In Italy, several citizen science projects dealing with biodiversity have recently been developed involving citizens in surveys and monitoring programs. Most projects deal with animals and plants, explicitly encouraging people to collaborate with scientific research teams. On the other hand, the World Wide Web provides a wide array of opportunities for citizens to share and publish data of their own observations. Are these data potentially useful to be part of the rapid grow of biodiversity big data system? The aim of our work has been the development of a "pilot" database of georeferenced data on Lepidoptera based on photographs and information published on diverse websites involving unaware citizen scientists. A careful examination of some websites where amateur naturalists posted their observations allowed us shortly to assemble an introductory database consisting of more than 2500 records. Starting from textual sites description we georeferenced the collecting localities and systematized spatial and temporal data from all the photos taxonomically validated by expert entomologists. The dataset was limited to a few Italian regions and, interestingly, included species listed in the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). The georeferenced data have then been used to analyze the geographical position of the observation points with respect to environmental features of the localities frequented by the citizen scientist (e.g. elevation, protected areas, and land use). Results of this exploratory study confirmed the possibility to assemble useful biodiversity data from the web, at least for those taxa like butterflies and moths where validation by expert taxonomists is affordable. However, this attempt also revealed some limits and bias typically associated to the lack of sampling design.

DE FELICI, S., Sorge, F., Sbordoni, V., Cesaroni, D. (2016). Scientists by chance: what tell us data from unaware citizen scientists?. In Book of Abstract, First International ECSA Conference 2016 - Citizen Science – Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy - 19–21 May 2016, Berlin.

Scientists by chance: what tell us data from unaware citizen scientists?

DE FELICI, STEFANO;SBORDONI, VALERIO;CESARONI, DONATELLA
2016-01-01

Abstract

In Italy, several citizen science projects dealing with biodiversity have recently been developed involving citizens in surveys and monitoring programs. Most projects deal with animals and plants, explicitly encouraging people to collaborate with scientific research teams. On the other hand, the World Wide Web provides a wide array of opportunities for citizens to share and publish data of their own observations. Are these data potentially useful to be part of the rapid grow of biodiversity big data system? The aim of our work has been the development of a "pilot" database of georeferenced data on Lepidoptera based on photographs and information published on diverse websites involving unaware citizen scientists. A careful examination of some websites where amateur naturalists posted their observations allowed us shortly to assemble an introductory database consisting of more than 2500 records. Starting from textual sites description we georeferenced the collecting localities and systematized spatial and temporal data from all the photos taxonomically validated by expert entomologists. The dataset was limited to a few Italian regions and, interestingly, included species listed in the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). The georeferenced data have then been used to analyze the geographical position of the observation points with respect to environmental features of the localities frequented by the citizen scientist (e.g. elevation, protected areas, and land use). Results of this exploratory study confirmed the possibility to assemble useful biodiversity data from the web, at least for those taxa like butterflies and moths where validation by expert taxonomists is affordable. However, this attempt also revealed some limits and bias typically associated to the lack of sampling design.
First International ECSA Conference 2016 - Citizen Science – Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy
Berlin, Germany
2016
1
European Citizen Science Association
Rilevanza internazionale
contributo
mag-2016
2016
Settore BIO/05 - ZOOLOGIA
English
http://www.ecsa2016.eu/assets/book_of_abstracts_ecsa2016.pdf
Intervento a convegno
DE FELICI, S., Sorge, F., Sbordoni, V., Cesaroni, D. (2016). Scientists by chance: what tell us data from unaware citizen scientists?. In Book of Abstract, First International ECSA Conference 2016 - Citizen Science – Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy - 19–21 May 2016, Berlin.
DE FELICI, S; Sorge, F; Sbordoni, V; Cesaroni, D
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2108/173550
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