agencies, industry, and local communities. Additionally, this paper discusses different methodologies, such as surveys and sampling approaches, using mobile apps, instruments and kits to collect information on plastic pollution. Importantly, it discusses the need for global partnerships and policies to address plastic waste management and prevent conflict. Likewise, this review emphasizes the citizen sciences and impacts of plastics on both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems to conserve, preserve, and monitor biodiversity through citizen participation. This study also highlights the significance of community involvement, such as local, coastal, marginalized, or vulnerable communities, in environmental research and the potential benefits of citizen science programs. Overall, this paper concludes with insights into citizen science as a valuable resource tool for researchers, policymakers, and the public interested in understanding and addressing the problem of plastic pollution.

Boosting biodiversity monitoring using smartphone-driven, rapidly accumulating community-sourced data

Comprehensive biodiversity data is crucial for ecosystem protection. The Biome mobile app, launched in Japan, efficiently gathers species observations from the public using species identification algorithms and gamification elements. The app has amassed >6 million observations since 2019. Nonetheless, community-sourced data may exhibit spatial and taxonomic biases. Species distribution models (SDMs) estimate species distribution while accommodating such bias. Here, we investigated the quality of Biome data and its impact on SDM performance. Species identification accuracy exceeds 95% for birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians, but seed plants, molluscs, and fishes scored below 90%. Our SDMs for 132 terrestrial plants and animals across Japan revealed that incorporating Biome data into traditional survey data improved accuracy. For endangered species, traditional survey data required >2000 records for accurate models (Boyce index ≥ 0.9), while blending the two data sources reduced this to around 300. The uniform coverage of urban-natural gradients by Biome data, compared to traditional data biased towards natural areas, may explain this improvement. Combining multiple data sources better estimates species distributions, aiding in protected area designation and ecosystem service assessment. Establishing a platform for accumulating community-sourced distribution data will contribute to conserving and monitoring natural ecosystems.

The societal impact of Open Science: a scoping review

Open Science (OS) aims, in part, to drive greater societal impact of academic research. Government, funder and institutional policies state that it should further democratize research and increase learning and awareness, evidence-based policy-making, the relevance of research to society's problems, and public trust in research. Yet, measuring the societal impact of OS has proven challenging and synthesized evidence of it is lacking. This study fills this gap by systematically scoping the existing evidence of societal impact driven by OS and its various aspects, including Citizen Science (CS), Open Access (OA), Open/FAIR Data (OFD), Open Code/Software and others. Using the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews and searches conducted in Web of Science, Scopus and relevant grey literature, we identified 196 studies that contain evidence of societal impact. The majority concern CS, with some focused on OA, and only a few addressing other aspects. Key areas of impact found are education and awareness, climate and environment, and social engagement. We found no literature documenting evidence of the societal impact of OFD and limited evidence of societal impact in terms of policy, health, and trust in academic research. Our findings demonstrate a critical need for additional evidence and suggest practical and policy implications.

Natrix natrix after dark: citizen science sheds light on the common grass snake's nightlife

Activity patterns in animals are often species-specific, and can be generally categorized as diurnal, crepuscular, or nocturnal. Understanding these patterns provides insight into ecological adaptations and behaviors. The common grass snake (Natrix natrix), one of the most common and widespread European snake species, is traditionally considered diurnal, with scarce evidence of its crepuscular and nocturnal activity. We aimed to document the distribution, environmental conditions, and potential phenotype associations of nighttime activity in N. natrix. We used citizen science data from iNaturalist (1992-2022), Observation.org (2012-2022), together with personal field observations (2010-2023) to collect 127 crepuscular and nocturnal activity records. Most observations occurred between May and August, coinciding with the peak activity period of grass snakes across their distribution range. Statistical analyses revealed no significant difference in mean daily temperatures between crepuscular and nocturnal observations. However, striped individuals displayed nocturnal activity at higher temperatures, consistent with their distribution in warmer regions, but failed to register any difference when tested on a geographic subsample, that accounted for sympatry of the phenotypes. Surprisingly, we found no significant impact of moon presence or moonlight on nighttime activity or age class, contrary to expectations based on other snake species' responses. While our study reveals that nocturnal activity in the common grass snake is geographically widespread, further research is warranted to understand its drivers and ecological implications. This study highlights the value of citizen science platforms for biological and ecological research, offering unparalleled spatial and temporal coverage by their users. In conclusion, our work extends the knowledge of nocturnal behavior in N. natrix and underlines the critical role of citizen science in discovering behavioral aspects of common and widespread species.

The city nature challenge: A global citizen science phenomenon contributing to biodiversity knowledge and informing local government practices

The bioblitz phenomenon has recently branched into cities, presenting exciting opportunities for local governments to channel participants' efforts toward local issues. The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is one such initiative that has been quickly taken up by hundreds of municipalities worldwide. Despite high levels of participation, we still lack a framework for evaluating how the CNC contributes to local biodiversity knowledge and to inform local government practices. In the present article, we develop such a tool and present a case study that illustrates its applicability. We demonstrate that the collected records contributed to a better understanding of contemporary, local biodiversity patterns and provide a more realistic representation of understudied groups such as insects and fungi. Importantly, we show that the CNC presented local governments with a cost-effective tool to make informed, evidence-based management and policy decisions, improve education and engagement programs, foster cross-council collaborations, and support a stronger sense of environmental stewardship within the local community.

Citizen neuroscience: Wearable technology and open software to study the human brain in its natural habitat

Citizen science allows the public to participate in various stages of scientific research, including study design, data acquisition, and data analysis. Citizen science has a long history in several fields of the natural sciences, and with recent developments in wearable technology, neuroscience has also become more accessible to citizen scientists. This development was largely driven by the influx of minimal sensing systems in the consumer market, allowing more do-it-yourself (DIY) and quantified-self (QS) investigations of the human brain. While most subfields of neuroscience require sophisticated monitoring devices and laboratories, the study of sleep characteristics can be performed at home with relevant noninvasive consumer devices. The strong influence of sleep quality on waking life and the accessibility of devices to measure sleep are two primary reasons citizen scientists have widely embraced sleep research. Their involvement has evolved from solely contributing to data collection to engaging in more collaborative or autonomous approaches, such as instigating ideas, formulating research inquiries, designing research protocols and methodology, acting upon their findings, and disseminating results. In this article, we introduce the emerging field of citizen neuroscience, illustrating examples of such projects in sleep research. We then provide overviews of the wearable technologies for tracking human neurophysiology and various open-source software used to analyse them. Finally, we discuss the opportunities and challenges in citizen neuroscience projects and suggest how to improve the study of the human brain outside the laboratory.

