Figure - available from: Biological Invasions
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
Number of records received (dark grey) and number of citizens reporting records (light grey) by way of reporting. These numbers were divided by the number of days each method was active (N = 425 days for iNaturalist, Email, Google Form and Other methods, and N = 235 days for WhatsApp and Facebook)
Source publication
The harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) was introduced in numerous countries around the world as a biological control agent but nowadays it is considered as a pest itself. It is a highly invasive species that has negative impacts on native biodiversity, may affect some crops, and causes a nuisance to humans. Despite its relevance worldwide, the...
Citations
... In recent years, there has been a growing use of citizen-science by researchers to assess animal activity and distribution [104][105][106][107][108]. Since the autumn of 2020 we have conducted a citizen-science survey to track the diurnal activity of fruit bats across the country, using a method also used in Speakman [104][105][106]. ...
Animal species have evolved to enhance their survival by focusing their temporal activity on specific parts of the diurnal-nocturnal cycle. Various factors, including inter-specific competition and anti-predator behavior, as well as anthropogenic effects like light pollution, have prompted some species to expand or shift their temporal niches. Our study focuses on the temporal niche shift of the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) to diurnal activity in Israel.
Through an extensive citizen-science study, we assessed the distribution of these bats’ diurnal activity across Israel. We also documented the sex and age of bats from a colony known for its diurnal activity and collected blood samples from them for metabolic analysis.
Our findings indicate that the shift toward daytime activity predominantly takes place in urban settings and is mostly exhibited by females. We found a significant physiological effect of this temporal shift, namely: diurnal bats’ vitamin D levels were significantly higher, and their parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels were significantly lower than those of nocturnal bats.
We suggest that the reproductive metabolic demands of female bats might be a key factor driving this shift to diurnal activity. We hypothesize that the increase in vitamin D, derived from sunlight hours, might play a crucial role in regulating calcium homeostasis, thus contributing to the bats’ physiological needs during the reproduction season.
... The topicality of the question can be explained by the case of Harmonia axyridis. This Asian ladybeetle species was introduced to Europe as an effective biocontrol agent of aphids, but after its naturalisation and expansion became a strong competitor and intraguild predator of native coccinellids causing serious ecological problems 33,34 . The first aspect was investigated by reviewing the habitat utilization and prey preference data available for European Asopiane (Supplementary Table S6). ...
... We also corroborate the hypotheses that the successful naturalization and expansion of the species on the continent is promoted by climate change and dietary drift simultaneously as suggested by previous studies from other European countries 15,21,23 . The results of the campaign launched after the first records of the two-spotted stink bug in Hungary and the data acquired from community data-sharing platforms support the account that citizen science is a powerful tool that provides invaluable data regarding the expansions and life history characteristics of invasive species [27][28][29]34 , especially in early stages of invasion. ...
The introduction of the Nearctic predaceous stink bug species, (Perillus bioculatus) was attempted multiple times in various countries throughout Europe to mitigate the damage caused by the invasive and harmful pest species, the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata). Though these attempts were thought to be unsuccessful for decades, more recent data elucidated that the species have established small self-sustaining populations in the Balkans Peninsula, Southern Russia, and Türkiye and recently began to expand. In the past years, the European range of the species reached Eastern Europe. After the first individuals were found in Hungary in October 2023 a citizen science campaign was launched to investigate the distribution of the species in the country. By June 2024 it became evident that the species is established throughout the country. Furthermore, observations regarding beetle larvae and moth caterpillars as alternative prey were reported supporting the previous assumptions that the naturalization and expansion of the species in Europe is facilitated by dietary drift. Here, we summarize the knowledge on the European presence of the two-spotted stink bug and formulate hypotheses regarding its future distribution and the impact of the species on the insect communities of the newly colonized areas.
... Note that the tribe Epilachnini consists of strictly herbivorous ladybirds, of which a few species are pests of various plants with economic importance in the families Curcubitaceae, Fabaceae, and Solanaceae (Olckers and Hulley 1989;Szawaryn et al. 2015). Many representatives of the family have bright colors, making them suitable subjects for citizen science projects (e.g., Losey et al. 2007;Brown et al. 2008Brown et al. , 2018Grez et al. 2016;Werenkraut et al. 2020;Soares et al. 2022;de Groot et al. 2024). Ladybirds engage in multiple relationships with their prey, hosts, competitors, and natural enemies (parasites, parasitoids, pathogens, predators). ...
