Can information from citizen science data be used to predict biodiversity in stormwater ponds?

ABSTRACT: Citizen science data (CSD) have the potential to be a powerful scientific approach to assess, monitor and predict biodiversity. Here, we ask whether CSD could be used to predict biodiversity of recently constructed man-made habitats. Biodiversity data on adult dragonfly abundance from all kinds of aquatic habitats collected by citizen scientists (volunteers) were retrieved from the Swedish Species Observation System and were compared with dragonfly abundance in man-made stormwater ponds. The abundance data of dragonflies in the stormwater ponds were collected with a scientific, standardized design. Our results showed that the citizen science datasets differed significantly from datasets collected scientifically in stormwater ponds. Hence, we could not predict biodiversity in stormwater pon

SUBMITTER: Johansson F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7287044 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature