Parsons Arielle Waldstein, Goforth Christine, Costello Robert, Kays Roland
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
PeerJ. 2018 Mar 29;6:e4536. doi: 10.7717/peerj.4536. eCollection 2018.
Citizen science approaches are of great interest for their potential to efficiently and sustainably monitor wildlife populations on both public and private lands. Here we present two studies that worked with volunteers to set camera traps for ecological surveys. The photographs recorded by these citizen scientists were archived and verified using the eMammal software platform, providing a professional grade, vouchered database of biodiversity records. Motivated by managers' concern with perceived high bear activity, our first example enlisted the help of homeowners in a short-term study to compare black bear activity inside a National Historic Site with surrounding private land. We found similar levels of bear activity inside and outside the NHS, and regional comparisons suggest the bear population is typical. Participants benefited from knowing their local bear population was normal and managers refocused bear management given this new information. Our second example is a continuous survey of wildlife using the grounds of a nature education center that actively manages habitat to maintain a grassland prairie. Center staff incorporated the camera traps into educational programs, involving visitors with camera setup and picture review. Over two years and 5,968 camera-nights this survey has collected 41,393 detections of 14 wildlife species. Detection rates and occupancy were higher in open habitats compared to forest, suggesting that the maintenance of prairie habitat is beneficial to some species. Over 500 volunteers of all ages participated in this project over two years. Some of the greatest benefits have been to high school students, exemplified by a student with autism who increased his communication and comfort level with others through field work with the cameras. These examples show how, with the right tools, training and survey design protocols, citizen science can be used to answer a variety of applied management questions while connecting participants with their secretive mammal neighbors.
公民科学方法因其有潜力在公共和私人土地上高效且可持续地监测野生动物种群而备受关注。在此，我们展示两项与志愿者合作设置相机陷阱进行生态调查的研究。这些公民科学家记录的照片通过eMammal软件平台进行存档和验证，提供了一个专业级的、有凭证的生物多样性记录数据库。出于管理者对感知到的熊活动频繁的担忧，我们的第一个例子是在一项短期研究中寻求房主的帮助，以比较一个国家历史遗迹内的黑熊活动与周边私人土地上的情况。我们发现在国家历史遗迹内外熊的活动水平相似，区域比较表明熊的种群数量是典型的。参与者因了解到当地熊的数量正常而受益，管理者也根据这一新信息重新调整了熊的管理策略。我们的第二个例子是利用一个积极管理栖息地以维持草原草原的自然教育中心场地对野生动物进行持续调查。中心工作人员将相机陷阱纳入教育项目，让游客参与相机设置和图片审查。在两年多的时间里，经过5968个相机夜晚，这项调查共检测到14种野生动物41393次。与森林相比，开阔栖息地的检测率和占有率更高，这表明草原栖息地的维护对某些物种有益。两年多来，500多名各年龄段的志愿者参与了这个项目。一些最大的受益者是高中生，例如一名患有自闭症的学生，他通过参与相机实地工作提高了与他人的沟通能力和舒适度。这些例子表明，借助合适的工具、培训和调查设计方案，公民科学可用于回答各种应用管理问题，同时让参与者与他们隐秘的哺乳动物邻居建立联系。
