Prospects for crowdsourced information on the geomorphic ‘engineering’ by the invasive Coypu (Myocastor coypus)

Abstract

Among the most invasive species, the Coypu (Myocastor coypus) best exemplifies the widespread effect of alien species on ecosystems. Among the impacts, the induced erosion in riverbanks has an increasing economic and social importance. Despite its significance, this type of erosion is rarely quantified, and the available information is limited to local knowledge, grey literature, and maintenance reports. This research shows the potential of freely and instantly available Structure‐from‐Motion (SfM) photogrammetry to obtain crowdsourced information based on smartphone images. The results highlight how it is possible to provide a rough estimate of the damages with relatively low or null cost of application, and limited expert knowledge and expenditure of time, depending on the scale of analysis. The proposed technique provides a fresh approach to a known long‐standing issue, offering a new source of information for farmers, researchers, wildlife managers, as well as for land managers and planners. The potential applications of such a technique and its unprecedented ease of use and very low cost offer effective tools for management plans and scientific research, providing a basis to relate eroded volumes to the functioning of the drainage system and the connected agroecosystem. The method would also enable the opportunity of participatory and opportunistic crowdsourced sensing. Further scientific research on the crowd‐based data on erosion should encourage standardisation of data gathering and accessibility, together with a public involvement in information exchange, to generate a better understanding and awareness of erosion problems also for other fields of research. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Burrowing Invasive Species: An Unquantified Erosion Risk at the Aquatic‐Terrestrial Interface

“…Examples of invasive species burrows in different types of aquatic margin: (a) P. leniusculus burrows on the River Enbourne, UK; (b) Pterygoplichthys sp. burrows on the San Antonio River, Texas, USA (reproduced from Hoover et al, ); (c) sediment loosened by extensive burrowing activity of S. quoianum and (d) collapse of marsh surface linked with S. quoianum burrowing, both from Paradise Creek, San Diego Bay, USA (both reproduced from Talley et al, , with permission from Springer Nature); and (e‐g) M. coypus burrows and associated erosion on drainage channels in northern Italy (reproduced from Sofia et al, , with permission from John Wiley & Sons).…”

“…Burrows can extend for up to 5 m in depth and range from simple single‐entrance systems to complex systems with multiple tunnels and entrances at different levels (Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, ). Burrowing activity by M. coypus has been linked to the undermining of banks and embankments on irrigation canals (Bertolino & Genovesi, ; Sofia et al, ; Figures e‐g), and burrow‐induced collapse of weakened banks and levees has been linked to devastating flood events (Orlandini et al, ; Panzacchi et al, ). River bank management related to M. coypus has been estimated as in excess of € 1 million per year in Italy (Panzacchi et al, ).…”

Quantitative Analysis of Anthropogenic Morphologies Based on Multi-Temporal High-Resolution Topography

“…One of the principles of anthropogenic geomorphology is that within regions influenced by a given society, the functions that create anthropogenic features are not homogeneous, but rather differ across space in relation to both social and natural patterns [29]. Patterns of statistical self-similarity or autocorrelation may prove capable of identifying differences between natural geomorphology and anthropogenic ones [19,29,30]. Therefore, to further characterize the different categories of geomorphic changes, we evaluated their spatial autocorrelation.…”

The geomorphologic forcing of wild boars

“…Another land degradation factor in agriculture is represented by wildlife impact, for example coypu (Myocastor coypu) (Tinarelli, 2002;Bertolino, 2009) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) on cropland systems. These species have been recognized as driving forces for land degradation processes leading to environmental, economic and social conflicts, with particular regard to agroecosystems (Lowe et al, 2000;Amici et al, 2012;Ficetola et al, 2014;Sofia et al, 2017).…”