Groundwater is a hidden global keystone ecosystem

Groundwater is a vital ecosystem of the global water cycle, hosting unique biodiversity and providing essential services to societies. Despite being the largest unfrozen freshwater resource, in a period of depletion by extraction and pollution, groundwater environments have been repeatedly overlooked in global biodiversity conservation agendas. Disregarding the importance of groundwater as an ecosystem ignores its critical role in preserving surface biomes. To foster timely global conservation of groundwater, we propose elevating the concept of keystone species into the realm of ecosystems, claiming groundwater as a keystone ecosystem that influences the integrity of many dependent ecosystems. Our global analysis shows that over half of land surface areas (52.6%) has a medium-to-high interaction with groundwater, reaching up to 74.9% when deserts and high mountains are excluded. We postulate that the intrinsic transboundary features of groundwater are critical for shifting perspectives towards more holistic approaches in aquatic ecology and beyond. Furthermore, we propose eight key themes to develop a science-policy integrated groundwater conservation agenda. Given ecosystems above and below the ground intersect at many levels, considering groundwater as an essential component of planetary health is pivotal to reduce biodiversity loss and buffer against climate change.

The state of online citizen science in Mongolia and its potential for environmental challenges

Mongolia is a sparsely populated Asian country covered by vast steppes, deserts, and forests. Few studies have been conducted on Online Citizen Science (OCS) activities in Mongolia. This study aims to analyze the state of OCS in Mongolia and, in a further step, to place it in an international context by comparing it with Germany and Japan, where OCS is already well established. Mongolia faces several environmental challenges, including climate change, land-use change, and intensive urbanization. OCS can help address these environmental challenges. Quantitative, qualitative, and literature-based analyses were conducted in this study. OCS has become more relevant in Mongolia since 2013, where projects have been introduced internationally rather than locally. A comparison with Germany and Japan showed that the use of web technologies and the degree of citizen participation in OCS projects are similar in these countries; however, the link to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) may differ. To better respond to citizen needs and environmental challenges, additional local projects must be developed. Mongolia has the potential to enhance environmental monitoring and the networking of various actors using web technologies in citizen science.

Smaller Australian raptors have greater urban tolerance

Urbanisation is occurring around the world at a rapid rate and is generally associated with negative impacts on biodiversity at local, regional, and global scales. Examining the behavioural response profiles of wildlife to urbanisation helps differentiate between species that do or do not show adaptive responses to changing landscapes and hence are more or less likely to persist in such environments. Species-specific responses to urbanisation are poorly understood in the Southern Hemisphere compared to the Northern Hemisphere, where most of the published literature is focussed. This is also true for raptors, despite their high diversity and comparably high conservation concern in the Southern Hemisphere, and their critical role within ecosystems as bioindicators of environmental health. Here, we explore this knowledge gap using community science data sourced from eBird to investigate the urban tolerance of 24 Australian raptor species at a continental scale. We integrated eBird data with a global continuous measure of urbanisation, artificial light at night (ALAN), to derive an urban tolerance index, ranking species from positive to negative responses according to their tolerance of urban environments. We then gathered trait data from the published literature to assess whether certain traits (body mass, nest substrate, habitat type, feeding guild, and migratory status) were associated with urban tolerance. Body size was negatively associated with urban tolerance, as smaller raptors had greater urban tolerance than larger raptors. Out of the 24 species analysed, 13 species showed tolerance profiles for urban environments (positive response), and 11 species showed avoidance profiles for urban environments (negative response). The results of this study provide impetus to conserve native habitat and improve urban conditions for larger-bodied raptor species to conserve Australian raptor diversity in an increasingly urbanised world.

The written history of plant phenology: shaping primary sources for secondary publications

Phenological research establishes the science of nature's natural calendar. This research, the monitoring and analysis of seasonal rhythms of plants and animals, is commonly based on citizen science data. Such data may be digitized from primary sources provided by the citizen scientist's original phenological diaries. Secondary data sources are formed by historical publications (for example, yearbooks and climate bulletins). While primary data has the advantage of first-hand notetaking, its digitization may, in practice, be time-consuming. Contrastingly, secondary data can contain well-organized typesetting, making digitization less labour-intensive. However, secondary data can be reshaped by the motivations of the historical actors who were collating the data. This study compared data from 1876-1894 gathered originally by citizen scientists (primary data) and the secondary data founded upon the previous primary data, later published by the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters as a series of phenological yearbooks. In the secondary data, the recorded numbers of taxa and their phenological stages appeared to be fewer and phenological events standardized, with an increased prevalence of agricultural phenology (at the cost of autumn phenology). Moreover, it seems the secondary data had been screened for potential outliers. While secondary sources may provide current phenologists with coherent sets of relevant data, future users must be aware of potential data reshaping resulting from the preferences of historical actors. These actors may weigh and limit the original observations according to their own criteria and preferences.

Not all who wander are lost: Trail bias in community science

The exponential growth and interest in community science programs is producing staggering amounts of biodiversity data across broad temporal and spatial scales. Large community science datasets such as iNaturalist and eBird are allowing ecologists and conservation biologists to answer novel questions that were not possible before. However, the opportunistic nature of many of these enormous datasets leads to biases. Spatial bias is a common problem, where observations are biased towards points of access like roads and trails. iNaturalist-a popular biodiversity community science platform-exhibits strong spatial biases, but it is unclear how these biases affect the quality of biodiversity data collected. Thus, we tested whether fine-scale spatial bias due to sampling from trails affects taxonomic richness estimates. We compared timed transects with experienced iNaturalist observers on and off trails in British Columbia, Canada. Using generalized linear mixed models, we found higher overall taxonomic richness on trails than off trails. In addition, we found more exotic as well as native taxa on trails than off trails. There was no difference between on and off trail observations for species that are rarely observed. Thus, fine-scale spatial bias from trails does not reduce the quality of biodiversity measurements, a promising result for those interested in using iNaturalist data for research and conservation management.

Online citizen sciences reveal natural enemies and new occurrence data of Meteorusstellatus Fujie, Shimizu & Maeto, 2021 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae)

Background

Citizen science is a research approach that involves collaboration between professional scientists and non-professional volunteers. The utilisation of recent online citizen-science platforms (e.g. social networking services) has greatly revolutionised the accessibility of biodiversity data by providing opportunities for connecting professional and citizen scientists worldwide. Meteorusstellatus Fujie, Shimizu & Maeto, 2021 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae) has been recorded from the Oriental Islands of Japan and known to be a gregarious endoparasitoid of two macro-sized sphingid moths of Macroglossum, Ma.passalus (Drury) and Ma.pyrrhosticta Butler. It constructs characteristic star-shaped communal cocoons, suspended by a long cable. Although M.stellatus has been reported only from the Oriental Islands of Japan, the authors recognise its occurrence and ecological data from Taiwan and the Palaearctic Island of Japan through posts on online citizen-science groups about Taiwanese Insects on Facebook and an article on a Japanese citizen-scientist's website.

New information

Through collaboration between professional and citizen scientists via social media (Facebook groups) and websites, the following new biodiversity and ecological data associated with M.stellatus are provided: Meteorusstellatus is recorded for the first time from Taiwan and the Palaearctic Region (Yakushima Is., Japan).Cechetraminor (Butler, 1875), Hippotioncelerio (Linnaeus, 1758) and Macroglossumsitiene (Walker, 1856) (Lepidoptera, Sphingidae) are recorded for the first time as hosts of M.stellatus and two of which (C.minor and H.celerio) represent the first genus-level host records for M.stellatus.Mesochorus sp. (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), indeterminate species of Pteromalidae and Trichogrammatidae (Hymenoptera), are recognised as hyperparasitoid wasps of M.stellatus.Parapolybiavaria (Fabricius, 1787) (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) is reported as a predator of pendulous communal cocoons of M.stellatus. The nature of suspended large-sized communal cocoons of M.stellatus and the importance and limitations of digital occurrence data and online citizen science are briefly discussed.

