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

Autor:	Durso AM; Institute of Global Health, Department of Community Health and Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.; Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers, FL, USA., Bolon I; Institute of Global Health, Department of Community Health and Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland., Kleinhesselink AR; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA., Mondardini MR; Citizen Science Center Zürich, ETHZ and University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland., Fernandez-Marquez JL; Citizen Cyberlab, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland., Gutsche-Jones F; Citizen Science Center Zürich, ETHZ and University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland., Gwilliams C; Citizen Science Center Zürich, ETHZ and University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland., Tanner M; Citizen Science Center Zürich, ETHZ and University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland., Smith CE; HerpMapper, MN, USA., Wüster W; Bangor University College of Natural Sciences, Bangor, UK., Grey F; Citizen Cyberlab, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland., Ruiz de Castañeda R; Institute of Global Health, Department of Community Health and Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Royal Society open science [R Soc Open Sci] 2021 Jan 13; Vol. 8 (1), pp. 201273. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jan 13 (Print Publication: 2021).
DOI:	10.1098/rsos.201273
Abstrakt:	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. Competing Interests: We declare we have no competing interests. (© 2021 The Authors.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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