Differential reporting of biodiversity in two citizen science platforms during COVID-19 lockdown in Colombia.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the potential of using data from long-term citizen science projects to answer questions about the impacts of unexpected events on biodiversity. We evaluate the suitability of data from the citizen science platforms iNaturalist and eBird to describe the effects of the "anthropause" on biodiversity observation in Colombia. We compared record distribution according to human footprint, sampling behaviors, overall and conservation priority species composition during the strictest phase of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 to the same periods in 2015-2019. Overall participation in both platforms during the lockdown was high when compared to previous years, but records were concentrated on highly-transformed regions, had lower sampling efforts, and fewer species were recorded. For eBird, species composition was similar to that observed in previous years, and records of species of conservation concern declined in proportion to the decrease in overall species richness across samples. For iNaturalist, the species pool sampled each year remained too dissimilar for comparisons. Once differences in observer behaviors are accounted for, data from these platforms can be used in unplanned comparisons of relatively common species, in regions with high levels of human transformation, and at narrowly defined geographical contexts. To increase the potential of citizen science to monitor rarer species, more natural areas, or be used in large-scale analyses, we need to build and strengthen more diverse networks of observers that can further promote decentralization, democratization, and cost-effectiveness in biodiversity research.

Habitat selection in transformed landscapes and the role of forest remnants and shade coffee in the conservation of resident birds.

Biodiversity conservation in transformed landscapes is becoming increasingly important. However, most assessments of the value of modified habitats rely heavily on species presence and/or abundance, masking ecological processes such as habitat selection and phenomena like ecological traps, which may render species persistence uncertain. High species richness has been documented in tropical agroforestry systems, but comparisons with native habitat remnants generally lack detailed information on species demography and habitat use. We generated a multi-species, multi-measure framework to evaluate the role of habitat selection in the adaptation of species to transformed landscapes, and demonstrate that its use could affect how we value the contribution different land uses make to biodiversity conservation. We analysed 7 years of capture-mark-recapture and observation data for twelve species of resident birds present in native forest remnants and shade coffee plantations in a mega-diverse region. We assessed whether species behaved adaptively by evaluating the correlation between measures of habitat preference (occurrence, abundance, fidelity, inter-seasonal variance and age) and performance (body condition, muscle, primary moult, breeding and juveniles) in forest and coffee, and generated hypotheses about their role in species persistence. We documented adaptive habitat selection for seven species, non-ideal selection for four and maladaptive selection for one. While many species showed equal preference and/or equal performance in many traits, in general we found more evidence for birds preferring and/or performing better in forest than coffee, although relationships between our indicators and population adaptation need to be studied further before our proposed framework can be applied to more species and landscapes. While shade coffee can act as a biodiversity-friendly matrix providing complementary or supplementary habitat to a wide range of resident bird species, protecting remnants of native vegetation is still of paramount importance for biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes.

La conservación de biodiversidad en paisajes transformados es cada vez más importante. Sin embargo, la mayoría de evaluaciones sobre el valor de los hábitats modificados dependen de la presencia y/o abundancia de especies, ocultando procesos ecológicos como la selección de hábitat y fenómenos como las trampas ecológicas, que hacen incierta la persistencia de las especies. Se han documentado altas riquezas en los sistemas agroforestales tropicales pero las comparaciones con remanentes de hábitats nativos generalmente no proveen información detallada sobre demografía y uso de hábitat. Generamos un marco metodológico multi-especies y multi-medidas para evaluar el papel de la selección de hábitat en la adaptación de las especies a los paisajes transformados, y demostramos que su aplicación podría afectar la forma cómo valoramos la contribución que diferentes usos del paisaje hacen a la conservación de la biodiversidad. Analizamos siete años de datos de captura-marca-recaptura y observaciones para doce especies de aves residentes presentes en remanentes de bosque nativo y plantaciones de café con sombra en una región megadiversa. Valoramos si las especies se comportaban de forma adaptativa evaluando la correlación entre medidas de preferencia (ocurrencia, abundancia, fidelidad, varianza inter-estacional y edad) y desempeño (condición corporal, músculo, muda primaria, reproducción y juveniles) en bosques y cafetales, y generamos hipótesis acerca de su papel en la persistencia de especies. Documentamos selección de hábitat adaptativa para siete especies, no-ideal para cuatro y maladaptativa para una. Aunque muchas especies mostraron preferencias y/o desempeño iguales en muchos rasgos, en general encontramos más evidencia de aves prefiriendo y/o desempeñándose mejor en bosques que en cafetales, aunque las relaciones entre nuestros indicadores y la adaptación poblacional deben ser más estudiadas antes de aplicar el marco que proponemos a más especies y paisajes. Aunque los cafetales con sombra pueden actuar como una matriz amigable con la biodiversidad, proveyendo hábitat complementario o suplementario a una gran variedad de aves residentes, para asegurar la conservación de biodiversidad en los paisajes agrícolas es supremamente importante proteger los remanentes de vegetación nativa.