‘First Known Photographs of Living Specimens’: the power of iNaturalist for recording rare tropical butterflies

Mesaglio, Thomas; Soh, Aaron; Kurniawidjaja, Steven; Sexton, Chuck

doi:10.1007/s10841-021-00350-7

Cited by 27 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, if experts active on iNaturalist take the time to explain how a given species was identified, this can provide a valuable experience for community scientists. With time, community scientists will achieve a similar level to experts [ 21 ]; iNaturalist already counts with many of these “expert observers” [ 9 ], who are community scientists with ample knowledge of particular taxa.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is potentially very useful, since this sort of data is essential to assess the conservation status and develop solid conservation plans for these animals, which are among the most threatened in the current biodiversity crisis [ 2 , 33 ]. The records on iNaturalist also include those made in remote areas and private land, which are often not easily accessible to researchers [ 9 ]. In addition, filling the gaps in our knowledge about the distribution of these species is a necessary step to carry out further biogeographic (and sometimes taxonomic) research on them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite all the difficulties, there are new emerging tools that can help researchers gain additional information, particularly in places of difficult or restricted accessibility such as the tropics [ 9 ]. One such tool is iNaturalist, a community-driven free-access platform for sharing observations of animals, plants and other organisms, accessible through a dedicated website and mobile application.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the past few years, researchers have started to integrate iNaturalist data in their studies, particularly regarding the presence and distribution of species. Examples include studies on butterflies [ 9 ], termites [ 11 ], bees [ 12 ], flies [ 13 ], and molluscs [ 14 , 15 ], including terrestrial gastropods [ 16 ]. Some of those studies also include observations of rare species [ 12 , 16 ] and even the discovery of new species [ 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

iNaturalist as a tool in the study of tropical molluscs

Cavallari‬

Salvador

2022

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although terrestrial gastropods are remarkably diverse, our knowledge of them is still lacking, especially for species from the Global South. As such, new tools to help researchers collect data on these organisms are very welcome. With this in mind, we investigated Brazilian observations on iNaturalist to assess the feasibility of the data available on the platform as a basis for studies on the tropical terrestrial gastropod fauna. The observations on iNaturalist were filtered by country, Brazil, and higher taxa, namely Eupulmonata, Cyclophoroidea and Helicinoidea, yielding a sample of 4,983 observations. These observations were then reviewed in search of records of rare or little-known species, species found outside their previously known range, and interesting ecological interactions. Exotic species made up 35% to 39% of the sampled iNaturalist records. The most commonly observed species were Lissachatina fulica (Bowdich, 1822), Bradybaena similaris (Férussac, 1822), Drymaeus papyraceus (Mawe, 1823), Drymaeus interpunctus (E. von Martens, 1887), Limacus flavus (Linnaeus, 1758), Meghimatium pictum (Stoliczka, 1873), Cornu aspersum (O. F. Müller, 1774), Vaginulus taunaisii (Férussac, 1821), Ovachlamys fulgens (Gude, 1900), and Bulimulus tenuissimus (Férussac, 1832). In total, 166 observations were deemed of interest to our purposes (e.g., rare species, range extensions, ecological interactions), totalling 46 identified species and 16 observations identified at genus level. Among the selected observations, we found pictures of live specimens of species that were previously known only from their shells, such as Megalobulimus pergranulatus (Pilsbry, 1901), bringing to light their appearances in life. Two potentially new species belonging to the genera Plekocheilus Guilding, 1827 and Megalobulimus K. Miller, 1878 were revealed. Additionally, we found records of living individuals of two species that were previously presumed to be possibly extinct, Leiostracus carnavalescus Simone & Salvador, 2016, and Gonyostomus egregius (Pfeiffer, 1845). We take the opportunity to discuss individual records of interest, evaluate the quality of the data and possible improvements, as well the potential and implications of the use of the iNaturalist platform for research in Brazil and other tropical countries. While iNaturalist has its limitations, it holds great potential to help document biodiversity in the tropics.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

