Opportunities and challenges for monitoring a recolonizing large herbivore using citizen science
Abstract Monitoring is a prerequisite for evidence‐based wildlife management and conservation planning, yet conventional monitoring approaches are often ineffective for species occurring at low densities. However, some species such as large mammals are often observed by lay people and this informati...
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crwiley:10.1002/ece3.10484 2024-06-02T07:54:40+00:00 Opportunities and challenges for monitoring a recolonizing large herbivore using citizen science Ostermann‐Miyashita, Emu‐Felicitas Bluhm, Hendrik Dobiáš, Kornelia Gandl, Nina Hibler, Sophia Look, Samantha Michler, Frank‐Uwe Weltgen, Leonie Smaga, Aleksandra König, Hannes J. Kuemmerle, Tobias Kiffner, Christian Japan Student Services Organization 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10484 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.10484 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ecology and Evolution volume 13, issue 9 ISSN 2045-7758 2045-7758 journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10484 2024-05-03T10:55:26Z Abstract Monitoring is a prerequisite for evidence‐based wildlife management and conservation planning, yet conventional monitoring approaches are often ineffective for species occurring at low densities. However, some species such as large mammals are often observed by lay people and this information can be leveraged through citizen science monitoring schemes. To ensure that such wildlife monitoring efforts provide robust inferences, assessing the quantity, quality, and potential biases of citizen science data is crucial. For Eurasian moose ( Alces alces ), a species currently recolonizing north‐eastern Germany and occurring in very low numbers, we applied three citizen science tools: a mail/email report system, a smartphone application, and a webpage. Among these monitoring tools, the mail/email report system yielded the greatest number of moose reports in absolute and in standardized (corrected for time effort) terms. The reported moose were predominantly identified as single, adult, male individuals, and reports occurred mostly during late summer. Overlaying citizen science data with independently generated habitat suitability and connectivity maps showed that members of the public detected moose in suitable habitats but not necessarily in movement corridors. Also, moose detections were often recorded near roads, suggestive of spatial bias in the sampling effort. Our results suggest that citizen science‐based data collection can be facilitated by brief, intuitive digital reporting systems. However, inference from the resulting data can be limited due to unquantified and possibly biased sampling effort. To overcome these challenges, we offer specific recommendations such as more structured monitoring efforts involving the public in areas likely to be roamed by moose for improving quantity, quality, and analysis of citizen science‐based data for making robust inferences. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Wiley Online Library Ecology and Evolution 13 9 |
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Abstract Monitoring is a prerequisite for evidence‐based wildlife management and conservation planning, yet conventional monitoring approaches are often ineffective for species occurring at low densities. However, some species such as large mammals are often observed by lay people and this information can be leveraged through citizen science monitoring schemes. To ensure that such wildlife monitoring efforts provide robust inferences, assessing the quantity, quality, and potential biases of citizen science data is crucial. For Eurasian moose ( Alces alces ), a species currently recolonizing north‐eastern Germany and occurring in very low numbers, we applied three citizen science tools: a mail/email report system, a smartphone application, and a webpage. Among these monitoring tools, the mail/email report system yielded the greatest number of moose reports in absolute and in standardized (corrected for time effort) terms. The reported moose were predominantly identified as single, adult, male individuals, and reports occurred mostly during late summer. Overlaying citizen science data with independently generated habitat suitability and connectivity maps showed that members of the public detected moose in suitable habitats but not necessarily in movement corridors. Also, moose detections were often recorded near roads, suggestive of spatial bias in the sampling effort. Our results suggest that citizen science‐based data collection can be facilitated by brief, intuitive digital reporting systems. However, inference from the resulting data can be limited due to unquantified and possibly biased sampling effort. To overcome these challenges, we offer specific recommendations such as more structured monitoring efforts involving the public in areas likely to be roamed by moose for improving quantity, quality, and analysis of citizen science‐based data for making robust inferences. |
author2 |
Japan Student Services Organization |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ostermann‐Miyashita, Emu‐Felicitas Bluhm, Hendrik Dobiáš, Kornelia Gandl, Nina Hibler, Sophia Look, Samantha Michler, Frank‐Uwe Weltgen, Leonie Smaga, Aleksandra König, Hannes J. Kuemmerle, Tobias Kiffner, Christian |
spellingShingle |
Ostermann‐Miyashita, Emu‐Felicitas Bluhm, Hendrik Dobiáš, Kornelia Gandl, Nina Hibler, Sophia Look, Samantha Michler, Frank‐Uwe Weltgen, Leonie Smaga, Aleksandra König, Hannes J. Kuemmerle, Tobias Kiffner, Christian Opportunities and challenges for monitoring a recolonizing large herbivore using citizen science |
author_facet |
Ostermann‐Miyashita, Emu‐Felicitas Bluhm, Hendrik Dobiáš, Kornelia Gandl, Nina Hibler, Sophia Look, Samantha Michler, Frank‐Uwe Weltgen, Leonie Smaga, Aleksandra König, Hannes J. Kuemmerle, Tobias Kiffner, Christian |
author_sort |
Ostermann‐Miyashita, Emu‐Felicitas |
title |
Opportunities and challenges for monitoring a recolonizing large herbivore using citizen science |
title_short |
Opportunities and challenges for monitoring a recolonizing large herbivore using citizen science |
title_full |
Opportunities and challenges for monitoring a recolonizing large herbivore using citizen science |
title_fullStr |
Opportunities and challenges for monitoring a recolonizing large herbivore using citizen science |
title_full_unstemmed |
Opportunities and challenges for monitoring a recolonizing large herbivore using citizen science |
title_sort |
opportunities and challenges for monitoring a recolonizing large herbivore using citizen science |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10484 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.10484 |
genre |
Alces alces |
genre_facet |
Alces alces |
op_source |
Ecology and Evolution volume 13, issue 9 ISSN 2045-7758 2045-7758 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10484 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
9 |
_version_ |
1800742701855932416 |