Slugging it out for science: volunteers provide valuable data on the diversity and distribution of heterobranch sea slugs

ABSTRACT

There is increasing interest in participation by volunteers in data collection for marine ecosystems. Here we evaluate the contribution that citizen scientists can make to documenting marine biodiversity through underwater photography of targeted taxa. In a series of 13, 24-hr censuses of sea slugs, at intervals of three months from December 2013 to December 2016, volunteers recorded similar species richness (89%) to scientists at Port Stephens, NSW, Australia. Volunteer numbers only partially (24.9% of variation) explained the relative performance of volunteers against scientists, or the number of species found by volunteers (20.5%). Species richness in censuses was similar (97%) to estimates obtained during four-week lead-up periods. The programme provided novel information on diversity and seasonality of sea slugs, revealing strong seasonal patterns for chromodorid nudibranchs, and cyclical temporal change at the assemblage level. The programme inspired many of the participants to take part in multiple events, generated educational material, and led to the extension of the programme to other locations. The potential benefits of programmes such as this go beyond the generation of data to address specific research questions and, combined with extension activities, can help to deliver and reinforce messages about the importance of marine ecosystem health.

KEYWORDS:

• Biodiversity
• census
• citizen scientists
• temporal variation
• Sea Slug Census

Acknowledgements

A large number of people contributed to this project whether through participation or other support. We would therefore like to thank: Nicola Davis, Dr Richard Willan (Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory), Dr David Harasti (NSW DPI – Fisheries), Margo Smith (Combined Hunter Underwater Group), Matt Nimbs (Southern Cross University), Kathryn James (Kathryn James Design), and all of the participants (see Supplementary Material for a full list). The programme received financial and in-kind support from: NSW Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries), Local Land Services (Hunter), Port Stephens Council, Let’s Go Adventures, Feet First Dive, Newcastle Dive, Oceanic/Aeris, ScubaPro, Combined Hunter Underwater Group, d’Albora Marina, Apollo, Mares and Tim Hochgrebe. All activities were performed under a research permit issued by NSW Department of Primary Industries – Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park (2015/054). We are very grateful to the anonymous referees who helped to improve the manuscript and to Dr Don Colgan for additional editorial suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed by the authors.

Sampling and field studies

All necessary permits for sampling and observational field studies have been obtained by the authors from the competent authorities and are mentioned in the acknowledgements.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by small grants from SCU’s Marine Ecology Research Centre and Hunter Local Land Services.