Firefly Occurrences in Croatia - One Step Closer from Citizen Science to Open Data

Helena Viriæ Gašpariæ, Ivana Pajaè Živkoviæ, Bruno Krehula, Matej Oreškoviæ1, Marija A. Galešiæ, Pave Ninèeviæ, Filip Varga and Darija Lemiæ
Additional contact information
Helena Viriæ Gašpariæ: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Phytomedicine, Department for Agricultural Zoology
Ivana Pajaè Živkoviæ: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Phytomedicine, Department for Agricultural Zoology
Bruno Krehula: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Phytomedicine, Department for Agricultural Zoology
Marija A. Galešiæ: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Phytomedicine, Department for Agricultural Zoology
Pave Ninèeviæ: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Phytomedicine, Department for Agricultural Zoology
Filip Varga: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Plant Science Department of Seed Science and Technology, Zagreb, Croatia and Centre of Excellence for Biodiversity and Molecular Plant Breeding, Zagreb, Croatia
Darija Lemiæ: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Division of Phytomedicine, Department for Agricultural Zoology

Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, 2022, vol. 20, issue 2, 112-124

Abstract: Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), with more than 2 000 species in 100 genera worldwide, are a charismatic nocturnal species. Although popular in different cultures because of their association with warm summer evenings in childhood, fireflies are an under-researched insect. Like numerous other insects worldwide, fireflies have experienced declines in their distribution and abundance. Anthropogenic impacts and climate change are likely to influence their development, reproduction, and survival. A project called “Krešo Krijesnica” (eng. “Krešo the Firefly”), used a Citizen Science model of data collection, to determine where are the fireflies located and how abundant are they throughout Croatia. Citizen Science involves the participation of the general or non-scientific public in data collection so determining the basic demographic profile of the citizen scientists involved was also one of the project goals. During the first phase of the project (2019-2021), data on fireflies were provided by citizen scientists through a formal survey on social media (Facebook, Instagram). Phase two aims to open the fireflies’ datasets to the public through various open data portals. In the three years of the project, more than 16 000 records of fireflies were collected and analysed from over 1800 sightings. Descriptive statistics showed that the highest firefly population density was found in central Croatia, which is consistent with the greater number of people living in this area and thus a greater chance of firefly detection. Higher number pf female reporters were noted during the project. The dataset collected in this Citizen Science project presents a valuable source of information to the scientific community, especially in the field of entomology, conservation biology and ecology.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation; citizen science campaign; fireflies; Krešo the Firefly; Lampyridae; Coleoptera (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.indecs.eu/2022/indecs2022-pp112-124.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zna:indecs:v:20:y:2022:i:2:p:112-124

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal from Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Josip Stepanic ().