What is citizen science (CS)? Involvinguntrainedmembersofthepublicinresearch.PROS:Largeamountsofdatacollectedovervastareas&:mescales,cost-effec:veCONS:Over-es:ma:ngabundance&diversity,incorrectID,recordingeffortisdifficult,howcanwetrainthecrowdtocollectgoodqualitydata?
What is Photo ID (PID)? Acost-effec:ve,non-invasivemonitoringtechniquethatcanbeusedbypeoplewithliFletraining.AseriesofphotoscanrevealresidencypaFerns,seasonalabundances,popula:onstructure,nes:ngintervals,etc.
Methods
Photosofbothsidesofaturtle’sfacecollectedfrombiologists&tourists.TurtlesID’dbyeyeonly.Photosqualitychecked&capturehistoriesforselectedreefscreated&analyzedusingopen&closedpopula:onmodelsinR(Rcapturepackage).Captureoccasions=1month.
Conclusions
• TheMaldivesisanidealplacetoinvolvetouristsinPID,asshownbyCocoCollec:onResorts
• ACSPIDprogramcanmonitorturtlepopula:onswithminimal:me&resourceinvestment–fillgapsinscien:ficknowledge&increasevalueofspeciesstudied
• Opportuni:esforeduca:on&outreachàpowerfulawarenesstool!
• Abilitytosurveyremoteareas,long-termconsistentdatasetthatwouldotherwisebedifficult
• Keytosuccessisanetworkofengagedci:zenscien:sts&developingapersonalconnec:onbetweenthem&animalsstudied
Using citizen science to monitor sea turtle populations in real-time around two Maldivian islands
Jillian Hudgins, The Olive Ridley Project, [email protected] & Chiara Fumagalli, Coco Collection Resorts (former address), [email protected]
Acknowledgements: Thanks to all photo submitters. Acknowledgments to E. Hudgins for her assistance using R,, the Marine Research Centre & Coco Collection Resorts.
Case study
² Programhascollectedover10,000ofsigh:ngsfrom17atolls,>300uniquesubmiFers
² 1,651E.imbricata,281C.mydas,&22L.olivaceaiden:fied
² 2resortschosenforcasestudy(CocoPalmDhuniKolhu&CocoBoduHithi)
² Par:cipantssince2013&highguestinvolvement=consistentdataset
² Observetrends,documentpopula:onchange
Determining nesting interval
Aseriesofphotoshasiden:fiedthesamegreenturtlereturningtonest5:mesonBaaDhuniKolhu.Fromphotos,nes:ngintervalwasdeterminedtobe15.25±2.66days.Thisisthefirstdetermina:onofgreenturtlenes:ngintervalinMaldives.
Fig.5.GR362photographednes?ng5?mesinthesameseason.Photos©ChiaraFumagalli.
Fig.3.TheMaldivesismadeupof~1,200islandsin26atolls.
Determining size at maturity
Ahawksbillturtlewasphotographedover3yearsasitmatured.At60cmSCL,ithadasmalltail,at62cm,ithadamoreno:ceabletail.Thishashelpedusnarrowdownsizeatmaturity,nowassumedtobe>60cmformalehawksbillsintheMaldives.
July2013 October2014 January2016September2015
Fig.6.HK307photographedover3years.<60cmSCLinleOphoto&smalltail,62cmSCLinrightphoto&largertail.Photos©ChiaraFumagalli.
©ChiaraFumagalli ©JasminPape
Fig.1.TurtleshaveauniquepaRernoffacialscutes.L&Rsidesareasymmetrical.AreausedforIDbasedonJeanetal.(2010)
Why the Maldives?
• Nobaselinedataset,liFledatasharing,logis:callydifficult
• Millionsoftouristsvisittoviewmarinewildlife,manywithcameras
• Poten:allargevolunteerworkforce…
• Putthetouriststowork!
Population change over time
Fig.7.Varia?oninresidentturtlepopula?onsat6sitesover3or6monthintervals.BasedonresultsfromRcaptureopenpopula?onmodels.Theredoesnotappeartobeanyseasonalvaria?on.
Results
Fig.2.Plo[ngcumula?venumberofhawksbillturtlesversussamplingoccasion(1month)createsdiscoverycurves.CurveflaRenswhenthecurrentpop.hasbeenphotographed&increaseswhennewturtlesarephotographed(2013-2016data).
©LaurenArthur
Resort/Atoll PhotographedTurtles
PopulaOonesOmate[fromRCapture]
Avg.SCLHawksbill
Avg.SCLGreen
CocoPalmDhuniKolhu(Baa)
70Hawksbill21Green
5OliveRidley
DKHR:30.3+/-1.8Muthaafushi:42.3+/-3.4Kiufengali:6.6+/-1.0
44.9±8.6cm 61.3±20.2cm
CocoBoduHithi(NorthMale)
94Hawksbill4Green
BHHR:34.2+/-1.2BHTP:42.1+/-1.6
BHThila:27.9+/-5.843.6±6.8 67.8±25.1
Table1.Number&sizeofturtlesphotographedatCocoBoduHithi&CocoPalmDhuniKolhuresortsbyguestsandstaff(2013-2016).
Fig.4.Age&sexdistribu?onfromsigh?ngs(2casestudyresortscombined).
February2016
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CumulaO
venum
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fturtle
spho
tograp
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BHHouseReefBHTurtlePointBHThilaDhuniKolhuMuthaafushiKiufengali
