Web-based citizen science as a tool in conservation research: A case study of prey delivery by the Lesser Spotted Eagle

Abstract

Citizen science is increasingly contributing to ecology and conservation research, mostly by the extensive collection of field data. Although webcams attract numerous observers, they have been underused in this respect. We used prey delivery records deposited by citizen scientists in an internet forum linked to webcams to explore the diet composition and food provisioning in a forest-dwelling raptor of conservation concern, the Lesser Spotted Eagle (Clanga pomarina). Four pairs were studied throughout the breeding season. Most of the identified prey items were mammals (62.1%), followed by frogs (31.2%), birds (6.6%) and fish (0.1%). Among mammals, voles accounted for 84.6%, moles 12.1%, water voles 2.4% and weasels 0.4%. Frogs were the most frequently detected prey item in the spring, with a slight increase towards the end of the season, the proportion of mammals increased during the breeding season, and birds were hunted mostly in the middle of the breeding season. However, exact temporal patterns differed between nests. The food delivery rate of males increased over time but decreased somewhat before fledging the young. Females started hunting in mid-summer and their rapidly increasing effort compensated for a reduced male hunting intensity. The data collected by citizen scientists via webcams reflected the general patterns detected in earlier studies, supporting the reliability of crowd-sourced web-based data collection in avian foraging ecology.

Influence of an extreme event—the COVID-19 pandemic—On establishment of and data collection by a citizen science project

“…This partnership fosters a learning opportunity for all involved groups, with volunteers gaining scientific literacy and knowledge of ecological issues and researchers gaining valuable data [3][4][5][6][7]. The data gathered, which often covers a greater geographical and/or temporal extent than a single team of scientists would be able to cover alone, provides important insight into species diversity, abundance, and behavior over time [8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…Collecting data through such citizen science initiatives allows researchers to address scientific questions with a broader range and scope of data in comparison to most empirical methods [8][9][10][11][12][13]. However, a consistent concern with citizen science projects is the impact of bias due to human survey patterns on the data collected [34,35].…”