Citizen scientists play a role in conservation
by reporting wildlife sightings.
By Cullen Hanks and Natalie Reina
From a young age, University of Texas student Emily Powell
has been fascinated with wildlife. As a child, she was constantly on the
hunt for insects, lizards and frogs in her backyard, sparking a
passionate
interest in reptiles.
“I was always interested in finding wild animals, but I
think I was also motivated when I was younger because I wanted to keep
reptiles as pets, and my parents would not let me for years,” Powell, a
biology major, says. “I contented myself with observing them in the
wild.”
A field herpetology course taught by University of
Texas professor Travis LaDuc introduced Powell to the Herps of Texas
(HOT) Project on iNaturalist. The project is an effort to map the
distribution of reptiles and amphibians through crowdsourced
observations. The iNaturalist platform allows people to share their
photos of plants and animals, and in the process, it gives them the
opportunity to learn about what they are seeing and contribute to
conservation efforts.
Texas indigo snake.
“During the semester, we logged over 300 observations
of 87 species,” Powell says. “I have only been using it for five months
now, but I have found it to be a very useful program.”
iNaturalist is the perfect tool for anyone who wants to
know more about wildlife. The website allows users to post observations
as well as explore other observations. In addition, the iNaturalist
mobile app allows people to report sightings when they are far from a
computer or even a cellphone tower.
When people post an observation on iNaturalist, the
program asks them for four pieces of information: who, what, when and
where. These basic ingredients of an observation aid identification and
allow biologists to create large, meaningful sets of data that can
support conservation efforts.
“Who” is the observer, the person posting the observation.
“What” is the species identification. Fortunately, the
platform is set up for naturalists of all skill levels, so observers
don’t need to know what species it is.
“If you are unsure of what species you saw, you can
upload the photo, ID it as ‘frog’ or ‘bird,’ and mark it for an expert
to help you,” Powell says. Once the photo appears on iNaturalist, the
comments section becomes a forum where others will chime in to identify
the animal. When identified, the species observation is automatically
linked to the profile page where you can learn more about it.
“When” is the date. Recording the date of observation
is important with reptiles and amphibians, since they’re active only
during certain seasons. The iNaturalist app can extract time, date and
location information from data associated with smartphone pictures.
“If I am pressed for time, I’ll just snap a picture of
the animal, record the location and save it to add later,” Powell says.
“Where” is especially valuable, as it helps biologists
better understand what habitats support wild populations. The location
is also essential for creating automated checklists for counties, parks
and states on iNaturalist, a valuable resource for the amateur
naturalist. The iNaturalist app automatically assigns the location using
the phone’s GPS, or observers can mark the location using a Google map
on the iNaturalist website.
State
herpetologist Andy Gluesenkamp (with phone) and TPWD biologist Cullen
Hanks record an observation of a yellow mud turtle using iNaturalist.
Harnessing the power of the crowd, iNaturalist is
constantly updating the profile of each species based on new
observations coming in.
“You can find range maps of animals in books,” Powell
says, “but iNaturalist is much more reliable because you have proof that
the species was seen in that location recently.”
iNaturalist users can include additional details about
the animal in the “description” tab. They can list the number of
animals, the habitat in which the animal was found, the animal’s
identification marks, the weather, behavior and more. These details
enrich the experience of other iNaturalist users and add value to
research. For example, if the animals have young, the population or the
habitat may be more valuable to conservation efforts.
The HOT Project on iNaturalist was started in September
2012 as an experiment, but it has exceeded the curators’ best
expectations. In the first year, the project has accrued 250 members and
documented more than 4,000 observations. Perhaps more significantly,
the project has documented more than 200 species, which is more than 90
percent of the reptiles and amphibian species found in Texas.
The success of the project has been due in large part
to the high caliber of the three curators (well-respected professional
herpetologists from major research and conservation institutions) who
are managing the project: Toby Hibbitts, curator of amphibians and
reptiles at Texas A&M University; LaDuc, assistant curator of
herpetology at the University of Texas at Austin; and Andy Gluesenkamp,
state herpetologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. This
team has not only introduced the project to the naturalist community,
but also has been very active in providing feedback on people’s
observations. Every observation submitted to the HOT Project is
validated by at least one of these three expert curators (in addition to
the feedback from the iNaturalist community).
Texas horned lizard.
So why are these professional herpetologists taking
time to check all of these observations? One major reason is that they
enjoy it.
“As a child, I was always thrilled to see reptiles and
amphibians in the wild,” Gluesenkamp says. “That passion has never
waned, and much of what I do as a parent and as state herpetologist
involves sharing my love of nature with others.”
Another reason for their participation is the sense
that this project could have a revolutionary impact on research and
conservation for herps in Texas. While the first year has been an
impressive success, it is still only scratching the surface of the power
of the crowd to generate and identify observations. To understand that
potential, we can look at what has been accomplished for birds with an
online platform called eBird.
Started in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and
the National Audubon Society, eBird is an online bird checklist that
allows birders to upload observations via smartphone or computer. By
unlocking the power of the crowd, eBird has compiled more than 140
million observations of birds from around the world. In Texas alone,
birders have reported more than 7.5 million observations.
eBird has proven to be an invaluable resource for
birders, as well as for research and conservation. Even though the data
is not collected with a standardized methodology, the sheer volume of
observations allows researchers to discover patterns in populations that
were not detectable before. For example, although ornithologists
thought there was a single population of indigo buntings in the United
States, they have discovered that there are actually two populations
with very different migratory strategies.
“If the HOT Project results in just
1 percent of the volume that eBird has achieved, it will have a
profound impact on our knowledge of reptiles and amphibians in Texas,”
Gluesenkamp says. “It has already started to refine our understanding of
the distribution of wild populations through observations beyond the
expected range.”
For example, the recent observation of an unknown
rattlesnake posted to HOT proved to be of one of the easternmost
occurrences of the ornate black-tailed rattlesnake. With enough
observations, this data can be used to model the distribution of each
species using geographic information systems, or GIS. These models will
fine-tune range maps and highlight regions where populations were
thought to exist but actually may not exist.
On a finer scale, these models are helpful for
identifying habitats that are essential to certain species. This will
provide powerful baseline data for understanding how species could be
affected by changes in habitat or climate. This is why all observations
are valuable, and no species is “too common” to report.
Red-eared slider.
The power of the crowd will also be an important early
detection system for changes in ranges and colonization events. This is
especially important with non-native and potentially invasive species.
Already, the project has detected undocumented non-native species like a
bearded dragon found in a Fort Worth park. In such cases, early
detection can be critical to responding to the introduction of a
non-native population. The project has also helped map the distribution
of known non-native species like the Cuban brown anole. Should this
population start to really grow, the project will detect it.
Of course, any observation of a rare species is
valuable. In many cases, species are thought to be rare because of a
lack of information. As an example, the Texas tortoise is considered a
declining species, but the HOT Project could show that it is more common
than once thought.
On the other hand, an observation of a truly rare
species is a significant conservation opportunity. Rare species are
often passed off as common species because they are not often
encountered, but such an observation is likely to be recognized in the
HOT Project. For example, the spot-tailed earless lizard has not been
detected throughout the southern half of its range despite a concerted
effort to find it. A single observation would offer an opportunity to
study where the lizard is persisting and to better understand the
reasons for its decline.
No matter how common or rare the species, the observation is valuable.
“Using iNaturalist makes me feel I am doing my part to
provide information for researchers and conservationists,” Powell says.
Original Story:
http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2013/nov/ed_2_herp/index.phtml
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