Employing citizen science to understand amphibian and reptile diversity and distribution in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan

Abstract

In the absence of systematic research institutions and local or long-term resident systematists added by Buddhist culture that discourages lethal sampling of animals, scientific collections are particularly sparse in Bhutan. Consequently, less charismatic taxa such as the reptile and amphibian fauna of Bhutan, including the Eastern-Himalayas, are poorly known. Citizen science was employed to better understand the occupancy and distribution of reptile and amphibian fauna in Bhutan. Using a dedicated amphibian and reptile Facebook group, we gathered 929 species records from 235 individuals between May 2014 and December 2019. Of the participants 70% were foresters, 10% were members of the general public, 6% were school teachers, 6% were college students, 5% were non-forester civil servants, and 3% were tour guides. Citizen scientists submitted records for 99 species of snakes, 70 species of amphibians, 87 species of lizards and 5 species of testudines. Of these, 70% of the records extended the published range of the species in Bhutan, and more than 48 species were new records for Bhutan. Our study demonstrates the potential of citizen science in developing countries with poorly documented fauna.