参与式方法,比如社区摄影,可以让公众参与社会和科学利益问题,同时帮助推进对生态模式和过程的理解。我们结合了从社区来源提取的数据,空间清晰的照片,以及2018年育空地区实地调查的研究结果,加拿大,为了评估山地山羊(Oreamnosamericanus)的冬季大衣蜕皮模式和物候,一个冷适应,高山哺乳动物。利用社区科学门户网站iNaturalist和CitSci,在不到一年的时间里,我们收集了一个数据库,其中包含近七百张独特的照片,这些照片跨越了北纬37.6°至61.1°北纬0至4333m之间约4,500公里的高度。使用统计方法处理不完整的数据,社区科学数据集中的一个常见问题,我们确定了内在因素(性别和后代的存在)和广泛的环境因素(纬度和海拔)对蜕皮发生和速率的影响,并将我们的发现与已发表的数据进行了比较.脱落发生在5月29日至9月6日之间的3个月期间。性别和后代对蜕皮时间的影响在社区来源和育空地区的数据之间以及在艾伯塔省中西部的长期研究地点对野生山羊的发现之间是一致的,加拿大。雄性先蜕皮,其次是没有后代的雌性(4.4天后,粗粒,地理范围广泛的社区科学样本;29.2天后,在我们细粒度的育空地区样本中),最后是有新孩子的女性(6.2;21.2天后,分别)。后来在海拔较高的地区脱落,在北纬地区脱落更快。我们的发现为采用社区摄影来研究有关生态事件发生时间的广泛问题奠定了基础。以及对可能的气候驱动因素的性别差异。此外,社区摄影可以帮助激发公众参与环境和户外活动,特别是关于标志性野生动物。
Participatory approaches, such as community photography, can engage the public in questions of societal and scientific interest while helping advance understanding of ecological patterns and processes. We combined data extracted from community-sourced, spatially explicit photographs with research findings from 2018 fieldwork in the Yukon, Canada, to evaluate winter coat molt patterns and phenology in mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus), a cold-adapted, alpine mammal. Leveraging the community science portals iNaturalist and CitSci, in less than a year we amassed a database of almost seven hundred unique photographs spanning some 4,500 km between latitudes 37.6°N and 61.1°N from 0 to 4,333 m elevation. Using statistical methods accounting for incomplete data, a common issue in community science datasets, we identified the effects of intrinsic (sex and presence of offspring) and broad environmental (
latitude and elevation) factors on molt onset and rate and compared our findings with published data. Shedding occurred over a 3-month period between 29 May and 6 September. Effects of sex and offspring on the timing of molt were consistent between the community-sourced and our Yukon data and with findings on wild mountain goats at a long-term research site in west-central Alberta, Canada. Males molted first, followed by females without offspring (4.4 days later in the coarse-grained, geographically wide community science sample; 29.2 days later in our fine-grained Yukon sample) and lastly females with new kids (6.2; 21.2 days later, respectively). Shedding was later at higher elevations and faster at northern latitudes. Our findings establish a basis for employing community photography to examine broad-scale questions about the timing of ecological events, as well as sex differences in response to possible climate drivers. In addition, community photography can help inspire public participation in environmental and outdoor activities specifically with reference to iconic wildlife.