Citizen Science Meet South American Tachinids: New Records of Feather-Legged Fly Trichopoda (Galactomyia) pictipennis Bigot (Diptera: Tachinidae) from Chile

The species of Gymnosomatini (Diptera: Tachinidae) are specialized to attack stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). Some of these flies, such as those in the genus Trichopoda Berthold, are conspicuous and represent target species to study with citizen science. Here we report for the first time the distribution range of T. (Galactomyia) pictipennis Bigot, a newly introduced biological control species of tachinid for use against stink bugs in Chile using data obtained through the citizen science method. Additionally, we update the distribution of T. arcuata (Bigot), a native biological control species of tachinid, and assess the grade of overlap between the flies and their main stink bug hosts. We obtained data regarding the occurrence of flies and stink bugs from the citizen science program "Moscas Florícolas de Chile," from Facebook groups, and from iNaturalist. We standardized our data to avoid temporal, spatial, and geographic biases. We report the extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) for each fly and stink bug species. The EOOs for T. pictipennis and T. arcuata are 85,474 km² and 20,647 km² through central Chile ecosystems, respectively. The EOO of T. arcuata is overlapped by 53% with the introduced species. Trichopoda pictipennis has a high percentage of overlap with the EOO of Nezara viridula Linnaeus (61%), whereas T. arcuata has low percentages of overlap with different native Acledra species and with N. viridula. We discuss the potential of citizen science to detect (1) areas with higher diversity or gaps of occurrences, (2) new biological control agents, (3) prey records, (4) negative impacts on non-target species, (5) changes in composition at long-term, and (6) areas to promote conservation biological control in agricultural landscapes.

Illegal and Exploitative Sand-Digging Activities Could Be Managed to Create Suitable Nesting Habitats for Blue-Tailed Bee-Eaters (Merops philippinus)

The development of human society often interferes with wild animals and their natural habitats. Interference during resource exploitation is mostly negative; however, in some cases, it can be positive and even have significance for some species. In this study, we investigated the number of blue-tailed bee-eaters (Merops philippinus), a species under 'state protection category II' in China, between controlled and manipulated nesting habitats from 2017 to 2022. Our results indicated that commercial sand-digging activities, either illegal or approved, initially created suitable nesting habitats to attract blue-tailed bee-eaters but subsequently led to damage of nests or nesting habitats. However, sand digging can be modified by avoiding the breeding season to provide safe and suitable nesting habitats for bee-eaters. The number of breeding birds more than tripled when digging during the breeding season was avoided. We also found that conventional conservation strategies, which strictly prohibited sand-digging activities, did not contribute to the nesting habitats of bee-eaters. This study enriches the theories of conservation biology and emphasizes the importance of dialectical thinking regarding exploitative and seemingly destructive activities.

Underwater Impact and Intention-Behaviour Gap of Scuba Divers on Coral Communities in Hong Kong SAR, China

Recreational diving, under the continual growth of the scuba diving industry, may escalate coral reef damage as one of the substantial anthropogenic impacts and is of pressing concern. Besides unregulated and excessive diving activities, accidental contact with corals by inexperienced divers can cause recurring physical damage and heighten the pressure on coral communities. Understanding the ecological impacts of underwater contact with marine biota will thus be crucial to develop more sustainable scuba diving practices in Hong Kong. To probe the scuba diving impacts of divers' contact with coral communities, WWF-Hong Kong started a citizen science monitoring programme and invited 52 advanced divers to conduct direct underwater observations. Questionnaires were also developed to examine and address the research gap between the associated attitudes and the perceived contact rate of divers. Results from analysing the underwater behaviours of 102 recreational divers showed inconsistent perceived and actual contact rates. It was revealed that recreational divers might often overlook the ecological effects of their activities underwater on coral communities. The questionnaire findings will be utilised to improve the framework of the dive-training programmes and enhance divers' awareness to minimise their influence on the marine environment.

Monitoring Green Sea Turtles in the San Gabriel River of Southern California

Effective conservation of endangered species relies on the characterization of habitat use and tracking of long-term population trends, which can be especially challenging for marine species that migrate long distances and utilize a diversity of habitats throughout their lives. Since 2012, citizen science volunteers at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, have been monitoring an urban population of East Pacific green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) that resides near the mouth of the San Gabriel River (SGR) in Southern California, USA, in order to gain insights about how the population uses this area. Here, we collate and analyze nine years of citizen science data, including observed sightings collected across 10 observation stations. Our results confirm that green sea turtles are frequently present around warm water effluent from power plants, similar to research results reported for other locations in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Importantly, observational data also show notable green sea turtle activity around the outfalls for a small wetland habitat bordering the SGR, highlighting the importance of wetland ecosystems as a key habitat and foraging area for this threatened population. Finally, our results showcase the benefits of using citizen science to monitor sea turtle populations in easily accessible nearshore habitats.

Citizen science: How to extend reciprocal benefits from the project community to the broader socio-ecological system

Quantitative plant biology is a growing field, thanks to the substantial progress of models and artificial intelligence dealing with big data. However, collecting large enough datasets is not always straightforward. The citizen science approach can multiply the workforce, hence helping the researchers with data collection and analysis, while also facilitating the spread of scientific knowledge and methods to volunteers. The reciprocal benefits go far beyond the project community: By empowering volunteers and increasing the robustness of scientific results, the scientific method spreads to the socio-ecological scale. This review aims to demonstrate that citizen science has a huge potential (i) for science with the development of different tools to collect and analyse much larger datasets, (ii) for volunteers by increasing their involvement in the project governance and (iii) for the socio-ecological system by increasing the share of the knowledge, thanks to a cascade effect and the help of 'facilitators'.

Citizen science and expert opinion working together to understand the impacts of climate change

In the absence of historical information on phenology available in Australia, expert opinion was used for selecting indicator species that would be suitable for monitoring phenology on a continental scale as part of ClimateWatch—a citizen science program. Jacaranda mimosifolia being the most frequently observed species was used in this study to test expert opinion and the adequacy of citizen science records in detecting the influence of climatic conditions on this species’ flowering phenology. Generalised Additive Models for Location Scale and Shape were used to explore the occurrence and intensity of flowering of Jacaranda in relation to rainfall, temperature, and sun exposure. Jacaranda flowering onset was influenced by winter cold exposure, while flowering intensity was related to increasing sun exposure as spring progresses, and both were influenced by the conditions for flowering in the former flowering seasons (i.e., sun exposure and highest temperatures reached, respectively). Our models provide the first attempt to describe the climate drivers for Jacaranda mimosifolia flowering in the southern hemisphere and identify where climatic changes will most likely alter this tree’s phenology in Australia and benefit or challenge its reproductive ability. They also support the choice of species for citizen science programs based on expert opinion.