iNaturalist as a tool in the study of tropical molluscs

Cavallari‬

Salvador

2022

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…C-science is extensively used in lepidopterology, especially for butterflies, with the number of species studied and sites monitored outweighing all vertebrate groups in Europe (Schmeller et al, 2009). It is used for several purposes, such as collecting photographs of rare butterflies (Mesaglio et al, 2021), monitoring populations at a national level (Sanderson, Braby & Bond, 2021), and even studying the range expansion of a Nymphalid butterfly species distributed through the Indomalayan and Australasian realms (similar to the current study) (Chowdhury et al, 2021). Reliability of c-science data, especially when it comes to spatiotemporal patterns of butterflies depends on a wide-variety of components of a c-science model, including accuracy of identification of species by participants, particularly for cryptic species (Vantieghem et al, 2016); irregular nature of survey efforts over time; incompleteness and selectivity in observation; geographical bias (van Strien, van Swaay, & Termaat, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An investigation into the spatiotemporal patterns of the Nymphalid butterfly Vagrans egista sinha (Kollar, [1844])

Pop¹,

Barwal²,

Singh

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vagrans egista sinha (Kollar, [1844]), the Himalayan Vagrant is a subspecies of Nymphalid (Brush-footed) butterflies spread across Asia, whose western limit is in the north-west India. Observations of this subspecies have considerably increased over the past half-a-decade, with a spike in new sightings to the west of their previously known range. This has been considered as a range extension. The current study reports new records of this species from Bilaspur District, Himachal Pradesh, India (which are the first records for the district), through systematic and opportunistic sampling. This raises the question of whether the purported range extension towards the west could instead be a range shift or vagrancy, and whether there is any shift in elevational ranges in the populations across their known range. Questions pertaining to spatial differences in elevational ranges and seasonal variation, across their range, also piqued our curiosity. Using data from academic sources (such as published literature and museum collections), supplemented by data from public participation in scientific research and personal observations, these research questions are addressed. The accuracy of results when using citizen science data is also explored using the same dataset, focused on the impact of method of extraction of coordinates, and elevation derived from it under different scenarios. It was discovered that there has not been a range shift (either longitudinal or latitudinal) and observations do not suggest vagrancy but a case of range extension. Other results indicated that there was no climb of population to higher elevations, no spatial differences in elevational ranges in the populations, or seasonal variation in activities across their range. It was also discovered that the method of data collection by, and extraction from, citizen science databases, can influence the accuracy of the results. Some problems involved in collecting data are discussed, and remedial solutions are suggested.

show abstract

An automated pipeline for supervised classification of petal color from citizen science photographs

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Premise Petal color is an ecologically important trait, and uncovering color variation over a geographic range, particularly in species with large distributions and/or short bloom times, requires extensive fieldwork. We have developed an alternative method that segments images from citizen science repositories using Python and k‐means clustering in the hue‐saturation‐value (HSV) color space. Methods Our method uses k‐means clustering to aggregate like‐color pixels in sample images to generate the HSV color space encapsulating the color range of petals. Using the HSV values, our method isolates photographs containing clusters in that range and bins them into a classification scheme based on user‐defined categories. Results We demonstrate the application of this method using two species: one with a continuous range of variation of pink‐purple petals in Geranium maculatum, and one with a binary classification of white versus blue in Linanthus parryae. We demonstrate results that are repeatable and accurate. Discussion This method provides a flexible, robust, and easily adjustable approach for the classification of color images from citizen science repositories. By using color to classify images, this pipeline sidesteps many of the issues encountered using more traditional computer vision applications. This approach provides a tool for making use of large citizen scientist data sets.

show abstract

‘First Known Photographs of Living Specimens’: the power of iNaturalist for recording rare tropical butterflies

Cited by 27 publications

References 32 publications

iNaturalist as a tool in the study of tropical molluscs

iNaturalist as a tool in the study of tropical molluscs

An investigation into the spatiotemporal patterns of the Nymphalid butterfly Vagrans egista sinha (Kollar, [1844])

An automated pipeline for supervised classification of petal color from citizen science photographs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About