Data Reliability in a Citizen Science Protocol for Monitoring Stingless Bees Flight Activity

Abstract

Although the quality of citizen science (CS) data is often a concern, evidence for high-quality CS data increases in the scientific literature. This study aimed to assess the data reliability of a structured CS protocol for monitoring stingless bees’ flight activity. We tested (1) data accuracy for replication among volunteers and for expert validation and (2) precision, comparing dispersion between citizen scientists and expert data. Two distinct activity dimensions were considered: (a) perception of flight activity and (b) flight activity counts (entrances, exits, and pollen load). No significant differences were found among groups regarding entrances and exits. However, replicator citizen scientists presented a higher chance of perceiving pollen than original data collectors and experts, likely a false positive. For those videos in which there was an agreement about pollen presence, the effective pollen counts were similar (with higher dispersion for citizen scientists), indicating the reliability of CS-collected data. The quality of the videos, a potential source of variance, did not influence the results. Increasing practical training could be an alternative to improve pollen data quality. Our study shows that CS provides reliable data for monitoring bee activity and highlights the relevance of a multi-dimensional approach for assessing CS data quality.

Evaluation of a Bee-Focused Citizen Science Training Process: Influence of Participants’ Profiles on Learning

“…The three-week online course content covered the fundamentals of bee biology and its importance to ecosystems, the management of stingless bees, meliponiculture (from the basics to relatively advanced topics), its products, principles of scientific thinking, and citizen science. After the theoretical classes of the course, the participants were invited to execute the flight activity monitoring protocol for stingless bees, which was titled the #cidadãoasf project [23,29]. All classes were pre-recorded, and synchronous interactions with the participants were provided through live sessions to answer questions and discuss topics of interest.…”

“…However, it was later decided to accept all registrations. The authors of the study played various roles throughout the course, including the development of the monitoring protocol (as detailed in Leocadio et al [29]), generating course content, configuring the online platform, and delivering both lectures and live broadcasts. Certain lectures and corresponding live broadcasts featured subject matter experts as guests.…”