... Even for two observation-dense locations, the Research Grade iNaturalist dataset still only includes observations for approximately 50% of the total species diversity in both reserves, with this percentage plummeting to just 15.0% and 13.9% for graminoids in Yosemite and Royal respectively. The value of iNaturalist is therefore as a complementary resource to the other data streams, with especially high value for detecting new invasive species (e.g., Werenkraut et al. 2020, Dimson et al. 2023, Gervazoni et al. 2023). ...
Dynamic yet accurate reserve-level species lists are essential for conservation and biodiversity research. Even when such lists exist, changing taxonomy, ongoing species migrations and invasions, and new discoveries of historically overlooked species mean static lists can become rapidly outdated. Biodiversity databases such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and citizen science platforms such as iNaturalist, offer rapidly accessible, georeferenced data, but their accuracy is rarely tested. Here we compare species lists generated for two of the world’s oldest, more famous natural reserves – Yosemite National Park in California, United States and Royal National Park in New South Wales, Australia – using both automated data extraction techniques and extensive manual curation steps. Here we show that automated list creation without manual curation offers inflated measures of species diversity at a reserve level. Lists generated from herbarium vouchers required far more curation than lists generated from iNaturalist, with both incorrect coordinates attached to vouchers and long-outdated names inflating voucher-based species lists. In comparison, iNaturalist data had relatively few errors, in part due to continual curation by a large community, including many botanical experts, and the frequent and automatic implementation of taxonomic updates. As such, iNaturalist will become an increasingly accurate source of automated biodiversity lists over time, but currently offers poor coverage of graminoid species and introduced species relative to showier, native taxa. At this point, researchers must manually curate lists extracted from herbarium vouchers or static reserve lists, and integrate these data with records from iNaturalist, to produce the most robust and taxonomically up-to-date reserve-level species lists.
... It contains more than 400 observations of Eastern Musk Turtle in Canada with an accompanying photo that has been identified by at least two people (termed "research grade"). Data from iNaturalist have been used to address a variety of spatial questions in ecology, including patterns in urban biodiversity (Callaghan et al. 2020) and the distribution of exotic species (Werenkraut et al. 2020;Mo and Mo 2022). Using data from iNaturalist Canada is an easy way to assess terrestrial movement over a large area by looking at observations of Eastern Musk Turtle on roads. ...
Eastern Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus) is known to be a highly aquatic species, yet it is occasionally found away from waterbodies. If such movements are common, then road mortality may pose a substantial risk to the species. We examined iNaturalist Canada observations of Eastern Musk Turtle on roads and found 15 in which individuals were >25 m from water. The median distance to the nearest permanent waterbody was 100 m (range 30–330 m). All observations that were ≥100 m from the nearest waterbody occurred from mid-July onward, suggesting that the movements were not related to nesting activity. At least under some circumstances, Eastern Musk Turtle can move >100 m away from waterbodies increasing the risk of road mortality.
... Traditional methods for urban vegetation monitoring are often constrained by insufficient time and resources to cover a wide geographical area (Malek et al., 2018). Some scholars have suggested citizen science as a potential source of data for detection of invasive species and mapping their current distribution (Silvertown, 2009;Larson et al., 2020;Werenkraut et al., 2020;Dickinson et al., 2010;Crow et al., 2020). The citizen science approach has been practised for at least the last two decades and since its inception has become a powerful tool for public engagement as well as for gathering useful data (Silvertown, 2009;Horvath and Cameron, 2015;Ryan, 2015;Pocock and Evans, 2014;Miller-Rushing et al., 2012). ...
... Harmonia axyridis makes a good subject for CS efforts because it is a brightly colored, charismatic, and easily recognized species (Soares et al. 2022). As a result, there is increasing interest to use CS data to monitor it around the world (Stals and Prinsloo 2007;Brown et al. 2008;Steenberg and Harding 2009;Grez et al. 2016;Brown and Roy 2018;Hiller and Haelewaters 2019;Werenkraut et al. 2020;Weyman et al. 2022;Angelidou et al. 2023). ...
... Third, many CS initiatives have involved the public in the recording of ladybirds, and in particular Ha. axyridis since its arrival as an IAS around the world (Grez et al. 2010;Gardiner et al. 2012;Brown and Roy 2018;Werenkraut et al. 2020;Skuhrovec et al. 2021). The combination of these three factors may have resulted in a domino effect, whereby increasingly more people become aware of both the ladybird and its associated fungus and start recording their observations. ...