Identifying, reducing, and communicating uncertainty in community science: a focus on alien species

Community science (also often referred to as citizen science) provides a unique opportunity to address questions beyond the scope of other research methods whilst simultaneously engaging communities in the scientific process. This leads to broad educational benefits, empowers people, and can increase public awareness of societally relevant issues such as the biodiversity crisis. As such, community science has become a favourable framework for researching alien species where data on the presence, absence, abundance, phenology, and impact of species is important in informing management decisions. However, uncertainties arising at different stages can limit the interpretation of data and lead to projects failing to achieve their intended outcomes. Focusing on alien species centered community science projects, we identified key research questions and the relevant uncertainties that arise during the process of developing the study design, for example, when collecting the data and during the statistical analyses. Additionally, we assessed uncertainties from a linguistic perspective, and how the communication stages among project coordinators, participants and other stakeholders can alter the way in which information may be interpreted. We discuss existing methods for reducing uncertainty and suggest further solutions to improve data reliability. Further, we make suggestions to reduce the uncertainties that emerge at each project step and provide guidance and recommendations that can be readily applied in practice. Reducing uncertainties is essential and necessary to strengthen the scientific and community outcomes of community science, which is of particular importance to ensure the success of projects aimed at detecting novel alien species and monitoring their dynamics across space and time.

Constructing ecological indices for urban environments using species distribution models

In an increasingly urbanized world, there is a need to study urban areas as their own class of ecosystems as well as assess the impacts of anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity. However, collecting a sufficient number of species observations to estimate patterns of biodiversity in a city can be costly. Here we investigated the use of community science-based data on species occurrences, combined with species distribution models (SDMs), built using MaxEnt and remotely-sensed measures of the environment, to predict the distribution of a number of species across the urban environment of Los Angeles. By selecting species with the most accurate SDMs, and then summarizing these by class, we were able to produce two species richness models (SRMs) to predict biodiversity patterns for species in the class Aves and Magnoliopsida and how they respond to a variety of natural and anthropogenic environmental gradients.

We found that species considered native to Los Angeles tend to have significantly more accurate SDMs than their non-native counterparts. For all species considered in this study we found environmental variables describing anthropogenic activities, such as housing density and alterations to land cover, tend to be more influential than natural factors, such as terrain and proximity to freshwater, in shaping SDMs. Using a random forest model we found our SRMs could account for approximately 54% and 62% of the predicted variation in species richness for species in the classes Aves and Magnoliopsida respectively. Using community science-based species occurrences, SRMs can be used to model patterns of urban biodiversity and assess the roles of environmental factors in shaping them.

High-Resolution Snow-Covered Area Mapping in Forested Mountain Ecosystems Using PlanetScope Imagery

Improving high-resolution (meter-scale) mapping of snow-covered areas in complex and forested terrains is critical to understanding the responses of species and water systems to climate change. Commercial high-resolution imagery from Planet Labs, Inc. (Planet, San Francisco, CA, USA) can be used in environmental science, as it has both high spatial (0.7–3.0 m) and temporal (1–2 day) resolution. Deriving snow-covered areas from Planet imagery using traditional radiometric techniques have limitations due to the lack of a shortwave infrared band that is needed to fully exploit the difference in reflectance to discriminate between snow and clouds. However, recent work demonstrated that snow cover area (SCA) can be successfully mapped using only the PlanetScope 4-band (Red, Green, Blue and NIR) reflectance products and a machine learning (ML) approach based on convolutional neural networks (CNN). To evaluate how additional features improve the existing model performance, we: (1) build on previous work to augment a CNN model with additional input data including vegetation metrics (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and DEM-derived metrics (elevation, slope and aspect) to improve SCA mapping in forested and open terrain, (2) evaluate the model performance at two geographically diverse sites (Gunnison, Colorado, USA and Engadin, Switzerland), and (3) evaluate the model performance over different land-cover types. The best augmented model used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) along with visible (red, green, and blue) and NIR bands, with an F-score of 0.89 (Gunnison) and 0.93 (Engadin) and was found to be 4% and 2% better than when using canopy height- and terrain-derived measures at Gunnison, respectively. The NDVI-based model improves not only upon the original band-only model’s ability to detect snow in forests, but also across other various land-cover types (gaps and canopy edges). We examined the model’s performance in forested areas using three forest canopy quantification metrics and found that augmented models can better identify snow in canopy edges and open areas but still underpredict snow cover under forest canopies. While the new features improve model performance over band-only options, the models still have challenges identifying the snow under trees in dense forests, with performance varying as a function of the geographic area. The improved high-resolution snow maps in forested environments can support studies involving climate change effects on mountain ecosystems and evaluations of hydrological impacts in snow-dominated river basins.

A review of volunteers’ motivations to monitor and control invasive alien species

People make an important contribution to the study and management of biological invasions, as many monitoring and control projects rely heavily on volunteer assistance. Understanding the reasons why people participate in such projects is critical for successful recruitment and retention of volunteers. We used a meta-synthesis approach to extract, analyze and synthesize the available information from 28 selected studies investigating motivations of volunteers to engage in monitoring and control of invasive alien species (IAS). Our findings show how motivations fit three broad themes, reflecting environmental concerns, social motivations, and personal reasons. An important outcome of this study is the description of motivations that are unique to the IAS context: supporting IAS management, protecting native species and habitats, and livelihood/food/income protection or opportunities. In addition, our study reflects on important methodological choices for investigating volunteer motivations as well as ethical issues that may arise in practice. We conclude with a set of recommendations for project design and future research on volunteer motivations in IAS contexts, emphasizing the importance of collaboration with social scientists.

The Current State of Community Engagement in Urban Soil Pollution Science

Environmental burdens disproportionately impact the health of communities of color and low-income communities. Contemporary and legacy industry and land development may pollute soils with pesticides, petroleum products, and trace metals that can directly and indirectly impact the health of frontline communities. Past efforts to study environmental injustice have often excluded those most impacted, created distrust of researchers and other experts among frontline communities, and resulted in little to no structural change. Prevailing research methods value formal knowledge systems, while often dismissing the knowledge of those most harmed by environmental hazards. Community science has emerged as a process of doing science that centers the participation of community members, who may co-develop research questions, inform study methods, collect data, interpret findings, or implement projects. While community science is one of several research methods that can advance community goals, it can also be implemented in ways that are extractive or harm communities. Research on best practices for community science is robust; however, how community science has been used in urban soil research is not well understood. We identified sixteen relevant urban soil studies published between 2008 and 2021 that used community science methods or engaged with community members around soil pollution. We then assessed the selected studies using two community engagement models to better understand community engagement practices in urban soil pollution science. The Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership (SCEO) model, which organizes engagement from level 0 (ignore) to 5 (defer to) was used to assess all studies. Studies that explicitly aimed to co-develop research with the community were additionally assessed using the Urban Sustainability Directors Network High Impact Practices (USDN HIPs). The majority of the studies assessed were aligned with levels 1–3 of the SCEO. Studies assessed as levels 4–5 of the SCEO were associated with delegating power to communities, community engages decision-making, creating space for community voices, and remediation efforts. We propose that future urban remediation soil pollution work that engages at higher levels of the SCEO and employs USDN HIPs, will be more effective at addressing crucial environmental health challenges by supporting, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable solutions.

Deep Species Distribution Modeling From Sentinel-2 Image Time-Series: A Global Scale Analysis on the Orchid Family

Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used numerical tools that rely on correlations between geolocated presences (and possibly absences) and environmental predictors to model the ecological preferences of species. Recently, SDMs exploiting deep learning and remote sensing images have emerged and have demonstrated high predictive performance. In particular, it has been shown that one of the key advantages of these models (called deep-SDMs) is their ability to capture the spatial structure of the landscape, unlike prior models. In this paper, we examine whether the temporal dimension of remote sensing images can also be exploited by deep-SDMs. Indeed, satellites such as Sentinel-2 are now providing data with a high temporal revisit, and it is likely that the resulting time-series of images contain relevant information about the seasonal variations of the environment and vegetation. To confirm this hypothesis, we built a substantial and original dataset (called DeepOrchidSeries) aimed at modeling the distribution of orchids on a global scale based on Sentinel-2 image time series. It includes around 1 million occurrences of orchids worldwide, each being paired with a 12-month-long time series of high-resolution images (640 x 640 m RGB+IR patches centered on the geolocated observations). This ambitious dataset enabled us to train several deep-SDMs based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) whose input was extended to include the temporal dimension. To quantify the contribution of the temporal dimension, we designed a novel interpretability methodology based on temporal permutation tests, temporal sampling, and temporal averaging. We show that the predictive performance of the model is greatly increased by the seasonality information contained in the temporal series. In particular, occurrence-poor species and diversity-rich regions are the ones that benefit the most from this improvement, revealing the importance of habitat's temporal dynamics to characterize species distribution.

Baseline Marine Litter Surveys along Vietnam Coasts Using Citizen Science Approach

Marine litter is a significant threat to the marine environment, human health, and the economy. In this study, beach litter surveys along Vietnamese coasts were conducted in a local context to quantify and characterize marine litter using the modified GESAMP marine litter monitoring guideline. A total of 21,754 items weighing 136,820.2 g was recorded across 14 surveys from September 2020 to January 2021. Plastic was the most abundant type of litter by both quantity (20,744 items) and weight (100,371.2 g). Fishing gear 1 (fishing plastic rope, net pieces, fishing lures and lines, hard plastic floats) and soft plastic fragments were the most frequently observed items (17.65% and 17.24%, respectively). This study not only demonstrates the abundance and composition of marine litter in Vietnam, it also provides valuable information for the implementation of appropriate preventive measures, such as the redesign of collection, reuse, and recycling programs, and informs policy and priorities, with a focus on action and investment in Vietnam. Moreover, insights from this study indicate that citizen science is a useful approach for collecting data on marine litter in Vietnam.

Landscape Conservation Assessment in the Latin American Tropics: Application and Insights from Costa Rica

Landscape quality is an important aspect of conservation and sustainable development, yet holistic assessments of landscapes in the Latin American tropics are scarce. Here we employ an onsite survey across Costa Rica using the Landscape Assessment Protocol (LAP), a rapid assessment method, to assess the conservation condition of landscape views. In a survey of 50 landscape view sites in different parts of the country, LAP’s 15 metrics (evaluation criteria) were effective in providing an index for landscape quality showing a gradient of degradation in response to various modern anthropogenic pressures. The response of the index over a variety of landscape types correlates well with the Human Footprint anthropogenic pressure assessment, an independent land degradation index. Urban and peri-urban landscape types showed the most degraded conditions relative to flatland, coastal, and upland types on all metrics. Despite certain subjective attributes, the assessment method seems effective in providing a quality condition index that may assist in quality characterization and in promoting participation in landscape interpretation, landscape literacy, and landscape-scale conservation initiatives, especially in a region where landscape views (scenic resources) are threatened by widespread land-use changes. Finally, recommendations are made for the further application and testing of LAP, specifically for use in the neotropics.

Mapping oysters on the Pacific coast of North America: A coast-wide collaboration to inform enhanced conservation

To conserve coastal foundation species, it is essential to understand patterns of distribution and abundance and how they change over time. We synthesized oyster distribution data across the west coast of North America to develop conservation strategies for the native Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida), and to characterize populations of the non-native Pacific oyster (Magallana gigas). We designed a user-friendly portal for data entry into ArcGIS Online and collected oyster records from unpublished data submitted by oyster experts and from the published literature. We used the resulting 2,000+ records to examine spatial and temporal patterns and made an interactive web-based map publicly available. Comparing records from pre-2000 vs. post-2000, we found that O. lurida significantly decreased in abundance and distribution, while M. gigas increased significantly. Currently the distribution and abundance of the two species are fairly similar, despite one species being endemic to this region since the Pleistocene, and the other a new introduction. We mapped the networks of sites occupied by oysters based on estimates of larval dispersal distance, and found that these networks were larger in Canada, Washington, and southern California than in other regions. We recommend restoration to enhance O. lurida, particularly within small networks, and to increase abundance where it declined. We also recommend restoring natural biogenic beds on mudflats and sandflats especially in the southern range, where native oysters are currently found most often on riprap and other anthropogenic structures. This project can serve as a model for collaborative mapping projects that inform conservation strategies for imperiled species or habitats.

How media presence triggers participation in citizen science-The case of the mosquito monitoring project 'Mückenatlas'

Since 2012, the citizen science project ‘Mückenatlas’ has been supplementing the German mosquito monitoring programme with over 28,000 submissions of physical insect samples. As the factors triggering people to catch mosquitoes for science are still unknown, we analysed the influence of mass media reports on mosquito submission numbers. Based on a theoretical framework of how mass media affect citizen responsiveness, we identified five possible influencing factors related to citizen science: (i) project awareness and knowledge, (ii) attention (economy), (iii) individual characteristics of citizen scientists and targeted communication, (iv) spatial differences and varying affectedness, and (v) media landscape. Hypotheses based on these influencing factors were quantitatively and qualitatively tested with two datasets: clipping data of mass media reports (online, television, radio and print) referring to or focussing on the ‘Mückenatlas’, and corresponding data of ‘Mückenatlas’ submissions between 2014 and 2017. In general, the number of media reports positively affected the number of mosquito submissions on a temporal and spatial scale, i.e. many media reports provoke many mosquito submissions. We found that an already heightened public and media awareness of mosquito-relevant topics combined with a direct call-to-action in a media report title led to a maximum participation. Differences on federal state level, however, suggest that factors additional to quantitative media coverage trigger participation in the ‘Mückenatlas’, in particular the mosquito affectedness of the resident population. Lastly, media types appear to differ in their effects on the number of submissions. Our results show under which circumstances the media presence of the ’Mückenatlas’ is most effective in activating people to submit mosquito samples, and thus provide advice for designing communication strategies for citizen science projects.

