Photos of plants and animals on social media can help preserve biodiversity, especially in tropical regions. This conclusion was reached by an international team led by the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research, the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the University of Queensland. The study was published in three parts in scientific journals bioscience, One World And Conservation Biology.
As part of the research, scientists collected nature photographs taken in Bangladesh on social networks. The information they were able to glean from the species and location data in the photographs was entered into the Global Biodiversity Information Facility’s shared repository.
By pooling the data, the research team was able to collect more than 44,000 records for nearly 1,000 animal species; of these, 288 are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. More than 25 percent of the data came from groups on social networks, and more than half of the information was about butterflies and birds.
“If we had used GBIF data alone, we would have missed information on the distribution of hundreds of endangered species,” said Dr Shawan Chowdhury.
Using the new database, scientists created a map of particularly suitable habitat for different species and compared it with existing protected areas.
Currently, only 4.6% of Bangladesh, most of which lies in the southwest of the country, is considered a protected area.
The study found that in order to provide adequate protected areas for all endangered species in Bangladesh, the proportion of protected areas should be increased to 39% and distributed throughout the country.
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