Highlighting citizen scientists' role in accurate slug identification - Newcastle University

A new study has shown how effective citizen scientists are in accurately identifying species and gathering reliable ecological data.

“Our study shows that training and support can help people stay engaged with a project and produce useful results, even with a demanding procedure and tricky to identify study group such as slugs” Dr Imogen Cavadino

Using data from a project focused on slug species diversity in British gardens, researchers aimed to understand the accuracy of species identification and its impact on calculating species richness, abundance, and diversity.

Publishing their findings in the journal People and Nature, the scientists analysed the differences between the identifications made by project participants and the experienced slug researcher to give a unique insight in to how often mistakes in identification were made.

Led by Newcastle University and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the research team asked participants to carry out a torchlit search of their gardens once every four weeks, and to collect any slugs they found. Participants then attempted to identify them to species level, before sending them in to the researchers at RHS for identification. The scientists analysed the differences between the identifications made by project participants and the experienced slug researcher to give a unique insight in to how often mistakes in identification were made.

Their results show that the start of the project participants were correct in identifying slugs 47 – 56% of the time, but this improved to 59 – 70% by the end of the project.

Study lead author, Dr Imogen Cavadino, said: “It appears that asking people to self-define their abilities for identifying animals to species level may not be accurate, as some may over or under estimate their own level of experience and skill.