Improving the Accuracy of Species Identification by Combining Deep Learning With Field Occurrence Records

Citizen science is essential for nationwide ecological surveys of species distribution. While the accuracy of the information collected by beginner participants is not guaranteed, it is important to develop an automated system to assist species identification. Deep learning techniques for image recognition have been successfully applied in many fields and may contribute to species identification. However, deep learning techniques have not been utilized in ecological surveys of citizen science, because they require the collection of a large number of images, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. To counter these issues, we propose a simple and effective strategy to construct species identification systems using fewer images. As an example, we collected 4,571 images of 204 species of Japanese dragonflies and damselflies from open-access websites (i.e., web scraping) and scanned 4,005 images from books and specimens for species identification. In addition, we obtained field occurrence records (i.e., range of distribution) of all species of dragonflies and damselflies from the National Biodiversity Center, Japan. Using the images and records, we developed a species identification system for Japanese dragonflies and damselflies. We validated that the accuracy of the species identification system was improved by combining web-scraped and scanned images; the top-1 accuracy of the system was 0.324 when trained using only web-scraped images, whereas it improved to 0.546 when trained using both web-scraped and scanned images. In addition, the combination of images and field occurrence records further improved the top-1 accuracy to 0.668. The values of top-3 accuracy under the three conditions were 0.565, 0.768, and 0.873, respectively. Thus, combining images with field occurrence records markedly improved the accuracy of the species identification system. The strategy of species identification proposed in this study can be applied to any group of organisms. Furthermore, it has the potential to strike a balance between continuously recruiting beginner participants and updating the data accuracy of citizen science.

Crowdsourcing Global Perspectives in Ecology Using Social Media

Transparent, open, and reproducible research is still far from routine, and the full potential of open science has not yet been realized. Crowdsourcing–defined as the usage of a flexible open call to a heterogeneous group of individuals to recruit volunteers for a task –is an emerging scientific model that encourages larger and more outwardly transparent collaborations. While crowdsourcing, particularly through citizen- or community-based science, has been increasing over the last decade in ecological research, it remains infrequently used as a means of generating scientific knowledge in comparison to more traditional approaches. We explored a new implementation of crowdsourcing by using an open call on social media to assess its utility to address fundamental ecological questions. We specifically focused on pervasive challenges in predicting, mitigating, and understanding the consequences of disturbances. In this paper, we briefly review open science concepts and their benefits, and then focus on the new methods we used to generate a scientific publication. We share our approach, lessons learned, and potential pathways forward for expanding open science. Our model is based on the beliefs that social media can be a powerful tool for idea generation and that open collaborative writing processes can enhance scientific outcomes. We structured the project in five phases: (1) draft idea generation, (2) leadership team recruitment and project development, (3) open collaborator recruitment via social media, (4) iterative paper development, and (5) final editing, authorship assignment, and submission by the leadership team. We observed benefits including: facilitating connections between unusual networks of scientists, providing opportunities for early career and underrepresented groups of scientists, and rapid knowledge exchange that generated multidisciplinary ideas. We also identified areas for improvement, highlighting biases in the individuals that self-selected participation and acknowledging remaining barriers to contributing new or incompletely formed ideas into a public document. While shifting scientific paradigms to completely open science is a long-term process, our hope in publishing this work is to encourage others to build upon and improve our efforts in new and creative ways.

Identifying and correcting spatial bias in opportunistic citizen science data for wild ungulates in Norway

Many publications make use of opportunistic data, such as citizen science observation data, to infer large-scale properties of species' distributions. However, the few publications that use opportunistic citizen science data to study animal ecology at a habitat level do so without accounting for spatial biases in opportunistic records or using methods that are difficult to generalize. In this study, we explore the biases that exist in opportunistic observations and suggest an approach to correct for them. We first examined the extent of the biases in opportunistic citizen science observations of three wild ungulate species in Norway by comparing them to data from GPS telemetry. We then quantified the extent of the biases by specifying a model of the biases. From the bias model, we sampled available locations within the species' home range. Along with opportunistic observations, we used the corrected availability locations to estimate a resource selection function (RSF). We tested this method with simulations and empirical datasets for the three species. We compared the results of our correction method to RSFs obtained using opportunistic observations without correction and to RSFs using GPS-telemetry data. Finally, we compared habitat suitability maps obtained using each of these models. Opportunistic observations are more affected by human access and visibility than locations derived from GPS telemetry. This has consequences for drawing inferences about species' ecology. Models naïvely using opportunistic observations in habitat-use studies can result in spurious inferences. However, sampling availability locations based on the spatial biases in opportunistic data improves the estimation of the species' RSFs and predicted habitat suitability maps in some cases. This study highlights the challenges and opportunities of using opportunistic observations in habitat-use studies. While our method is not foolproof it is a first step toward unlocking the potential of opportunistic citizen science data for habitat-use studies.

Large-bodied birds are over-represented in unstructured citizen science data

Citizen science platforms are quickly accumulating hundreds of millions of biodiversity observations around the world annually. Quantifying and correcting for the biases in citizen science datasets remains an important first step before these data are used to address ecological questions and monitor biodiversity. One source of potential bias among datasets is the difference between those citizen science programs that have unstructured protocols and those that have semi-structured or structured protocols for submitting observations. To quantify biases in an unstructured citizen science platform, we contrasted bird observations from the unstructured iNaturalist platform with that from a semi-structured citizen science platform-eBird-for the continental United States. We tested whether four traits of species (body size, commonness, flock size, and color) predicted if a species was under- or over-represented in the unstructured dataset compared with the semi-structured dataset. We found strong evidence that large-bodied birds were over-represented in the unstructured citizen science dataset; moderate evidence that common species were over-represented in the unstructured dataset; strong evidence that species in large groups were over-represented; and no evidence that colorful species were over-represented in unstructured citizen science data. Our results suggest that biases exist in unstructured citizen science data when compared with semi-structured data, likely as a result of the detectability of a species and the inherent recording process. Importantly, in programs like iNaturalist the detectability process is two-fold-first, an individual organism needs to be detected, and second, it needs to be photographed, which is likely easier for many large-bodied species. Our results indicate that caution is warranted when using unstructured citizen science data in ecological modelling, and highlight body size as a fundamental trait that can be used as a covariate for modelling opportunistic species occurrence records, representing the detectability or identifiability in unstructured citizen science datasets. Future research in this space should continue to focus on quantifying and documenting biases in citizen science data, and expand our research by including structured citizen science data to understand how biases differ among unstructured, semi-structured, and structured citizen science platforms.

Landscape analyses using eDNA metabarcoding and Earth observation predict community biodiversity in California

Ecosystems globally are under threat from ongoing anthropogenic environmental change. Effective conservation management requires more thorough biodiversity surveys that can reveal system-level patterns and that can be applied rapidly across space and time. Using modern ecological models and community science, we integrate environmental DNA and Earth observations to produce a time snapshot of regional biodiversity patterns and provide multi-scalar community-level characterization. We collected 278 samples in spring 2017 from coastal, shrub, and lowland forest sites in California, a complex ecosystem and biodiversity hotspot. We recovered 16,118 taxonomic entries from eDNA analyses and compiled associated traditional observations and environmental data to assess how well they predicted alpha, beta, and zeta diversity. We found that local habitat classification was diagnostic of community composition and distinct communities and organisms in different kingdoms are predicted by different environmental variables. Nonetheless, gradient forest models of 915 families recovered by eDNA analysis and using BIOCLIM variables, Sentinel-2 satellite data, human impact, and topographical features as predictors, explained 35% of the variance in community turnover. Elevation, sand percentage, and photosynthetic activities (NDVI32) were the top predictors. In addition to this signal of environmental filtering, we found a positive relationship between environmentally predicted families and their numbers of biotic interactions, suggesting environmental change could have a disproportionate effect on community networks. Together, these analyses show that coupling eDNA with environmental predictors including remote sensing data has capacity to test proposed Essential Biodiversity Variables and create new landscape biodiversity baselines that span the tree of life.

