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Large-scale mammal monitoring: The potential of a citizen science camera-trapping project in the United Kingdom

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Mark WhittinghamORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

© 2022 The Authors. Ecological Solutions and Evidence published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.In light of global biodiversity loss, there is an increasing need for large-scale wildlife monitoring. This is difficult for mammals, since they can be elusive and nocturnal. In the United Kingdom, there is a lack of systematic, widespread mammal monitoring, and a recognized deficiency of data. Innovative new approaches are required. We developed MammalWeb, a portal to enable UK-wide camera trapping by a network of citizen scientists and partner organizations. MammalWeb citizen scientists contribute to both the collection and classification of camera trap data. Following trials in 2013–2017, MammalWeb has grown organically to increase its geographic reach (e.g. ∼2000 sites in Britain). It has so far provided the equivalent of over 340 camera trap-years of wild mammal monitoring, and produced nearly 440,000 classified image sequences and videos, of which, over 180,000 are mammal detections. We describe MammalWeb, its background, its development and the novel approaches we have for participation. We consider the data collected by MammalWeb participants, especially in light of their relevance to the main goals of wildlife monitoring: to provide spatial data, abundance data and temporal behavioural data. MammalWeb can complement existing approaches to mammal monitoring. Explicit accounting for spatial and temporal patterns in animal activity enables accounting of bias relative to ad hoc observational data. Estimating abundance presents challenges, as for many camera-trapping studies, but we discuss the potential of the data as they stand, and opportunities to advance their value for abundance estimation. Challenges remain to MammalWeb's central missions of enhancing engagement with and connection to nature, and delivering policy-relevant data on Britain's wild mammals. We discuss these challenges and the opportunities they provide for advances in respect of engagement, science and financial security. Our approach reduces administrative burden and increases spatial coverage and, as such, MammalWeb provides a useful addition to existing case studies of citizen science camera-trapping program design. We believe MammalWeb is an important step towards fulfilling calls for UK-wide mammal monitoring and our description of challenges identifies an agenda for fulfilling that purpose.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Hsing P-Y, Hill RA, Smith GC, Bradley S, Green SE, Kent VT, Mason SS, Rees J, Whittingham MJ, Cokill J, Stephens PA

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Ecological Solutions and Evidence

Year: 2022

Volume: 3

Issue: 4

Online publication date: 11/10/2022

Acceptance date: 18/08/2022

Date deposited: 15/02/2023

ISSN (electronic): 2688-8319

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12180

DOI: 10.1002/2688-8319.12180


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Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
NE/L002590/1
NE/R008485/1
RH-16-09501
OC/EFSA/ALPHA/2016/01–01
OC/EFSA/AMU/2018/02
OH-14-06474
OM-21-00458
PG∖S2∖192047
TESS – ESLE2012, 030-15/16

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