Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 181-183 (2020) (published online on 27 February 2020)

Social media in service of biodiversity conservation: providing new locality for Ichthyosaura alpestris (Laurenti, 1768), a glacial relict in Bulgaria

Borislav Naumov1, Simeon Lukanov1,*, and Emiliya Vacheva2

Citizen science (i.e., public participation in scientific 2015), hence all information, concerning the distribution research) has been steadily growing in scale and of the species has to be considered as valuable for its importance for the past two decades, increasing in both conservation. number and volunteer efforts (Sterret et al., 2018). While citizen herpetologists have contributed significantly Materials and methods to improve science databases (O’Donnell and Durso, Following a publication in the Facebook group 2014), the possible value of reports by casual observers Amphibians and reptiles of Bulgaria a preliminary (i.e., without particular interests in the field) has been field trip was organised on 15 April 2019 in search of neglected (Daume and Galaz, 2016). On social media, the Alpine newt near the village of Nasalevtsi, Western many people with general interest in the natural life Bulgaria. This expedition confirmed the presence of the are members of various local interest groups (e.g., species through dip netting, leading to a dedicated two- Amphibians and reptiles of Bulgaria) – these people day trip on 8 and 9 May 2019 during which a total of 20 would not undertake the necessary volunteer efforts funnel traps (L50/H25/W25 cm, 0.5 cm mesh size) were needed to collect citizen science data, however, they can used in two ponds. still occasionally provide important information that scientists would have no other way of acquiring. Here Results and Discussion we present a case of a Facebook publication leading to the discovery of a new locality for a protected species, As a result of the field studies, I. alpestris was and possibly the establishment of a dedicated protected registered in 4 ponds located at 905-925 m a.s.l., ca. 1 area. km NW from Nasalevtsi village, Ruy Mts. (Fig. 1). The In Bulgaria, the Аlpine newt Ichthyosaura alpestris specific data for each pond are as follows: 1) a reservoir (Laurenti, 1768) is considered to be a glacial relict and of about 100 m2 and a depth of 1-1.5 m (N42.8310 is known only from the mountains of Rila, Pirin, Stara E22.4992, Fig.1D) – 4 individuals observed on 15 planina, Osogovo, Rhodopes, Sredna gora and Karvav April 2019, and 112 individuals (72 males, 39 females, kamak, and has been introduced in Vitosha mountain 1 wintering larva) caught by 10 funnel traps on 08/09 (Naumov et al., in press). The species is protected by May 2019; 2) a barrage of about 300 m2 and a depth of the national Biological Diversity Act under Annex III 1-1.5 m (N42.8337 E22.5022, Fig 1E) – 4 individuals and is included in the Red Data Book of the Republic (3 males, 1 female) caught by 10 funnel traps on 08/09 of Bulgaria under the “Vulnerable” category (Beschkov, May 2019; 3) puddle on a dirt road (area about 10 m2, depth less than 0.5 m; N42.8314 E22.4996, Fig 1F) – 6 individuals (3 males, 3 females) caught on 15 April 2019; 4) puddle on a dirt road (area about 1 m2, depth below 0.3 m;N24.8309 E22.4992, Fig.1G) – 2 males caught on 15 April 2019. 1 Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian In addition to the Alpine newts, the following Academy of Sciences, 2, Yurii Gagarin str., 1113 Sofia, amphibian species were also found in the studied ponds Bulgaria. 2 National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of (summarized for the 2 visits): Bombina variegata Sciences, 1 Tzar Osvoboditel Blvd, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria. (Linnaeus, 1758) – 6 individuals; Bufo bufo (Linnaeus, * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] 1758) – 1 individual; Rana dalmatina Fitzinger, 1838 182 Borislav Naumov et al.

