Todd Brian D, Rose Jonathan P, Price Steven J, Dorcas Michael E
Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, U.S.A..
Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, U.S.A.
Conserv Biol. 2016 Dec;30(6):1266-1276. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12686. Epub 2016 Apr 15.
Conservation practitioners must contend with an increasing array of threats that affect biodiversity. Citizen scientists can provide timely and expansive information for addressing these threats across large scales, but their data may contain sampling biases. We used randomization procedures to account for possible sampling biases in opportunistically reported citizen science data to identify species' sensitivities to human land use. We analyzed 21,044 records of 143 native reptile and amphibian species reported to the Carolina Herp Atlas from North Carolina and South Carolina between 1 January 1990 and 12 July 2014. Sensitive species significantly associated with natural landscapes were 3.4 times more likely to be legally protected or treated as of conservation concern by state resource agencies than less sensitive species significantly associated with human-dominated landscapes. Many of the species significantly associated with natural landscapes occurred primarily in habitats that had been nearly eradicated or otherwise altered in the Carolinas, including isolated wetlands, longleaf pine savannas, and Appalachian forests. Rare species with few reports were more likely to be associated with natural landscapes and 3.2 times more likely to be legally protected or treated as of conservation concern than species with at least 20 reported occurrences. Our results suggest that opportunistically reported citizen science data can be used to identify sensitive species and that species currently restricted primarily to natural landscapes are likely at greatest risk of decline from future losses of natural habitat. Our approach demonstrates the usefulness of citizen science data in prioritizing conservation and in helping practitioners address species declines and extinctions at large extents.
保护从业者必须应对影响生物多样性的越来越多的威胁。公民科学家可以提供及时且广泛的信息，以便在大范围内应对这些威胁，但其数据可能存在抽样偏差。我们使用随机化程序来处理机会性报告的公民科学数据中可能存在的抽样偏差，以确定物种对人类土地利用的敏感性。我们分析了1990年1月1日至2014年7月12日期间向北卡罗来纳州和南卡罗来纳州的卡罗来纳爬行动物和两栖动物图鉴报告的143种本土爬行动物和两栖动物的21,044条记录。与自然景观显著相关的敏感物种，比起与人类主导景观显著相关的不那么敏感的物种，受到法律保护或被州资源机构视为具有保护意义的可能性要高3.4倍。许多与自然景观显著相关的物种主要出现在卡罗来纳州几乎已被根除或以其他方式改变的栖息地中，包括孤立的湿地、长叶松稀树草原和阿巴拉契亚森林。报告数量少的稀有物种比报告数量至少有20次的物种更有可能与自然景观相关联，并且受到法律保护或被视为具有保护意义的可能性要高3.2倍。我们的结果表明，机会性报告的公民科学数据可用于识别敏感物种，并且目前主要局限于自然景观的物种很可能因未来自然栖息地的丧失而面临最大的衰退风险。我们的方法证明了公民科学数据在确定保护优先级以及帮助从业者应对大范围物种衰退和灭绝方面的有用性。