Citizen science is an increasingly powerful tool to gather large quantities of biological data and to engage the public. The number of citizen science initiatives has rapidly increased in the last 15 years. Invasive alien species such as the harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae), provide a particularly good opportunity for broad-scale use of such initiatives. Harmonia axyridis is parasitized by a fungus, Hesperomyces harmoniae (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales), that can be found throughout the range of its host. Here we present Beetlehangers.org, a website and data repository where we combine observations of He. harmoniae from literature, online databases, and citizen science initiatives, including new records of both Ha. axyridis and He. harmoniae. Whereas Ha. axyridis is now present in 86 countries across six continents (including seven new country records), the distribution of its parasite He. harmoniae comprises 33 countries in five continents (including two new country records since its description in 2022). We explore spatiotemporal trends of He. harmoniae in light of these records. Finally, we discuss challenges and new opportunities for citizen science in relation to species interactions such as these and provide future perspectives for the website as a home for future Laboulbeniales research and outreach.
... From June 2018 to July 2019, 275 users reported 370 records, 93% of them corresponding to H. axyridis. Interestingly, these early results revealed the high potential of WhatsApp as a citizen science tool, which is the second preferred option after iNaturalist (Werenkraut et al., 2020). ...
... But many also gather biological and ecological data, allowing considerable increases in knowledge and a better understanding of the species targeted. Strategies have been diversifying, and besides web and mobile maps, citizen science projects currently include tools based on artificial intelligence (van Klink et al., 2022), WhatsApp, and other social networks (Werenkraut et al., 2020). ...
... Leveraging these data is useful due to the challenges of answering ecological questions on a continental or global scale. For example, contributory data have been used to understand the factors influencing the death of migratory birds (Yang et al. 2021) and the distribution of nonnative species (Maistrello et al. 2016, Werenkraut et al. 2020, Calzada Preston and Pruett-Jones 2021. However, participantled platforms may yield biases due to individual differences in space use and preferences. ...
... Several studies acknowledge that the use of alien species records generated by citizen science significantly contributes to their monitoring (e.g. Hiller & Haelewaters, 2019;Herrando-Moraira et al., 2020;Werenkraut et al., 2020) and even allows the detection of alien species that have gone unnoticed by scientists (e.g. Kleitou et al., 2019). ...
Momordica charantia, una maleza trepadora introducida, es nativa del trópico y subtrópico de Asia y África y se encuentra ampliamente distribuida en Ecuador. En este estudio, examinamos la distribución espacio-temporal de los registros de M. charantia y evaluamos su riesgo de invasión para Ecuador. Se recolectaron ocurrencias de la especie de diversas fuentes (bases de datos y herbarios). Se analizó la distribución de la especie en Ecuador y en áreas prioritarias de conservación, considerando sus preferencias climáticas y ecosistémicas. Se realizó un análisis de riesgo de invasión para Ecuador Continental. Nuestros resultados indicaron que M. charantia fue reportada por primera vez en Ecuador en la región de la costa en 1846. La causa de su introducción es desconocida; sin embargo, una posible vía para su expansión podría estar relacionada con su uso como planta medicinal en Ecuador. Actualmente, la especie está naturalizada en Ecuador y se ha registrado en las cuatro regiones, incluyendo las Islas Galápagos. Se detectó la presencia de la especie en 18 áreas prioritarias de conservación, donde su abundancia parece incipiente y su erradicación factible. La ciencia ciudadana (i.e. iNaturalist) proporcionó la mayoría de los registros de la especie, resaltando su importancia para monitorear especies invasoras. Aunque M. charantia tiene una presencia limitada en ambientes naturales (el 89% de los registros se encuentran en áreas perturbadas), la especie fue categorizada como de “alto riesgo” debido a que en Ecuador hay regiones climáticamente adecuadas para su establecimiento. Además, M. charantia tiene una alta capacidad de dispersión a larga distancia y un considerable potencial para convertirse en maleza en cultivos, representando una amenaza para la agricultura. Destacamos que la presencia de M. charantia en áreas perturbadas podría constituir una fuente de propagación hacia áreas cultivadas, donde la especie podría comportarse como maleza. El manejo de las poblaciones de M. charantia cerca de los cultivos podría mitigar sus posibles impactos agrícolas.