The role of social media in compensating for the lack of field studies: Five new fish species for Mediterranean Egypt

In the Mediterranean Sea, where biological invasions constitute a serious threat, the combination of citizen science and social networks amplified the power of proper field studies, recording species that would have otherwise presumably passed unnoticed. Based on data collected on several Facebook groups, we hereby first report the presence of five fish taxa (Kyphosus sp., Heniochus intermedius, Pomacanthus imperator, Pomacanthus maculosus and Abudefduf sp.) new for the Mediterranean Egypt, revise their distribution in the Mediterranean Sea and discuss their possible introduction pathways. Finally, we provide some considerations on the potentiality of social media for citizen science projects.

Quantifying Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri) Hunting Behavior through Community Science

It is increasingly important to study animal behaviors as these are the first responses organisms mount against environmental changes. Rattlesnakes, in particular, are threatened by habitat loss and human activity, and require costly tracking by researchers to quantify the behaviors of wild individuals. Here, we show how photo-vouchered observations submitted by community members can be used to study cryptic predators like rattlesnakes. We utilized two platforms, iNaturalist and HerpMapper, to study the hunting behaviors of wild Southern Pacific Rattlesnakes. From 220 observation photos, we quantified the direction of the hunting coil (i.e., “handedness”), microhabitat use, timing of observations, and age of the snake. With these data, we looked at whether snakes exhibited an ontogenetic shift in behaviors. We found no age differences in coil direction. However, there was a difference in the microhabitats used by juveniles and adults while hunting. We also found that juveniles were most commonly observed during the spring, while adults were more consistently observed throughout the year. Overall, our study shows the potential of using community science to study the behaviors of cryptic predators.

Integrating Literature, Biodiversity Databases, and Citizen-Science to Reconstruct the Checklist of Chondrichthyans in Cyprus (Eastern Mediterranean Sea)

Chondrichthyans are apex predators influencing the trophic web through a top-down process thus their depletion will affect the remaining biota. Notwithstanding that, research on chondrichthyans is sparse or data-limited in several biogeographic areas worldwide, including the Levantine Sea. We revise and update the knowledge of chondrichthyans in Cyprus based on a bibliographic review that gains information retrieved from peer-reviewed and grey literature, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (135 records of at least 18 species) and the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (65 records of at least14 species), and the citizen science project Mediterranean Elasmobranchs Citizen Observations (117 records per 23 species). Our updated checklist reports 60 species that account for about 70% of the Mediterranean chondrichthyan biota. The list includes 15 more species than the previous checklist and our study reports three new species for Cyprus waters, namely the blackmouth catshark Dalatias licha, the round fantail stingray Taeniurops grabatus, and the sawback angelshark Squatina aculeata. Our research highlights the need for conservation measures and more studies regarding the highly threatened blackchin guitarfish Glaucostegus cemiculus and the devil ray Mobula mobular, and stresses the importance for training a new generation of observers to strengthen the knowledge and conservation of elasmobranchs in the region.

If all planning is local, how are we going to save tomorrow? Ten pragmatic lessons from the field

This monograph presents practical lessons learned from more than 40 years of professional and academic experience in ecological and community land use planning within the New York's Adirondack-Champlain-Catskills Regions, the Northern Forest of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, and the Northern Appalachian/Acadian Ecoregion. The intention is to share catalytic, synergistic, and interdisciplinary field lessons from the author's firsthand experiences for the benefit of renaissance communities, researchers, and practitioners seeking new beginnings and stimulation of new thinking beyond their sightlines. Lessons are presented in ten areas [1] integrating legal, ethical, and natural considerations; [2] recognizing diverse types of land ownership; [3] discovering shared ethics and values; [4] modernizing planning practice; [5] using Participatory Action Research (PAR); [6] working with limited access to science, technology, and planning resources; [7] using science to inform and enlighten the planning process; [8] riding the coattails of popular movements; [9] recognizing human relationships with natural environments; and [10] educating and informing citizens as a force for nature. These ten lessons, contextualized within Critical Theory and Participatory Action Research (PAR), lead the author to an "inflective" PAR paradigm for land use planning that links planning, participation, and science. Perhaps, just perhaps, through a shared context of place-tomorrow can be saved.

The Future of DNA Barcoding: Reflections from Early Career Researchers

Over the last two decades, the use of DNA barcodes has transformed our ability to identify and assess life on our planet. Both strengths and weaknesses of the method have been exemplified through thousands of peer-reviewed scientific articles. Given the novel sequencing approaches, currently capable of generating millions of reads at low cost, we reflect on the questions: What will the future bring for DNA barcoding? Will identification of species using short, standardized fragments of DNA stand the test of time? We present reflected opinions of early career biodiversity researchers in the form of a SWOT analysis and discuss answers to these questions.

Engaging the community in pollinator research: the effect of wing pattern and weather on butterfly behavior

Community science, which engages students and the public in data collection and scientific inquiry, is often integrated into conservation and long-term monitoring efforts. However, it has the potential to also introduce the public to, and be useful for, sensory ecology and other fields of study. Here we describe a community science project that exposes participants to animal behavior and sensory ecology using the rich butterfly community of Northwest Arkansas, USA. Butterflies use visual signals to communicate and to attract mates. Brighter colors can produce stronger signals for mate attraction but can also unintentionally attract negative attention from predators. Environmental conditions such as weather can affect visual signaling as well, by influencing the wavelengths of light available and subsequent signal detection. However, we do not know whether the signals butterflies present correlate broadly with how they behave. In this study, we collaborated with hundreds of students and community members at the University of Arkansas (UARK) and the Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks (BGO) for over 3.5 years to examine relationships among wing pattern, weather, time of day, behavior, and flower choice. We found that both weather and wing color influenced general butterfly behavior. Butterflies were seen feeding more on cloudy days than on sunny or partly cloudy days. Brown butterflies fed or sat more often, while white butterflies flew more often relative to other butterfly colors. We also found that there was an interaction between the effects of weather and wing color on butterfly behavior. Furthermore, butterfly color predicted the choice of flower colors that butterflies visited, though this effect was influenced by observer group (UARK student or BGO participant). These results suggest that flower choice may be associated with butterfly wing pattern, and that different environmental conditions may influence butterfly behavior in wing-pattern-specific ways. They also illustrate one way that public involvement in behavioral studies can facilitate the identification of coarse-scale, community-wide behavioral patterns, and lay the groundwork for future studies of sensory niches.

