Ciência cidadã como ferramenta de monitoramento e conservação da biodiversidade

Abstract

The development of citizen science over the past few decades has contributed to improving biodiversity monitoring, including threatened and invasive species. Through the iNaturalist platform (inaturalist.org), citizen scientists can share information and contribute to the conservation and understanding of different species. However, iNaturalist presents biases that may affect our knowledge of biodiversity. Countries in the Northern Hemisphere, for instance, lead in the number of records on the platform. In order to help filling knowledge gaps regarding biodiversity records in Southern Hemisphere countries, this study, structured in two chapters, aimed to answer the following questions: 1) What are the spatial, temporal, and taxonomic trends of iNaturalist data, with an emphasis on animal groups, when comparing global data with data from Brazil? 2) How do Southern Hemisphere countries, especially Brazil, compare to global trends on the platform? 3) What is the proportion of threatened and invasive biodiversity among the iNaturalist records available for Brazil, based on the cataloged species for the country? Data were obtained from iNaturalist, the Taxonomic Catalog of the Fauna of Brazil, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Horus Institute. The data were analyzed using RStudio and further examined in Excel. The results indicated a positive correlation between the number of observations on iNaturalist and the Human Development Index (HDI), internet access, and population size, although idiosyncrasies may exist among different countries and regions. Access to the platform tends vary seasonally. Birds and insects are the most represented animal groups, corroborating previous studies. Regarding threatened and invasive biodiversity, iNaturalist provides a greater number of records for invasive species. The proportion of records, relative to the cataloged biodiversity of the country, varies among different animal phyla. For threatened species, the platform tends to overrepresent chordates and underrepresent arthropods. This study contributes to a better understanding of how Brazilian biodiversity data available on iNaturalist can be optimized and applied in research for species conservation and management. Additionally, it provides insights that may support the development of targeted citizen science campaigns aimed at addressing the spatial, temporal, and taxonomic gaps identified for the country.