Citizen Science, public awareness and conservation research: The Yellow Cardinal Project experience

LOIS, N.A.; MAHLER, BETTINA; DOMINGUEZ, MARISOL

Monterrey, California

Conferencia; 22nd Society for Conservation GIS Annual Conference; 2019

Society for Conservation GIS

The Yellow Cardinal is an endangered passerine from Southern South America. Because of itsconspicuous plumage and very attractive songs it suffers a huge pressure from illegal trade. We report the results of the first coordinated surveys of the Yellow Cardinal based on a citizen science program in Argentina. The aims of this project were to update the distribution map of the Yellow Cardinal, identify important areas for its conservation, provide information about understudied areas, and raise awareness and encourage the creation of new conservation groups in areas where the species is still present. For this purpose a mobile app was created with Survey123, which allowed the convenient gathering and organization of this huge amount of data. Also a GIS was designed to store and analyze three annual censuses, in which more than 140 volunteers surveyed 644 geographical points during spring and detected 221 Yellow Cardinals. Some participants complemented the census with an educational campaign to raise awareness in their survey area against illegal trade of the species. As a result of this collaborative sampling we created a new distribution map for this species in the country that hosts most of its remaining populations. This initiative represents the most geographically comprehensive census of Yellow Cardinals. All in all, this project raised awareness of an endangered species while providing relevant information for the conservation and management of the species.