Citizen science initiatives document biodiversity baselines at an urban lake
Changes to biodiversity from urbanization are occurring worldwide, and baseline data is vital to document the magnitude and direction of these alterations. We set out to document the biodiversity of an urban lake in Eastern Iowa that was devoid of baseline data prior to a renovation project that wil...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2024-04-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/17209.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797201053532291072 |
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| author | Alyssah Ahern Daniel F. Hughes |
| author_facet | Alyssah Ahern Daniel F. Hughes |
| author_sort | Alyssah Ahern |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Changes to biodiversity from urbanization are occurring worldwide, and baseline data is vital to document the magnitude and direction of these alterations. We set out to document the biodiversity of an urban lake in Eastern Iowa that was devoid of baseline data prior to a renovation project that will convert the site into a major area for human recreation. Throughout the course of one year, we studied the biodiversity at Cedar Lake utilizing the citizen-science application iNaturalist coupled with semi-structured BioBlitz events, which we compared to previous opportunistic observations at the site. From a semi-structured approach to document biodiversity with citizen science, our analyses revealed more diverse community metrics over a shorter period compared to more than a decade of prior observations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T07:41:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7c86f5e1838c4579ac95baa04ace3806 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T07:41:26Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-7c86f5e1838c4579ac95baa04ace38062024-04-19T15:05:04ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592024-04-0112e1720910.7717/peerj.17209Citizen science initiatives document biodiversity baselines at an urban lakeAlyssah AhernDaniel F. HughesChanges to biodiversity from urbanization are occurring worldwide, and baseline data is vital to document the magnitude and direction of these alterations. We set out to document the biodiversity of an urban lake in Eastern Iowa that was devoid of baseline data prior to a renovation project that will convert the site into a major area for human recreation. Throughout the course of one year, we studied the biodiversity at Cedar Lake utilizing the citizen-science application iNaturalist coupled with semi-structured BioBlitz events, which we compared to previous opportunistic observations at the site. From a semi-structured approach to document biodiversity with citizen science, our analyses revealed more diverse community metrics over a shorter period compared to more than a decade of prior observations.https://peerj.com/articles/17209.pdfBiodiversityBaseline dataUrban biodiversityGlobal changeUrban lakeSpecies richness |
| spellingShingle | Alyssah Ahern Daniel F. Hughes Citizen science initiatives document biodiversity baselines at an urban lake PeerJ Biodiversity Baseline data Urban biodiversity Global change Urban lake Species richness |
| title | Citizen science initiatives document biodiversity baselines at an urban lake |
| title_full | Citizen science initiatives document biodiversity baselines at an urban lake |
| title_fullStr | Citizen science initiatives document biodiversity baselines at an urban lake |
| title_full_unstemmed | Citizen science initiatives document biodiversity baselines at an urban lake |
| title_short | Citizen science initiatives document biodiversity baselines at an urban lake |
| title_sort | citizen science initiatives document biodiversity baselines at an urban lake |
| topic | Biodiversity Baseline data Urban biodiversity Global change Urban lake Species richness |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/17209.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alyssahahern citizenscienceinitiativesdocumentbiodiversitybaselinesatanurbanlake AT danielfhughes citizenscienceinitiativesdocumentbiodiversitybaselinesatanurbanlake |