TY - JOUR

T1 - Crowdsourcing snake identification with online communities of professional herpetologists and avocational snake enthusiasts

AU - Durso, Andrew M.

AU - Bolon, Isabelle

AU - Kleinhesselink, A.R.

AU - Mondardini, M.R.

AU - Fernandez-Marquez, J.L.

AU - Gutsche-Jones, F.

AU - Gwilliams, C.

AU - Tanner, M.

AU - Smith, Christopher E.

AU - Wüster, Wolfgang

AU - Grey, F.

AU - Ruiz de Castañeda, R.

N1 - © 2021 The Authors.

PY - 2021/1/13

Y1 - 2021/1/13

N2 - Species identification can be challenging for biologists, healthcare practitioners and members of the general public. Snakes are no exception, and the potential medical consequences of venomous snake misidentification can be significant. Here, we collected data on identification of 100 snake species by building a week-long online citizen science challenge which attracted more than 1000 participants from around the world. We show that a large community including both professional herpetologists and skilled avocational snake enthusiasts with the potential to quickly (less than 2 min) and accurately (69–90%; see text) identify snakes is active online around the clock, but that only a small fraction of community members are proficient at identifying snakes to the species level, even when provided with the snake’s geographical origin. Nevertheless, participants showed great enthusiasm and engagement, and our study provides evidence that innovative citizen science/crowdsourcing approaches can play significant roles in training and building capacity. Although identification by an expert familiar with the local snake fauna will always be the gold standard, we suggest that healthcare workers, clinicians, epidemiologists and other parties interested in snakebite could become more connected to these communities, and that professional herpetologists and skilled avocational snake enthusiasts could organize ways to help connect medical professionals to crowdsourcing platforms. Involving skilled avocational snake enthusiasts in decision making could build the capacity of healthcare workers to identify snakes more quickly, specifically and accurately, and ultimately improve snakebite treatment data and outcomes.

AB - Species identification can be challenging for biologists, healthcare practitioners and members of the general public. Snakes are no exception, and the potential medical consequences of venomous snake misidentification can be significant. Here, we collected data on identification of 100 snake species by building a week-long online citizen science challenge which attracted more than 1000 participants from around the world. We show that a large community including both professional herpetologists and skilled avocational snake enthusiasts with the potential to quickly (less than 2 min) and accurately (69–90%; see text) identify snakes is active online around the clock, but that only a small fraction of community members are proficient at identifying snakes to the species level, even when provided with the snake’s geographical origin. Nevertheless, participants showed great enthusiasm and engagement, and our study provides evidence that innovative citizen science/crowdsourcing approaches can play significant roles in training and building capacity. Although identification by an expert familiar with the local snake fauna will always be the gold standard, we suggest that healthcare workers, clinicians, epidemiologists and other parties interested in snakebite could become more connected to these communities, and that professional herpetologists and skilled avocational snake enthusiasts could organize ways to help connect medical professionals to crowdsourcing platforms. Involving skilled avocational snake enthusiasts in decision making could build the capacity of healthcare workers to identify snakes more quickly, specifically and accurately, and ultimately improve snakebite treatment data and outcomes.

KW - biodiversity

KW - citizen science

KW - item response theory

KW - misidentification

KW - online challenge

KW - venomous snakebite

U2 - 10.1098/rsos.201273

DO - 10.1098/rsos.201273

M3 - Article

C2 - 33614073

VL - 8

JO - Royal Society Open Science

JF - Royal Society Open Science

SN - 2054-5703

IS - 1

M1 - 201273

ER -