Increasing Herpetofauna Data Through Citizen Science in Indonesia

Abstract

Citizen science has become increasingly popular to collect data on biodiversity as it can cover a large area and is cost-effective. However, gaps in biodiversity data are common especially related to data of herpetofauna, which is not received much attention. Project Amfibi Reptil Kita (ARK) is one of the programs created to collect data on the distribution of the herpetofauna in Indonesia. This research aims to analyse the contribution of citizen science through project ARK in increasing data of herpetofauna in Indonesia for the last four years. Most of the data in ARK (56.3%) were obtained during herpblitz, however, the percentage (43.86%) tend to increase in 2020. In total 433 species were reported consisting of 152 species of amphibian and 281 reptiles. Most of the data (70%) reported were from Java region. The lowest recorded data come from Papua and Maluku region. The most frequently reported amphibian species was Duttaphrynus melanostictus and the reptile species was Bronchocela jubata. A total of 416 member-contributed data in ARK project. The result of ARK has been used to describe new species and model spatial distribution. It shows, ARK has been important in documenting the diversity of herpetofauna in Indonesia.