A crowdsourcing approach to track the expansion of the brown marmorated stinkbug Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855) in France.

BACKGROUND: Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855), the brown marmorated stinkbug (BMSB) is a highly successful invasive species, native to eastern Asia. It has managed to spread into North America and Europe in recent decades, causing severe damage to various crops. BMSB has been detected in Europe in 2004 and has since expanded in more than 20 countries from Sweden to Greece and Spain to Turkey, the South European Territory of Russia (Krasnodar region) and Abkhazia. In 2012, we set up a citizen science survey to monitor BMSB expansion in France. NEW INFORMATION: The present crowdsourcing survey was initiated in 2012 and provided a large number of occurrence points of BMSB. These data allowed to track the expansion of the species in France from 2012 to 2019 and brought information about its phenology and distribution in various habitats. The dataset comprises both valid and invalid sightings, thereby allowing us to examine changes in the quality of citizen reports during the course of the survey. Despite a large proportion of misidentifications, the survey provided a large number of valid occurrences. Furthermore, valuable information on hemipterans of Pentatomidae and Coreidae families entering habitations were also gathered. The dataset also illustrates that, although designed for a large public, the Agiir application was mostly used by urban dwellers with very few sightings stemming from professionals of agricultural sectors.

Citizen science and niche modeling to track and forecast the expansion of the brown marmorated stinkbug Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855).

Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855), the Brown Marmorated StinkBug (BMSB) is a highly successful invasive species native to eastern Asia that managed to spread into North America and Europe in recent decades. We set up a citizen science survey to monitor BMSB expansion in France in 2012 and analyzed the data it yielded between 2012 and 2019 to examine the local expansion of the insect. These data were gathered with occurrences form various sources (GBIF, literature) to calibrate a species niche model and assess potential current BMSB range. We evaluated the potential changes to the BMSB range due to climate change by projecting the model according to 6 global circulation models (GCM) and the shared socio-economic pathways SSP245 in two time periods 2021-2040 and 2041-2060. Citizen science allowed to track BMSB expansion in France and provided information about its phenology and its habitat preferences. The model highlighted the potential for further range expansion in Europe and illustrated the impact of climate change. These results could help managing the current BMSB invasion and the framework of this survey could contribute to a better preparedness of phytosanitary authorities either for the BMSB or other invasive pests.