Quantifying error in occurrence data: Comparing the data quality of iNaturalist and digitized herbarium specimen data in flowering plant families of the southeastern United States.

ABSTRACT: iNaturalist has the potential to be an extremely rich source of organismal occurrence data. Launched in 2008, it now contains over 150 million uploaded observations as of May 2023. Based on the findings of a limited number of past studies assessing the taxonomic accuracy of participatory science-driven sources of occurrence data such as iNaturalist, there has been concern that some portion of these records might be misidentified in certain taxonomic groups. In this case study, we compare Research Grade iNaturalist observations with digitized herbarium specimens, both of which are currently available for combined download from large data aggregators and are therefore the primary sources of occurrence data for large-scale biodiversity/biogeography studies. Our comparisons were confined regio

SUBMITTER: White E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10703310 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature