Accomplished research goals using the power of people

Vendetti et al. 2018: Discovery by citizen science
In 2018, Vendetti and colleagues published a study on “The introduced terrestrial slugs Ambigolimax nyctelius (Bourguignat, 1861) and Ambigolimax valentianus (Férussac, 1821) (Gastropoda: Limacidae) in California, with a discussion of taxonomy, systematics, and discovery by citizen science”. They introduce their research by emphasizing that many terrestrial gastropods have been widely dispersed by human activity and utilize habitat non-native to their kind. With reference to the two investigated species, Vendetti et al. assign them to be synanthropic species, species that are widespread and non-native in metropolitan and agricultural environments around the world.
Their study was limited to Los Angeles County only, however, with more than 17 million inhabitants including the suburbs, the area is of vast extent. To increase sampling effectiveness, the researches decided on making use of the citizen science project Snails and Slugs Living in Metropolitan Environments abbreviated as SLIME. The project was initiated by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and published as a project page on iNaturalist in August 2015. Since launch, the project has yielded 126 species records on iNaturalist, gained from more than 14.000 observations by more than 2000 members.
Data for this study were obtained by the author himself together with four citizen scientists involved in the project SLIME. Being indistinguishable to the untrained eye, slugs resembling the morphological description of A. nyctelius and A. valentianus were collected in a two-year period from 2016 to 2018. In addition, other SLIME members used the platform iNaturalist to upload photographs and information on geographic localities of specimen sightings within the study area. Combined, these data were used to both identify specimens examining morpho-anatomical structures such as genitalia and to analyze the mitochondrial barcoding gene cytochrome c oxidase I (COI). For the first time, based on analyses on the collected material, it was confirmed that A. nyctelius was established at multiple sites in Los Angeles and its suburbs. Specimen data turned out to be the first documented records of this species in North America since the 1960s. According to the authors, the specimen first sequenced is likely that of a single animal collected in 2007, by R. Mc Donnell at a garden center in Arcata, California. The fact that this single slug became such a valuable specimen for this study emphasizes the importance of including citizen scientists in scientific research and is a great example on how to accomplish research goals using the power of people.

Young et al. 2019: Using citizen science data to support conservation
In June this year, Young and colleagues published the article “Using citizen science data to support conservation in environmental regulatory contexts”. In this study, the authors present the results of consultations from 61 state and provincial natural heritage programs (NHPs) to determine to what extent they are applying CS data in regulatory review activities. In the United States and Canada, environmental regulation is a fundamental policy tool for conserving at-risk species outside of protected areas and is performed through field surveys and maintenance of databases. In both the US and Canada, more than 80% of the NHPs take part in regulatory review, and more than half of these currently apply CS data, mainly retrieved from the widely used platforms iNaturalist and eBird. The reason only half of the programs make use of CS is assumed to be based on doubts about the reliability of CS data. Untrained observers may show less experience in spotting rare species compared to specialized scientists. Another downside might be the investment needed to extract qualitative data from the vast number of records. At-risk species are, by definition, rare and will only account for small proportions of data collected for an entire taxonomic group.
However, according to this study, these NHPs are prime targets for incorporating CS records into their databases to improve their extent of biodiversity research and expand geographic coverage. Time and money usually limit the number of sites that government field biologists can survey. Policies that encourage the use of CS data can result in greater confidence in regulatory activities if observations are comprehensive and account for spatial and temporal gaps between surveys. By expanding the habitat range of where a species is known to occur, CS data have the potential to either cause species to be assigned for a lower or a higher threat category, dependent on its abundance across the studied range. With broad geographic coverage, minimalized spatial uncertainty using GPS, high recording activity, and approved data quality checks by regional reviewers, eBird and iNaturalist serve as key databases used in regulatory review.
Even though true research on rare species will always require professional biologists, Young et al. have shown that CS data have become a well-established supplement to support conservation in environmental regulatory contexts and communicated that CS records have a direct impact on conservation actions in biodiversity research.

Further reading:
Vendetti, J. E. et al. (2018) ‘The introduced terrestrial slugs Ambigolimax nyctelius (Bourguignat, 1861) and Ambigolimax valentianus (Férussac, 1821) (Gastropoda: Limacidae) in California, with a discussion of taxonomy, systematics, and discovery by citizen science’, Journal of Natural History. Taylor & Francis, 53, pp. 1607–1632. doi: 10.1080/00222933.2018.1536230.

Young, B. E. et al. (2019) ‘Using citizen science data to support conservation in environmental regulatory contexts’, Biological Conservation. Elsevier, 237, pp. 57–62. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.016.

SLIME on iNaturalist
SLIME: Natural History Museum of LA County