Harnessing social media data to track species range shifts

Biodiversity monitoring programs and citizen science data remain heavily biased toward the Global North. Especially in megadiverse countries with limited biodiversity records, incorporating social media data can help address existing data gaps. However, whether such data can significantly improve our understanding of range-shifting species is still unknown. We tested whether social media data improved our knowledge of the range dynamics of a rapid range-shifting butterfly, the tawny coster (Acraea terpsicore). We collated locality data from Flickr and Facebook and compared these with occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). We used species distribution models (SDMs) and niche assessments, which we calibrated with data from GBIF alone and both sources combined (GBIF and social media data) to analyze range shift dynamics. Social media data increased occurrence records by 35%, and the proportion of social media data was higher in countries poorly represented in GBIF. In addition, we obtained new distributional information from well-represented countries (e.g., Australia and Malaysia). Over time, the SDMs calibrated with GBIF and social media data showed greater expansion rates than SDMs based solely on GBIF data. The niche assessments revealed that GBIF-only data failed to capture regions with relatively low maximum temperature, relatively low precipitation and high elevation. Our results highlight the potential of harnessing social media data to track rapid biodiversity redistribution in response to climate change.

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Publication Details

Journal
Conservation Biology
Published
2026-02-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70234
Primary Topic
Species Distribution and Climate Change
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Harnessing social media data to track species range shifts

Aletta Bonn, Richard J. Ladle, Gideon Gywa Deme, Mohammad Momeny et al.
Conservation Biology
Species Distribution and Climate Change
article

Harnessing social media data to track species range shifts

Aletta Bonn, Richard J. Ladle, Gideon Gywa Deme, Mohammad Momeny, Ripon Chandra Roy, Shawan Chowdhury, César Capinha, Uri Roll, Ivan Jarić, Jooel Juhani Rinne, Julien Lenoir, Niloy Hawladar, Moreno Di Marco, Phillip Cassey, Enrico Di Minin, Ricardo A. Correia
article en

Abstract

Biodiversity monitoring programs and citizen science data remain heavily biased toward the Global North. Especially in megadiverse countries with limited biodiversity records, incorporating social media data can help address existing data gaps. However, whether such data can significantly improve our understanding of range-shifting species is still unknown. We tested whether social media data improved our knowledge of the range dynamics of a rapid range-shifting butterfly, the tawny coster (Acraea terpsicore). We collated locality data from Flickr and Facebook and compared these with occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). We used species distribution models (SDMs) and niche assessments, which we calibrated with data from GBIF alone and both sources combined (GBIF and social media data) to analyze range shift dynamics. Social media data increased occurrence records by 35%, and the proportion of social media data was higher in countries poorly represented in GBIF. In addition, we obtained new distributional information from well-represented countries (e.g., Australia and Malaysia). Over time, the SDMs calibrated with GBIF and social media data showed greater expansion rates than SDMs based solely on GBIF data. The niche assessments revealed that GBIF-only data failed to capture regions with relatively low maximum temperature, relatively low precipitation and high elevation. Our results highlight the potential of harnessing social media data to track rapid biodiversity redistribution in response to climate change.

Conservation Biology
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (IL), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Helsinki (FI), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), University of Lisbon (PT), University of Turku (FI), University of Jos (NG), Turku University of Applied Sciences (FI), Turku Centre for Computer Science (FI), Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ), University of Dhaka (BD), AgroParisTech (FR), Stellenbosch University (ZA), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), Ecologie, Société, Evolution (FR), Terra Scenica (PT), Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés (FR), Turku Centre for Biotechnology (FI), Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ), Université de Picardie Jules Verne (FR), Monash University (AU), The University of Adelaide (AU), Friedrich Schiller University Jena (DE), Universidade Federal de Alagoas (BR), Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 57%
Species Distribution and Climate Change
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