Using community photography to investigate phenology: A case study of
coat moult in the mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) with missing data
Abstract
Participatory approaches such as community photography can engage the
public in questions of societal and scientific interest. We combined
data extracted from community-sourced, spatially-explicit photographs
with research findings from 2018 fieldwork in the Yukon, Canada, to
evaluate winter coat moult patterns and phenology in mountain goats
(Oreamnos americanus), a cold-adapted, alpine mammal. Leveraging the
community science portals iNaturalist and CitSci, in less than a year we
amassed a database of several hundred unique photographs spanning some
4500 kms between latitudes 37.6°N and 61.1°N from 0m to 4333m elevation.
Using statistical methods accounting for incomplete data, a common issue
in community science datasets, we evaluated effects of intrinsic (sex
and presence of offspring) and environmental (latitude and elevation)
factors on moult onset and rate and compared our findings with published
data. Shedding occurred over a 3-month period, May 29-September 6.
Effects of sex and offspring on the timing of moult were consistent
between the community-sourced and our Yukon data and with findings on
wild mountain goats at a long-term research site in west-central
Alberta, Canada. Males moulted first followed by females without
offspring (6.4 days later in the coarse-grained, geographically-wide
community science sample; 23.7 days later in our fine-grained Yukon
sample) and lastly females with new kids (5.5; 17.9, respectively).
Shedding was later at higher than at lower elevations. Northern
latitudes had slightly later but shorter shedding periods. We detected a
possible shift in moult timing in recent years (2015-2018) that warrants
additional investigation. Despite data limitations, such as bias towards
recent photographs, our findings establish a basis for employing
community photography to examine broad-scale questions about the timing
of ecological events, as well as sex differences in response to possible
climate drivers. As such, community photography can inspire public
participation in environmental and outdoor activities with reference to
iconic wildlife.