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Herein, basel on novel data gathered by citizens scientists and specialists, we contribute to the improvement of scientific knowledge and conservation of the Near Threatened Proceratophrys paviotii in order to: 1) test for the first time the phylogenetic position and a species delimitation of P. paviotii through a molecular approach; 2) describe a larger sample of its advertisement call to properly encompass the species intraspecific variation; 3) describe for the first time the P. paviotii release call; and 4) provide novel insights on the species conservation status. Our 16S tree confidently grouped P. paviotii with P. cururu , P. renalis , and P. laticeps . The average sequence divergence between P. paviotii and its congeners ranged from 2.2% ( P. laticeps ) to 9.1% ( P. redacta ). Advertisement calls consisted of a single note with duration of 0.26-0.58 s, 17-41 pulses emitted at rate of 54.19-77.49 pulses/s and peak frequency of 775.19-947.46 Hz. Release calls consisted of a single note with duration of 0.04-0.43 s, 2-13 pulses emitted at rate of 21.17-81.58 pulses/s and peak frequency of 689.1-1,722.6 Hz. Additionally, our study strongly supports the notion that Citizen Science approaches can yield invaluable information concerning species' geographic distribution and conservation., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2024 Lacerda et al.)

This paper presents two key data sets derived from the Pomar Urbano project. The first data set is a comprehensive catalog of edible fruit-bearing plant species, native or introduced to Brazil. The second data set, sourced from the iNaturalist platform, tracks the distribution and monitoring of these plants within urban landscapes across Brazil. The study includes data from the capitals of all 27 federative units of Brazil, focusing on the ten cities that contributed the most observations as of August 2023. The research emphasizes the significance of citizen science in urban biodiversity monitoring and its potential to contribute to various fields, including food and nutrition, creative industry, study of plant phenology, and machine learning applications. We expect the data sets presented in this paper to serve as resources for further studies in urban foraging, food security, cultural ecosystem services, and environmental sustainability., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interest regarding the publication of this work. There are no financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived as potentially biasing the content presented in this manuscript., (© The Author(s) 2024.)

Urbanization brings forth social challenges in emerging countries such as Brazil, encompassing food scarcity, health deterioration, air pollution, and biodiversity loss. Despite this, urban areas like the city of São Paulo still boast ample green spaces, offering opportunities for nature appreciation and conservation, enhancing city resilience and livability. Citizen science is a collaborative endeavor between professional scientists and nonprofessional scientists in scientific research that may help to understand the dynamics of urban ecosystems. We believe citizen science has the potential to promote human and nature connection in urban areas and provide useful data on urban biodiversity., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press GigaScience.)

Background: Through citizen science projects, like Projeto Bromélias, community members contribute valuable data on species diversity, notably those with low detectability like the Heterodactylusimbricatus lizard. A recent observation in the State of Espírito Santo (south-eastern Brazil), amidst coffee and eucalyptus crops, highlights the utility of widespread technology use in tracking and documenting wildlife. Such initiatives are especially beneficial for mapping the distribution of rare, endemic or endangered reptiles. Therefore, we advocate for more citizen science initiatives near protected areas, involving local communities., New Information: We provide a new record for the species Heterodactylusimbricatus , a microteiid lizard of low detectability from the Atlantic Forest of south-eastern Brazil. Heterodactylusimbricatus (Rio de Janeiro Teiid) was recorded near the protected area "Reserva Biológica Augusto Ruschi" by a citizen volunteer who contributes herpetofauna records to the Bromelias Project (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/projeto-bromelias). Heterodactylusimbricatus is a very poorly-known species in the localities where it occurs, probably due to its fossorial habit, genera's restricted occurrence range, habitat specificity and the absence of proper survey methods fitted to fossorial species, such as the utilisation of pitfall traps. By publishing the records of volunteer citizens, we hope that more people will contribute to increase the knowledge of biodiversity in the mountainous region of Espírito Santo State and expand our collective knowledge., (Cássio Zocca, André Felipe Barreto-Lima, Dulce Barbosa Daleprane, Natalia P. Ghilardi-Lopes.)

Citizen science (CS) can help to tackle the emerging and worldwide problem of marine litter (ML), from collecting data to engaging different stakeholders. We reviewed what and how the scientific literature is reporting CS on ML to identify possible gaps to be improved. The 92 search results (separate occasions when 48 different CS initiatives were discussed across 85 publication records) revealed an under-representation of studies in developing regions. Most search results focused on the science of ML, whilst information regarding citizen scientists was commonly vague or missing, preventing critical analysis of good practices on this aspect. The studies concentrated on the shoreline and did not harmonize types and sizes of items collected, thus precluding data meta-analyses. The standardisation of CS methods and approaches and the detailed report of aspects related to citizen scientists are essential to support the science we need for the advances in CS efforts to face ML., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Although the quality of citizen science (CS) data is often a concern, evidence for high-quality CS data increases in the scientific literature. This study aimed to assess the data reliability of a structured CS protocol for monitoring stingless bees' flight activity. We tested (1) data accuracy for replication among volunteers and for expert validation and (2) precision, comparing dispersion between citizen scientists and expert data. Two distinct activity dimensions were considered: (a) perception of flight activity and (b) flight activity counts (entrances, exits, and pollen load). No significant differences were found among groups regarding entrances and exits. However, replicator citizen scientists presented a higher chance of perceiving pollen than original data collectors and experts, likely a false positive. For those videos in which there was an agreement about pollen presence, the effective pollen counts were similar (with higher dispersion for citizen scientists), indicating the reliability of CS-collected data. The quality of the videos, a potential source of variance, did not influence the results. Increasing practical training could be an alternative to improve pollen data quality. Our study shows that CS provides reliable data for monitoring bee activity and highlights the relevance of a multi-dimensional approach for assessing CS data quality.

Monthly data of abiotic variables (sea surface temperature; minimum and maximum air temperature; minimum, mean and maximum air humidity; minimum, mean and maximum atmospheric pressure; minimum, mean and maximum dew point; sea surface salinity; wind speed and direction; minimum and maximum tidal level and photosynthetically available radiation) were collected from different online repositories, all regarding the period between January 2013 and December 2017, from localities near Mar Casado Beach rocky shore, in São Paulo State southern coast, Brazil. Principal Component Analysis was performed to verify data variance and correlations among variables. Linear regression decomposition methods were applied to identify trend and seasonal patterns within the time indexed data. Deseasonalized time series were analyzed to identify structural breaks in trend patterns. Spectral analysis was applied to detrended time series.

As the effects of the Global Climate Changes on the costal regions of Central and South Americas advance, there is proportionally little research being made to understand such impacts. This commentary puts forward a series of propositions of strategies to improve performance of Central and South American science and policy making in order to cope with the future impacts of the Global Climate Changes in their coastal habitats., (© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)