Sharing for science: high-resolution trophic interactions revealed rapidly by social media

Abstract

<jats:p>Discrete, ephemeral natural phenomena with low spatial or temporal predictability are incredibly challenging to study systematically. In ecology, species interactions, which constitute the functional backbone of ecological communities, can be notoriously difficult to characterise especially when taxa are inconspicuous and the interactions of interest (e.g., trophic events) occur infrequently, rapidly, or variably in space and time. Overcoming such issues has historically required significant time and resource investment to collect sufficient data, precluding the answering of many ecological and evolutionary questions. Here, we show the utility of social media for rapidly collecting observations of ephemeral ecological phenomena with low spatial and temporal predictability by using a Facebook group dedicated to collecting predation events involving reptiles and amphibians in sub-Saharan Africa. We collected over 1900 independent feeding observations using Facebook from 2015 to 2019 involving 83 families of predators and 129 families of prey. Feeding events by snakes were particularly well-represented with close to 1,100 feeding observations recorded. Relative to an extensive literature review spanning 226 sources and 138 years, we found that social media has provided snake dietary records faster than ever before in history with prey being identified to a finer taxonomic resolution and showing only modest concordance with the literature due to the number of novel interactions that were detected. Finally, we demonstrate that social media can outperform other citizen science image-based approaches (iNaturalist and Google Images) highlighting the versatility of social media and its ability to function as a citizen science platform.</jats:p>

Predator–prey interaction between a boomslang, Dispholidus typus, and a flap‐necked chameleon, Chamaeleo dilepis

“…The wide availability of digital and mobile phone cameras nowadays allows for the detailed recording of isolated incidents of prey capture, or other behaviours, in the field, which has the potential to expand the known behavioural repertoire of snakes and other animals (e.g. Frigerio et al., 2018; Layloo, Smith, & Maritz, 2017; Maritz & Maritz, 2020) and to complement thorough field research, including camera trapping (see Agha et al, 2018), in particular for species and regions where knowledge is currently limited.…”

Promoting co-existence between humans and venomous snakes through increasing the herpetological knowledge base

“…An improved understanding of the selective pressures driving venom evolution requires, above all else, more detailed data on snake diet, predators, the outcomes of encounters and their determinants, and details of the role of venom in those encounters ( Whitford et al, 2019 ). Citizen scientists can potentially contribute precious data on rarely observed phenomena, such as these, that are not amenable to targeted study ( Maritz and Maritz, 2020 ).…”

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

“…#notacopperhead), and Facebook groups (approx. 50 groups focused on snake identification, notably ‘Snake Identification’ with greater than 200 000 members [ 43 ] as well as groups for sharing natural history observations about snakes [ 44 ]). These communities involve a relatively small number of professionals (e.g.…”