Leveraging the Citizen Science Platform iNaturalist for the Targeted Collection of Natural History Specimens

Abstract

Specimens housed in natural history collections provide an important record of the Earth’s biodiversity and are increasingly used to address a diverse range of scientific questions. However, these collections are not random; they exhibit notable taxonomic and geographic biases, prompting calls for the development of more representative sampling strategies. The rate of new collecting is also declining. Here we present an approach that uses observation-based occurrence records from the iNaturalist platform to target specimen collecting to gaps in collections, with customisation by taxon, time period, location, and research priority. To illustrate this, we provide a case study on vascular plants in Wellington, New Zealand, which shows an increase in newly collected species for the WELT herbarium over the fiveyear period that we have been using this tool compared with previous five-year periods. This approach not only makes use of data generated by citizen scientists but also offers opportunities to engage citizen scientists in collecting, which is beneficial for ensuring the long-term sustainability of natural history collections.