Can we trust the science of citizens? A new study of birds shows that it can

Platforms such as inaturation and Ebird encourage people to observe and document nature, but what clarification the ecological data they collect?

In a new study published In Citizen science: Theory and practiceResearchers from the University of California, Davis, show that scientific data from the citizens of inaturation and EBIR can reliably capture known seasonal patterns of bird migration in North California and NEVADA – residents all year round such as California Scrub -Jays, to transient migrants such as Western Tanager and Pectoral Sand.

“This project shows that the data of participatory scientific projects with various objectives, observers and structure can be combined in reliable and robust data sets to answer major scientific questions,” said the main author Laci Gerhart, associate teacher of teaching in the Department of Evolution and Ecology of the UC Davis. “Contributors to several smaller projects can help make real discoveries on more important problems.”

Davis Wild search

The study began as a Capstone student project in the Wild Davis Field course in Gerhart, which teaches students urban ecology and California ecosystems. The first author Cody Carroll, now a deputy professor at the University of San Francisco, followed the course in 2020 while finishing his doctorate in statistics at UC Davis.

Most Wild Davis Capstone projects focus on community service in the Stebbins Cold Canyon nature reserve, but students were limited to IT projects during the closure of COVID-19, then Carroll decided to use its statistical expertise to analyze inaturation data.

After Carroll graduated and started working with the USF, the team gathered and pushed the project a little further by combining inaturalist data with Ebird data, a different citizen scientific platform preferred by bird lovers with an important bird observation experience.

Inaturalist fusion and Ebird

Since the inaturation and the EBIRD differ considerably by the type of data they collect and the type of user to which they appeal, the team wanted to determine if their data could be integrated.

“Ebird is more intended for trained and very active amateur ornithologists who carry out a complete file of birds they see in special areas,” said Gerhart. “Inaturation is intentionally oriented towards more occasional observers who are there as much to know more about organizations as to scientifically document them.”

To merge data, Carroll considered the relative frequency of observations rather than the overall number of observations and has also taken into account the cyclic and seasonal nature of bird migration.

Overall, the researchers compared data from 254 species of different birds that were observed in northern California and Nevada in 2019 and 2022. They found that the two platforms presented similar seasonal models for more than 97% of bird species.

An assortment of seasonal bird models

To “found the truth” their conclusions, Gerhart and Carroll joined Rob Furrow, assistant teacher of teaching in the department of fauna, fish and conservation biology, which is a passionate bird observer and an Ebird user.

“We wanted to test if we saw real migratory schemes or if they were simply due to observations, so we contacted Rob, who is an expert on birds,” said Gerhart.

With Furrow’s expertise, the team has shown that the inaturalist combined data and Ebird were recaping a variety of seasonality of birds known in the region, which means that the models were representative of the real presence of birds, and not due to biases in observations.

For example, their data has shown that Californian washers are present in the region all year round, while Bufflehead ducks arrive in mid-fire and leave in early spring. Western tagers are going at the end of spring when they travel south for winter, and again at the end of the summer when they return north to reproduce.

“We were very pleasantly surprised that we could always obtain reliable data, despite the differences between Ebird and Inaturalist,” said Furrow. “Even when you rely on occasional amateurs who take photos of what they like, when they like, you always get a reliable representation of birds in this area at that time.”

The power of public generated data

The study shows that in addition to inspiring people to connect with nature, platforms such as inaturation and Ebird can help answer important biological questions.

“This is a good example of the reason why interdisciplinarity is important – we have each brought different knowledge to this project, and it has pushed each of us intellectually,” said Gerhart. “It was a really fun experience for us to combine our skills, and I hope that Cody, Rob and I are lucky to work together.”

To restore people who helped collect the data they used, the team has made a duty to publish their results in a free access newspaper. Carroll has also created a dashboardIn collaboration with a USF student, which allows people to explore and view seasonality models for 254 bird species.

“It is important that scientists rely on publicly generated data to ensure that their results are also accessible to the public,” said Gerhart.