Biodiversity on public lands: How community science can help
Abstract Species inventories are crucial for conservation but are difficult to assemble and maintain. Bioblitzes, which encourage the public to document biodiversity in a particular area and timeframe, may offer useful information, but their integration with other datasets poses challenges. We inves...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Conservation Science and Practice |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70016 |
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| author | Amanda M. Katzer Erin E. Boydston Michael E. Akresh Jennifer S. Briggs Kelsey Cooper Vijay Barve Lena Lee Toni Lyn Morelli |
| author_facet | Amanda M. Katzer Erin E. Boydston Michael E. Akresh Jennifer S. Briggs Kelsey Cooper Vijay Barve Lena Lee Toni Lyn Morelli |
| author_sort | Amanda M. Katzer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Species inventories are crucial for conservation but are difficult to assemble and maintain. Bioblitzes, which encourage the public to document biodiversity in a particular area and timeframe, may offer useful information, but their integration with other datasets poses challenges. We investigated the potential contribution of bioblitzes to natural resource management using observations from the United States National Park Service (NPS) 2016 Centennial Bioblitz. Through automated cross‐referencing over 19,000 iNaturalist “research‐grade” observations from 107 national parks with existing park inventory lists, we matched 86% of species documented in the Bioblitz to NPS species lists based on current taxonomy and matched another 6% of species using alternative scientific names through our matching process in R. Of the remaining 13.5% that did not match the NPS species lists, 84% of the unmatched species were manually found within the lists or were outside the boundaries of the park, identifying 141 native species that were unrecorded in NPS species lists. Many introduced species were recorded more often in parks closer to cities. Parks near cities also drew more participants. Our study shows how public participation through iNaturalist and bioblitzes can facilitate biodiversity monitoring across large spatial scales. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-920892d65e7a4f2d8702ba3a89daf790 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2578-4854 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Conservation Science and Practice |
| spelling | doaj-art-920892d65e7a4f2d8702ba3a89daf7902025-08-20T02:27:13ZengWileyConservation Science and Practice2578-48542025-05-0175n/an/a10.1111/csp2.70016Biodiversity on public lands: How community science can helpAmanda M. Katzer0Erin E. Boydston1Michael E. Akresh2Jennifer S. Briggs3Kelsey Cooper4Vijay Barve5Lena Lee6Toni Lyn Morelli7Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of Kansas Lawrence Kansas USAU.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center Thousand Oaks California USADepartment of Environmental Studies Antioch University New England Keene New Hampshire USAOffice of Graduate Studies Colorado School of Mines Golden Colorado USAO'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington Indiana USAFlorida Museum Gainesville Florida USANational Park Service Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Thousand Oaks California USAU.S. Geological Survey Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center Amherst Massachusetts USAAbstract Species inventories are crucial for conservation but are difficult to assemble and maintain. Bioblitzes, which encourage the public to document biodiversity in a particular area and timeframe, may offer useful information, but their integration with other datasets poses challenges. We investigated the potential contribution of bioblitzes to natural resource management using observations from the United States National Park Service (NPS) 2016 Centennial Bioblitz. Through automated cross‐referencing over 19,000 iNaturalist “research‐grade” observations from 107 national parks with existing park inventory lists, we matched 86% of species documented in the Bioblitz to NPS species lists based on current taxonomy and matched another 6% of species using alternative scientific names through our matching process in R. Of the remaining 13.5% that did not match the NPS species lists, 84% of the unmatched species were manually found within the lists or were outside the boundaries of the park, identifying 141 native species that were unrecorded in NPS species lists. Many introduced species were recorded more often in parks closer to cities. Parks near cities also drew more participants. Our study shows how public participation through iNaturalist and bioblitzes can facilitate biodiversity monitoring across large spatial scales.https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70016bioblitzbiodiversitycitizen scienceclimate changeiNaturalistintroduced species |
| spellingShingle | Amanda M. Katzer Erin E. Boydston Michael E. Akresh Jennifer S. Briggs Kelsey Cooper Vijay Barve Lena Lee Toni Lyn Morelli Biodiversity on public lands: How community science can help Conservation Science and Practice bioblitz biodiversity citizen science climate change iNaturalist introduced species |
| title | Biodiversity on public lands: How community science can help |
| title_full | Biodiversity on public lands: How community science can help |
| title_fullStr | Biodiversity on public lands: How community science can help |
| title_full_unstemmed | Biodiversity on public lands: How community science can help |
| title_short | Biodiversity on public lands: How community science can help |
| title_sort | biodiversity on public lands how community science can help |
| topic | bioblitz biodiversity citizen science climate change iNaturalist introduced species |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70016 |
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