The BC Biodiversity Program: Using community science to enhance our knowledge of BC’s species
#1. The BC Biodiversity Program: Using community science to enhance our knowledge of BC’s species
Date: Thursday, January 21 at 12 pm PT / 1 pm MT.
Presenter
Dr. Brian Starzomski, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Starzomski Lab, BC Biodiversity Program
Dr. Brian Starzomski is a Professor in the School of Environmental Studies. Originally from Nova Scotia, he loves to work in a variety of systems to study biodiversity questions, and is broadly trained as a community ecologist and conservation biologist. His research focuses on biodiversity structure and dynamics, and seeks to link theory and empirical approaches. A current research focus is in exploring long-term human-environment interactions on the Central Coast of British Columbia, out of the Hakai Institute. Another is partnering with collaborators like BC Parks and John Reynolds at SFU to collect and analyze community science biodiversity observations, especially using iNaturalist.
Community science has exploded in popularity and importance in the last decade as apps like eBird and iNaturalist have made it much easier for anyone to contribute occurrence records of species around the world. There are now more than 25 million observations of over 45,000 species in Canada, and programs like the BC Biodiversity Program contribute targeted records from across our province.
Virtually every endangered and threatened species assessment in Canada now leans heavily on community science records. For other overlooked species, community science records have shown that they may be more widespread or common than previously thought. We’re in a time where anyone can contribute valuable biodiversity records, and scientists are rapidly developing tools to use these unstructured data. This talk will give an overview of some of these important findings, and show some ways to improve community science documentation so that it better complements more robust designed sampling.
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