An analysis of environmental features important to amphibian distribution in Nova Scotia : can we overcome the challenge of acquiring long term, large scale data by using volunteer collected data?

Abstract

Because of world-wide declines in amphibian populations, it is important we have a strong understanding of what features are most important to their distribution. In Chapter 1, 100 wetlands and adjacent upland habitat were assessed for amphibians and potential habitat requirements or limitations. Classification and Regression Trees (CART) were used to analyze the data. Although this method worked well with data collected by professionals, a larger data set would allow us more confidence in our results. This could be achieved through the use of trained volunteer citizen scientists. In Chapter 2, the last ten years of relevant citizen science literature was reviewed for areas of consensus, divergence and knowledge gaps. If amphibian volunteer monitoring programs are designed based on the latest recommendations in the field of citizen science, the additional data generated would provide statistical strength to CART analysis of environmental features most important to amphibians.