Harnessing the power of social media to obtain biodiversity data about cetaceans in a poorly monitored area
The study and conservation of cetaceans benefit from systematic studies and non systematic records about sightings and strandings. However, iEcology (internet ecology) was critical for numerous ecological studies and should be in the toolkit of cetacean ecologists. We hypothesize that iEcology is ir...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/17403 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.765228 |
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ftunivalgarve:oai:sapientia.ualg.pt:10400.1/17403 2023-05-15T15:36:26+02:00 Harnessing the power of social media to obtain biodiversity data about cetaceans in a poorly monitored area Aproveitando o poder das mídias sociais para obter dados de biodiversidade sobre cetáceos em uma área mal monitorada Morais, Pedro Afonso, Luís Dias, Ester 2021-11 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/17403 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.765228 eng eng Frontiers Media SA UIDB/04326/2020 UIDB/04423/2020 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/17403 doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.765228 2296-7745 openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY iEcology Social media Biodiversity Cetaceans Whale watching Algarve Portugal article 2021 ftunivalgarve https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.765228 2022-07-06T00:01:15Z The study and conservation of cetaceans benefit from systematic studies and non systematic records about sightings and strandings. However, iEcology (internet ecology) was critical for numerous ecological studies and should be in the toolkit of cetacean ecologists. We hypothesize that iEcology is irreplaceable to obtain diversity data about cetaceans in poorly monitored regions that coincide with touristic destinations, where whale-watching companies go out to sea regularly and post their sightings on social media. Our study assessed the advantages and disadvantages of iEcology while obtaining the first broadscale and long-term assessment about cetaceans’ diversity off the Algarve, a European tourist destination with numerous whale-watching companies. We retrieved 1,299 time-referenced records about 15 species posted on Facebook and Instagram between 2011 and 2020. Data collected from Biodiversity4All, an online citizen science biodiversity database, disclosed georeferenced records about nine species made between 2008 and 2020, however, the number of records was 15.8 times lower than social media posts. We obtained information about 16 species, two of which were never mentioned in the scientific literature [Balaenoptera musculus, Balaenoptera edeni (record made in 2021)] and five species were only mentioned in the gray literature. Previous assessments were restricted in time, published in the gray literature, and only reported six and 11 species. So, social media was essential to obtain the first broadscale and long-term assessment of cetaceans’ diversity off the Algarve. The main advantages of iEcology were the possibility to obtain data collected over one decade and its low cost. The main disadvantages are the impossibility to obtain georeferenced records from social media, the difficulty to estimate the number of individuals in large groups, and the presence of rare species can be inflated if multiple whale-watching companies report the same individual(s) while they migrate along the coast. Nonetheless, these ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaenoptera musculus Universidade do Algarve: Sapienta Frontiers in Marine Science 8 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Universidade do Algarve: Sapienta |
op_collection_id |
ftunivalgarve |
language |
English |
topic |
iEcology Social media Biodiversity Cetaceans Whale watching Algarve Portugal |
spellingShingle |
iEcology Social media Biodiversity Cetaceans Whale watching Algarve Portugal Morais, Pedro Afonso, Luís Dias, Ester Harnessing the power of social media to obtain biodiversity data about cetaceans in a poorly monitored area |
topic_facet |
iEcology Social media Biodiversity Cetaceans Whale watching Algarve Portugal |
description |
The study and conservation of cetaceans benefit from systematic studies and non systematic records about sightings and strandings. However, iEcology (internet ecology) was critical for numerous ecological studies and should be in the toolkit of cetacean ecologists. We hypothesize that iEcology is irreplaceable to obtain diversity data about cetaceans in poorly monitored regions that coincide with touristic destinations, where whale-watching companies go out to sea regularly and post their sightings on social media. Our study assessed the advantages and disadvantages of iEcology while obtaining the first broadscale and long-term assessment about cetaceans’ diversity off the Algarve, a European tourist destination with numerous whale-watching companies. We retrieved 1,299 time-referenced records about 15 species posted on Facebook and Instagram between 2011 and 2020. Data collected from Biodiversity4All, an online citizen science biodiversity database, disclosed georeferenced records about nine species made between 2008 and 2020, however, the number of records was 15.8 times lower than social media posts. We obtained information about 16 species, two of which were never mentioned in the scientific literature [Balaenoptera musculus, Balaenoptera edeni (record made in 2021)] and five species were only mentioned in the gray literature. Previous assessments were restricted in time, published in the gray literature, and only reported six and 11 species. So, social media was essential to obtain the first broadscale and long-term assessment of cetaceans’ diversity off the Algarve. The main advantages of iEcology were the possibility to obtain data collected over one decade and its low cost. The main disadvantages are the impossibility to obtain georeferenced records from social media, the difficulty to estimate the number of individuals in large groups, and the presence of rare species can be inflated if multiple whale-watching companies report the same individual(s) while they migrate along the coast. Nonetheless, these ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Morais, Pedro Afonso, Luís Dias, Ester |
author_facet |
Morais, Pedro Afonso, Luís Dias, Ester |
author_sort |
Morais, Pedro |
title |
Harnessing the power of social media to obtain biodiversity data about cetaceans in a poorly monitored area |
title_short |
Harnessing the power of social media to obtain biodiversity data about cetaceans in a poorly monitored area |
title_full |
Harnessing the power of social media to obtain biodiversity data about cetaceans in a poorly monitored area |
title_fullStr |
Harnessing the power of social media to obtain biodiversity data about cetaceans in a poorly monitored area |
title_full_unstemmed |
Harnessing the power of social media to obtain biodiversity data about cetaceans in a poorly monitored area |
title_sort |
harnessing the power of social media to obtain biodiversity data about cetaceans in a poorly monitored area |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/17403 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.765228 |
genre |
Balaenoptera musculus |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera musculus |
op_relation |
UIDB/04326/2020 UIDB/04423/2020 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/17403 doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.765228 2296-7745 |
op_rights |
openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.765228 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
8 |
_version_ |
1766366790737199104 |