NATURALISTA PLATFORM AS A TOOL OF CITIZEN SCIENCE TO DOCUMENT THE DIVERSITY OF AMPHIBIANS IN THE STATE OF SINALOA, MEXICO

Abstract

Citizen science contributes to obtaining information on biodiversity. In this study, we analyze distribution patterns, phenology, and environmental vulnerability in unstructured data from the Naturalista platform on amphibians from the state of Sinaloa, a region of Mexico with little scientific exploration. In addition, we evaluated the hypothesis that the species registered in Naturalista do not correspond exclusively to a low or medium level of environmental vulnerability. In total, we detected records of 30 species of amphibians belonging to 10 families, among which the widening of the distribution of a species of anuran within Sinaloa and relevant observations on the natural history of different species stand out. The family Bufonidae presented the highest number of records and Eleutherodactylidae the lowest number of records and the highest risk of threat. Most amphibian records were concentrated around urban areas of the coastal plain. Only three of the 19 protected natural areas in Sinaloa had amphibian records in Naturalista. Finally, we find that all levels of environmental vulnerability are registered proportionally to the list of amphibians in Sinaloa. Together, Naturalista records in Sinaloa make it possible to distinguish amphibian communities, identify strategic sites and key species to monitor amphibian fauna.