Caterpillars Count! is a citizen science project that allows participants to collect data on the seasonal timing, or phenology, of foliage arthropods that are important food resources for forest birds. This project has the potential to address questions about the impacts of climate change on birds over biogeographic scales. Here, we provide a description of the project's two survey protocols, evaluate the impact of survey methodology on results, compare findings made by citizen scientist participants versus trained scientists, and identify the minimum levels of sampling frequency and intensity needed to accurately capture phenological dynamics. We find that beat sheet surveys and visual surveys yield similar relative and absolute density estimates of different arthropod groups, with beat sheet surveys recording a higher frequency of beetles and visual surveys recording a higher frequency of flies. Citizen scientists generated density estimates within 6% of estimates obtained by trained scientists regardless of survey method. However, patterns of phenology were more consistent between citizen scientists and trained scientists when using beat sheet surveys than visual surveys. By subsampling our survey data, we found that conducting 30 foliage surveys on a weekly basis led to 95% of peak caterpillar date estimates to fall within one week of the "true" peak. We demonstrate the utility of Caterpillars Count! for generating a valuable dataset for ecological research, and call for future studies to evaluate how training and resource materials impact data quality and participant learning gains.
Arundo donax (giant reed) is invasive in Mediterranean, sub-, and tropical riparian systems worldwide. The armored scale Rhizaspidiotus donacis is approved for biocontrol in North America, but an adventive population was recently discovered in southern California. We documented this population’s distribution, phylogeny, phenology, potential host spillover to Phragmites spp., and potential for parasitism by a common biocontrol parasitoid of citrus scale. The adventive scale was found within a single watershed and is genetically closest to Iberian scale genotypes. Rhizaspidiotus donacis developed on Phragmites haplotypes but at much lower densities than Arundo. The adventive population is univoltine, producing crawlers from March-June. Aphytis melinus parasitoids exhibited sustained interest in R. donacis during choice and no-choice trials and oviposition resulted in a small second generation. Rhizaspidiotus donacis appears limited in distribution by its univoltinism and sessile adult females. This presents challenges for broad biocontrol implementation but allows for targeted application. The genetic differentiation between imported biocontrol samples and adventive populations presents an opportunity for exploring benefits of hybrids and/or alternative genotypes where establishment has been difficult. While unlikely to occur in situ, spillover to vulnerable endemic Phragmites or deleterious parasitoid effects on scale biocontrol agents warrants consideration when planning use of R. donacis.
4Caterpillars Count! is a citizen science project that allows participants to collect data on the 5 seasonal timing, or phenology, of foliage arthropods that are important food resources for forest 6 birds. This project has the potential to address questions about the impacts of climate change on 7 birds over biogeographic scales. Here, we provide a description of the project's two survey 8 protocols, evaluate the impact of survey methodology on results, compare findings made by 9 citizen scientist participants versus trained scientists, and identify the minimum levels of 10 sampling frequency and intensity in order to accurately capture phenological dynamics. We find 11 that beat sheet surveys and visual surveys yield similar relative and absolute density estimates of 12 different arthropod groups, with beat sheet surveys recording a higher frequency of beetles and 13 visual surveys recording a higher frequency of flies. Citizen scientists generated density 14 estimates within 6% of estimates obtained by trained scientists regardless of survey method. 15However, patterns of phenology were more consistent between citizen scientists and trained 16 scientists when using beat sheet surveys than visual surveys. By subsampling our survey data, we 17 found that conducting 30 foliage surveys on a weekly basis led to 95% of peak caterpillar date 18 estimates to fall within one week of the "true" peak. We demonstrate the utility of Caterpillars 19Count! for generating a valuable dataset for ecological research, and call for future studies to 20 evaluate how training and resource materials impact data quality and participant learning gains. 21
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.