This session included three very different community science projects–from otters in Singapore to cats around the world!
Otters!
Philip Johns, of Yale-NUS College, studies the foraging behaviors in urban smooth-coated otters in Singapore. Singapore is very urban, and all of its waterways are highly modified–similar to those in Los Angeles. Despite this, about 18 families of otters now live in the city. They are new residents of the city, following intensive waterway cleanup efforts to reduce water pollution.
Some of the otter families are very used to humans, allowing researchers to observe behaviors not seen elsewhere. There is also a strong community of otter watchers who take hundreds of photos and videos weekly.
One benefit for us: a plethora of ADORABLE OTTER PHOTOS!
These otter photos have another use: studying foraging behavior! Johns devised an easy to follow protocol for studying animal behavior for both student researchers and community researchers to use. In short: find a group of otters, choose one at random, record for one minute keeping that otter in the frame, and repeat.
From this collaboration, a student researcher noticed an interesting behavior: otter families fishing using grounding techniques. On further investigation, Johns’ team found that young pups are almost always involved in this behavior and that the otters catch much smaller fish than usual. Their current hypothesis is that this behavior is how adults teach pups to fish. The behavior seems to fit Thornton et al’s work on meerkats as well as at least part of Caro & Hauser’s 1992 definition of learning–the adults modify their behavior in the presence of juveniles. However, there is little evidence currently for pups improving their fishing skills through this behavior. One possible behavior pathway is begging -> herding -> broken fish (incapacitated by a parent) -> independent hunters, however, this will require more study.
Johns’ group is also conducting studies on other smooth-coated otter foraging behaviors and vocalizations, looking at begging calls, including as a way to look at parent-child conflict. For example, begging is rewarded less often and treated with more annoyance as pups grow up.
Overall, Johns says that there is a huge potential for community science and animal behavior studies, as there are thousands of potential observers. Johns also noted that scientists often assume community science needs to be top-down, but there is a lot of potential for incidental data collection and working with the community–though as an outsider in Singapore, this can be very difficult.
iNaturalist can guide policy
Sam Kieschnick, an Urban Wildlife Biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, has found that the data community scientists are collecting is often secondary to the public engagement with the environment. In Kieschnick’s experience, at the local level elected officials dictate policy, and the public constituency drives which decisions elected officials are acting on. Community science creates a constituency that is engaged with and will advocate for environmental issues. With this framework, and that small habitat patches can be important for biodiversity, Kieschnick highlighted a number of successes in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
First, Kieschnick’s team lead a bioblitz at a donated parcel. The community found 300+ species present, and the parcel was designated a reserve based on the strength of this evidence. Second, they lead bioblitzes throughout the city park system that allows park managers to modify park maintenance and management. For example, the path of a planned pipeline was altered based on their data. All of these projects have been successes not just because of the data generated, but because of the engagement from the community.
In a question that related back to one asked during the plenary, an audience member asked how they get people to come to their bioblitzes. Kieschnick emphasized the importance of going to school events and other community events, not just asking people to come to their events. They also publish popular and newspaper articles that don’t really go into the “science” success markers but focus more on community. In Kieschnick’s opinion, if TPWD isn’t the primary beneficiary from community science, that’s ok!
Tracking cats with CatTracker
Jason Luscier, an assistant professor at Le Moyne College, is interested in the IUCN’s 2008 world’s worst invasive species…the house cat! Luscier finds cat research interesting because it intersects multiple disciplines–including popular culture (cat videos!), ecosystem health, wildlife conservation, public opinion, religious beliefs, and policy making. It is a potential example of what ecology could be, that takes an interdisciplinary approach and considers social aspects of the problem.
Thus, Cat Tracker was born. The app is a platform for people to gather information about the distribution of cats in urban areas. Luscier is interested in understanding the urban wildlife of Syracuse, NY better–for example, how do bird distributions overlap with outdoor cat distributions? What effects might there be with spatial overlap?
Luscier also hopes that other groups could use the data, including animal welfare groups with common goals (no outdoor/homeless cats!). However, while some groups are on board, others remain hostile. While conservation biologists and animal welfare groups share similar goals, they have very different motivations.
Featured image “Singapore Information-signs Warning-signs-01” by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas.
- IUWC 2019: Inclusive Urban Ecosystems - June 10, 2019
- IUWC 2019: Community Science - June 7, 2019
- IUWC 2019: Urban Raptors - June 6, 2019