Citizen Science Data to Measure Human Use of Green Areas and Forests in European Cities

Understanding and explaining the use of green spaces and forests is challenging for sustainable urban planning. In recent years there has been increasing demand for novel approaches to investigate urban green infrastructure by capitalizing on large databases from existing citizen science tools. In this study, we analyzed iNaturalist data to perform an assessment of the intentional use of these urban spaces for their value and to understand the main drivers. We retrieved the total number of observations obtained across a set of 672 European cities and focused on reporting from mapped green areas and forests. We used two separate multivariate explanatory models to investigate which factors explained variations in the number of observations for green areas and forests. We found a relatively heterogeneous use of these two urban green spaces. Gross domestic product was important in explaining the number of visits. Availability and accessibility also had positive relationships with the use of green areas and forests in cities, respectively. This study paves the way for better integration of citizen science data in assessing cultural services provided by urban green infrastructure and therefore in supporting the evaluation of spatial planning policies for the sustainable development of urban areas.

Using Citizen Science to Scout Honey Bee Colonies That Naturally Survive Varroa destructor Infestations

Simple Summary

Citizen Science is a valuable resource that can substantially contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. However, its use in honey bee research has remained minimal. The Survivors Task Force of the COLOSS association created and promoted an online surveying tool with the aim of identifying potential cases of Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, populations that are surviving infestations with ectoparasitic mites Varroa destructor without control measures by beekeepers. The reports suggest that there could be twice as many naturally surviving colonies worldwide than are currently known. The survey also shows that citizens can be readily engaged through social media, personal networks, and promotional campaigns to gather valuable and previously inaccessible data. These reports of surviving honey bee colonies will now be validated through the new initiative Honey Bee Watch, a global and multi-year Citizen Science project founded to connect citizens, beekeepers, and scientists. This will enable to increase scientific knowledge, mitigate honey bee colony losses, and develop education and conservation campaigns.

Abstract

Citizen Science contributes significantly to the conservation of biodiversity, but its application to honey bee research has remained minimal. Even though certain European honey bee (Apis mellifera) populations are known to naturally survive Varroa destructor infestations, it is unclear how widespread or common such populations are. Such colonies are highly valuable for investigating the mechanisms enabling colony survival, as well as for tracking the conservation status of free-living honey bees. Here, we use targeted Citizen Science to identify potentially new cases of managed or free-living A. mellifera populations that survive V. destructor without mite control strategies. In 2018, a survey containing 20 questions was developed, translated into 13 languages, and promoted at beekeeping conferences and online. After three years, 305 reports were collected from 28 countries: 241 from managed colonies and 64 from free-living colonies. The collected data suggest that there could be twice as many naturally surviving colonies worldwide than are currently known. Further, online and personal promotion seem to be key for successful recruitment of participants. Although the survivor status of these colonies still needs to be confirmed, the volume of reports and responses already illustrate how effectively Citizen Science can contribute to bee research by massively increasing generated data, broadening opportunities for comparative research, and fostering collaboration between scientists, beekeepers, and citizens. The success of this survey spurred the development of a more advanced Citizen Science platform, Honey Bee Watch, that will enable a more accurate reporting, confirmation, and monitoring of surviving colonies, and strengthen the ties between science, stakeholders, and citizens to foster the protection of both free-living and managed honey bees.

Six years of controlling the invasive species Vespa velutina in a Mediterranean island: The promising results of an eradication plan

BACKGROUND

The yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax, is an invasive alien species (IAS) which was accidentally introduced in Europe from Asia. This social insect preys primarily on honeybees but also on other pollinators and insects. Consequently, the establishment of this pest has a negative impact on biodiversity, pollination and economy. There is no clear coordination and uniformed methods for eradication measures between countries. Here we present the first field study of the strategy of eradication of the pest species V. velutina that has been conducted in the westernmost Mediterranean archipelago.

RESULTS

We investigated the combination of different eradication methods, such as trapping; the use of the citizen science data for detection of presence, the active search of nests and the removal of nests using mechanical methods. The progression of the number of secondary nests found was 1 (2015), 9 (2016) and 20 (2017), with zero during 2018, 2019 and 2020, and just one embryo nest in 2018. More than half of the nests (58%) were detected thanks to citizen science data. The people sent us adult detections, and we started the triangulation method to find the nests. The last hornet found in the traps was in June 2018.

CONCLUSION

Early detections of the IAS are crucial to minimise their effects, and citizen science may offer an important source of information to determine the presence and distribution of V. velutina. The findings we present here indicate successful management for this globally significant pest and could contribute to advance the 'science of eradication'. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

From Phenology and Habitat Preferences to Climate Change: Importance of Citizen Science in Studying Insect Ecology in the Continental Scale with American Red Flat Bark Beetle, Cucujus clavipes, as a Model Species

Simple Summary

Studies of widely distributed species often are problematic as such research usually needs to engage a lot of time, a large team of field workers, and big financial support before good quality data will be collected. Citizen scientists allow to study different aspects of species biology and ecology with significantly reduced basic operational costs of such studies. Based on the data deposited in the iNaturalist database, we studied the ecology of the American flat bark beetle in the entire area of its species range. The results clearly show high value of citizen science, particularly in studies focused on habitat preferences and phenology in both recognized subspecies of this taxon.

Abstract

The American red flat bark beetle, Cucujus clavipes, is a wide distributed saproxylic species divided into two subspecies: ssp. clavipes restricted to eastern regions of North America and ssp. puniceus occurring only in western regions of this continent. Unique morphological features, including body shape and body coloration, make this species easy to recognize even for amateurs. Surprisingly, except some studies focused on physiological adaptations of the species, the ecology of C. clavipes was almost unstudied. Based on over 500 records collected by citizen scientists and deposited in the iNaturalist data base, we studied phenological activity of adult beetles, habitat preferences and impact of future climate change for both subspecies separately. The results clearly show that spp. clavipes and ssp. puniceus can be characterized by differences in phenology and macrohabitat preferences, and their ranges do not overlap at any point. Spp. clavipes is found as more opportunistic taxon occurring in different forests as well as in urban and agricultural areas with tree vegetation always in elevations below 500 m, while elevational distribution of ssp. puniceus covers areas up to 2300 m, and the beetle was observed mainly in forested areas. Moreover, we expect that climate warming will have negative influence on both subspecies with the possible loss of proper niches at level even up to 47–70% of their actual ranges during next few decades. As the species is actually recognized as unthreatened and always co-occurs with many other species, we suggest, because of its expected future habitat loss, to pay more attention to conservationists for possible negative changes in saproxylic insects and/or forest fauna in North America. In addition, as our results clearly show that both subspecies of C. clavipes differ ecologically, which strongly supports earlier significant morphological and physiological differences noted between them, we suggest that their taxonomical status should be verified by molecular data, because very probably they represent separate species.

Lessons learned through listening to biology students during a transition to online learning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic

During the Spring Semester of 2020, an outbreak of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the illnesses it caused (COVID-19) led to widespread cancelling of on-campus instruction at colleges and universities in the United States and other countries around the world. Response to the pandemic in university settings included a rapid and unexpected shift to online learning for faculty and students. The transition to teaching and learning online posed many challenges, and the experiences of students during this crisis may inform future planning for distance learning experiences during the ongoing pandemic and beyond. Herein, we discuss the experiences of first- and second-year university students enrolled in a biology seminar course as their classes migrated to online environments. Drawing on reported student experiences and prior research and resources, we discuss the ways we will adjust our own teaching for future iterations of the course while offering recommendations for instructors tasked with teaching in online environments.