Dear all,
We are pleased to
announce the publication of our paper: Tonachella N., A. Nastasi, G. Kaufman, D. Maldini and R. W. Rankin, 2013. Predicting trends in
humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) abundance using citizen science. PACIFIC CONSERVATION BIOLOGY Vol.
18: 297–309. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Sydney. 2012.
*Abstract: *.The Great Whale
Count (GWC) is an annual citizen science event that monitors changes in
humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) sightings in Maui County during the breeding season. The
study includes 15 years of observations (1995–1996 and 1999–2011) with over 11
000 whale sightings. We provide a critical examination of the utility of the
citizen science data given the challenges of observer-, site- and year-specific
biases in counts, as well as an immeasurable and imperfect detection process.
We estimate an annual increase of 5.16% per year (±2.76%), which closely
resembles earlier trend estimates for Hawai’i. We demonstrate how uncertainty
estimates in citizen science data can be strongly influenced by sampling
processes, especially observer effects. Although such effects are now widely
recognized in ecological studies, citizen science data often predate the
mainstreaming of sampling protocols which measure and adjust for imperfect
detectability. Here, we propose random effect models to minimize such effects
in lieu of detectability techniques, and urge citizen science programs to adapt
their protocols to handle observer processes at the planning and data
collection stage.
pdf copy
available upon request.
Best regards,
MSc Nicolò Tonachella