Computer vision for assessing species color pattern variation from web-based community science images

Hantak, Maggie M.; Guralnick, Robert; Zare, Alina; Stucky, Brian J.

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104784

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…iNaturalist has generally been used more for outreach and education (Aristeidou et al, 2021) and investigations of regional species diversity and species geographic ranges (Rosa et al, 2022) than for ecological and evolutionary studies, but this is now changing (Aguillon & Shultz, 2022; Bolt et al, 2022; Fritz & Ihlow, 2022; Putman et al, 2021). Analytical methods for tapping the full potential of citizen science photos (Hantak, Guralnick, Zare, et al, 2022; Leighton et al, 2016; Schiller et al, 2021), and better methods for imaging wildlife and specimens, including camera traps (Steenweg et al, 2017) and 3D models (Medina et al, 2020), will facilitate future studies bringing together photos and specimens in biodiversity science.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal stability of the hybrid zone between Calocitta magpie‐jays revealed through comparison of museum specimens and iNaturalist photos

Pizarro

DeRaad

McCormack

2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Hybrid zones are natural experiments for the study of avian evolution. Hybrid zones can be dynamic, moving as species adjust to new climates and habitats, with unknown implications for species and speciation. There are relatively few studies that have comparable modern and historic sampling to assess change in hybrid zone location and width over time, and those studies have generally found mixed results, with many hybrid zones showing change over time, but others showing stability. The whitethroated magpie-jay (Calocitta formosa) and black-throated magpie-jay (Calocitta colliei) occur along the western coast of Mexico and Central America. The two species differ markedly in throat color and tail length, and prior observation suggests a narrow hybrid zone in southern Jalisco where individuals have mixed throat color. This study aims to assess the existence and temporal stability of this putative hybrid zone by comparing throat color between georeferenced historical museum specimens and modern photos from iNaturalist with precise locality information. Our results confirm the existence of a narrow hybrid zone in Jalisco, with modern throat scores gradually increasing from the parental ends of the cline toward the cline center in a sigmoidal curve characteristic of hybrid zones. Our temporal comparison suggests that the hybrid zone has not shifted its position between historical (pre-1973) and modern (post-2005) time periods-a surprising result given the grand scale of habitat change to the western Mexican lowlands during this time. An anomalous pocket of white-throated individuals in the northern range of the black-throated magpie-jay hints at the possibility of prehistorical long-distance introduction. Future genomic data will help disentangle the evolutionary history of these lineages and better characterize how secondary contact is affecting both the DNA and the phenotype of these species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal stability of the hybrid zone between Calocitta magpie‐jays revealed through comparison of museum specimens and iNaturalist photos

Pizarro

DeRaad

McCormack

2023

Ecology and Evolution

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“…The large amount of natural history data we gathered for T. ornata would not have been possible without dedicated researchers that tracked wild turtles with radiotelemetry and individuals willing to contribute observations to citizen science platforms (Irwin, 2018). Citizen science platforms, in fact, represent important sources of biodiversity data that can be leveraged to study organisms across unprecedented spatiotemporal scales of analysis (e.g., Hantak et al, 2022; Perry et al, 2022). Citizen science helped us elucidate the reproductive phenology T. ornata , and it will continue to be important for biodiversity in the future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Copulation Phenology of Ornate Box Turtles (Terrapene ornata)

Hughes,

Dukuly,

Becker

et al. 2023

Journal of Herpetology

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Many organisms respond to environmental change by altering the timing of various life-cycle events. Understanding an organism's phenology, therefore, is crucial for predicting the effects of anthropogenic impacts such as climate change. Nevertheless, collecting adequate data to test hypotheses in secretive species is difficult, especially for rare behaviors. We integrated data from online citizen science platforms, published literature, and unpublished studies to clarify the seasonal timing of copulation in Terrapene ornata, a behavior that is rarely observed. We identified 132 copulation events involving an estimated 256 individual turtles: 19 instances from 5,465 photo-vouchered observations, 78 from 11 publications, and 35 from radiotracking 267 turtles for 8 yr across five sites. Copulations in T. ornata occurred in every month from April to October, with the fewest records in April and October. We found no copulation records in two months of purported aboveground activity (March and November), suggesting that mating in the wild may not occur at any time during the active season. The frequency of reproductive events exhibited multimodality with evident peaks in May and September. Records from the northern portion of the species' range were most frequent in the spring, whereas southern records were most frequent in the fall. Our approach generated a large number of empirical records for a rare behavior in a secretive species across vast spatial scales, which would not have been possible using any of the individual data sources alone.

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“…Using Google Images, Leighton et al [39] spearheaded the use of community-sourced images to study trait variation. More recently, studies have harnessed the abundance of iNaturalist community science images to examine intraspecific variation in traits like coloration [40][41][42][43], in addition to studying phenological trends [44][45][46][47] and predation rates [16]. Our study is the first to test range-wide colour and climate associations in North American ratsnakes, which is likely due to the challenges with documenting colour in these snakes.…”

Section: (C) Community Science For Examining Species Colour Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, de Solan et al [48] used deep learning to quantify snake mimicry from standardized digital photographs. However, image heterogeneity is inherent in community science images, and Hantak et al [42] developed a highly accurate deep learning model to score a salamander colour polymorphism from iNaturalist images. That study was based on a simple binary classifier (stripe presence/absence), while ratsnake colour categorization is more challenging as colour variation may be more continuous rather than discrete.…”

Section: (C) Community Science For Examining Species Colour Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colour scales with climate in North American ratsnakes: a test of the thermal melanism hypothesis using community science images

et al. 2022

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Animal colour is a complex trait shaped by multiple selection pressures that can vary across geography. The thermal melanism hypothesis predicts that darker coloration is beneficial to animals in colder regions because it allows for more rapid solar absorption. Here, we use community science images of three closely related species of North American ratsnakes (genus Pantherophis ) to examine if climate predicts colour variation across range-wide scales. We predicted that darker individuals are found in colder regions and higher elevations, in accordance with the thermal melanism hypothesis. Using an unprecedented dataset of over 8000 images, we found strong support for temperature as a key predictor of darker colour, supporting thermal melanism. We also found that elevation and precipitation are predictive of colour, but the direction and magnitude of these effects were more variable across species. Our study is the first to quantify colour variation in Pantherophis ratsnakes, highlighting the value of community science images for studying range-wide colour variation.

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Computer vision for assessing species color pattern variation from web-based community science images

Cited by 11 publications

References 54 publications

Temporal stability of the hybrid zone between Calocitta magpie‐jays revealed through comparison of museum specimens and iNaturalist photos

Temporal stability of the hybrid zone between Calocitta magpie‐jays revealed through comparison of museum specimens and iNaturalist photos

Copulation Phenology of Ornate Box Turtles (Terrapene ornata)

Colour scales with climate in North American ratsnakes: a test of the thermal melanism hypothesis using community science images

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