Figure 1. (A) map of the new locality (red dot) on the territory of Bulgaria, and known species distribution in the country (black dots as centroids of 10x10 km grid cells following Naumov et al. (in press)); (B) male and (C) female I. alpestris, found in the new locality; (D-G) the four studied ponds. Social media in service of biodiversity conservation 183

– 3 individuals; Lissotriton vulgaris (Linnaeus, 1758) – Acknowledgements. We would like to thank Rumyana Boyanova 1 individual; Salamandra salamandra (Linnaeus, 1758) for providing the initial information (a photograph and locality – dozens of larvae; Triturus cf. ivanbureschi Arntzen et coordinates). Wielstra, 2013 – 3 adults [in two of them the throat was black with white dots without any yellow pigmentation, References suggesting that these animals could belong to the species Beschkov, V. (2015): Alpine Newt Ichthyosaura alpestris (Laurenti, Triturus macedonicus (Karaman, 1922) or are hybrids; 1768). In: Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria. Volume genotyping is needed to clarify their taxonomy]. 2. Animals, p. 299, Golemanski, V. et al., Eds., BAS & MoEW, The nearest known localities for I. alpestris are on Sofia. Daume, S., Galaz, V. (2016): “Anyone Know What Species This the territory of Serbia, at 3-4 km from the village of Is?” – Twitter Conversations as Embryonic Citizen Science Nasalevtsi (see Kalezić, 2015) and on the Bulgarian Communities. PLoS ONE 11: e0151387. territory – about 30 km South and about 60 km South- Kalezić, M. (2015): Alpine Newt Ichthyosaura alpestris (Laurenti, East (according to Naumov et al., in press). The 1768). In: Red Book of Fauna of Serbia I – Amphibians, pp. discovery of I. alpestris in Rui Mts. expands the known 136-142, Kalezić, M., Tomović, L., Džukić, G. Eds., Belgrade. distribution range of the species in Bulgaria, which is Liberatore, A., Bowkett, E., MacLeod, C.J., Spurr, E., Longnecker, essential for its conservation (given the fact that the N. (2018): Social Media as a Platform for a Citizen Science Community of Practice. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice species is listed in the Red Book). The new locality 3: 1–14. does not fall within a protected area and the long-term Naumov, B., Popgeorgiev G., Kornilev Y., Plachiyski D., Stojanov existence of the ponds is therefore not guaranteed. A., Tzankov N. (in press): On the Distribution and Ecology According to Beschkov (2015), the necessary measures of Ichthyosaura alpestris (Laurenti, 1768) (Amphibia: for the protection of I. alpestris are mainly expressed in Salamandridae) in Bulgaria. Acta Zoologica Bulgarica. the protection of the waterbeds it inhabits (prevention O’Donnell, R.P., Durso, A.M. (2014): Harnessing the power of a against drying up, hydrotechnical activities causing a global network of citizen herpetologists by improving citizen science databases. Herpetological Review 45: 151–157. changing water level, as well as disallowing artificial Petrovan, S.O., Schmidt, B.R. (2016): Volunteer conservation stocking with rapacious fish), and in the present case action data reveals large-scale and long-term negative population this could only be done by creating a new protected area trends of a widespread amphibian, the common toad (Bufo bufo). that includes the ponds and their surroundings. PLoS ONE 11: e0161943. While positive examples for the use of Facebook Sterrett S.C., Katz R.A., Fields W.R., Grant E.H. 2018: The groups as platforms for establishing a citizen science contribution of road-based citizen science to the conservation community have been demonstrated for birds of pond-breeding amphibians. Journal of Applied Ecology 56: 988–995. (Liberatore et al., 2018), to our knowledge this is the first case in which valuable information on a relatively less popular animal group such as amphibians has been obtained through a Facebook publication. There have been successful citizen science programs involving amphibians (e.g., Petrovan and Schmidt, 2016) – one main difference with the present case being that these programs relied on the active participation of volunteers. In other words, we suggest that just by monitoring social media groups, scientist could still obtain information that could prove valuable for clarifying species local distribution and directing conservation efforts. This process does not require dedicated volunteer efforts as often people without particular interest in amphibians and reptiles would post a photo online, asking if the pictured individual belongs to a dangerous species. Therefore, we encourage scientist to regularly follow and monitor social media groups as sources of potentially valuable information. Accepted by Hendrik Müller