Contribution of iNaturalist Observations to Global Digital Data on the Distribution of Invertebrates in European Russia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52575/2712-9047-2026-8-1-132-141Keywords:
GBIF, iNaturalist, Araneae, Carabidae, Lumbricidae, European part of Russia, citizen scienceAbstract
The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of iNaturalist observations to occurrence data on spiders (order Araneae), ground beetles (family Carabidae), and earthworms (family Lumbricidae) in European Russia, which are available through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. We have found that iNaturalist makes the largest contribution to GBIF data on spiders, being the leading source for this group in terms of the number of records. However, as little as 18.4–49.2% of the total number of species in the analyzed groups of invertebrates are currently recorded on iNaturalist. The proportion of species represented only in observations is small, ranging from 0% to 10.6%. The composition of the most frequently recorded species in iNaturalist differs from that in GBIF scientific sources. A conclusion is drawn about iNaturalist observations significantly expanding the spatial coverage of data on the distribution of spiders and ground beetles and slightly supplementing information on the range of earthworms. Our findings reveal that the spatial distribution of species occurrences for all analyzed groups of invertebrates in various time periods was not random.
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Dimson M., Gillespie T.W. 2023. Who, where, when: Observer behavior influences spatial and temporal patterns of iNaturalist participation. Applied Geography, 153: 102916. DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2023.102916
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GBIF.org. Araneae (07 September 2025) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3hn6vm
GBIF.org. Carabidae (07 September 2025) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.ed99k8
GBIF.org. Lumbricidae (07 September 2025) GBIF Occurrence Download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3fz7ks
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Hognogi G.G., Meltzer M., Alexandrescu F., Ștefănescu L. 2023. The role of citizen science mobile apps in facilitating a contemporary digital agora. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10: 863. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-02358-7
iNaturalist contributors, iNaturalist. 2012. iNaturalist Research-grade Observations. iNaturalist.org. Occurrence dataset. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. https://doi.org/10.15468/ab3s5x accessed via GBIF.org on 2025-12-03.
Ivanova N., Shashkov M. 2020. Contribution of Citizen Science to Biodiversity Data Mobilization in Russia. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards, 4: e59197. DOI: 10.3897/biss.4.59197
Ivanova N.V., Shashkov M.P., Ermolov S.A. 2025. Diversity of earthworm communities in the European part of Russia: field data and model estimations. Ecosystem Transformation, 8(4): 120–137. DOI: 10.23859/estr-240206
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Matutini F., Baudry J., Pain G., Sineau M., Pithon J. 2021. How citizen science could improve species distribution models and their independent assessment. Ecology and evolution, 11(7): 3028–3039. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7210
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Potapov A.M., Chen T-W., Striuchkova A.V., et al. 2024. Global fine-resolution data on springtail abundance and community structure. Scientific Data, 11, 22. DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02784-x
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R Core Team. 2025. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Available at: https://www.R-project.org/ (accessed: December 20, 2025)
Schultheiss P., Nooten S.S., Wang R., Wong M.K. L., Brassard F., Guénard B. 2022. The abundance, biomass, and distribution of ants on Earth. PNAS, 119(40): e2201550119 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2201550119
Seltzer C. 2019. Making Biodiversity Data Social, Shareable, and Scalable: Reflections on iNaturalist & citizen science. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards, 3: e46670 DOI: 10.3897/biss.3.46670
Seregin A.P., Bochkov D.A., Shner J.V., et al. 2020. "Flora of Russia" on iNaturalist: a dataset. Biodiversity Data Journal, 8: e59249. DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.8.e59249
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Shashkov M., Ivanova N., Ermolov S. 2024. Earthworm occurrence dataset extracted from Russian-language literature. Biodiversity Data Journal, 12: e130897. DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.12.e130897
Sullivan B.L., Aycrigg J.L., Barry J.E., et al. 2014. The eBird enterprise: An integrated approach to development and application of citizen science. Biological conservation, 169: 31–40. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2013.11.003
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