Improving resources and citizen science for controlling invasive frogs in Pacific Island parks
Partner organization: National Wildlife Research Center
Team members: Marina Christakos (biomedical engineering ’21); Brittany Jette (biology ’21); Amelia Papi (biology ’21); Adam Saar (mechanical engineering ’21)
Executive Summary: Invasive species are a common problem throughout the Hawaiian Islands and have detrimental environmental and economic effects. The National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) is tasked with monitoring and managing invasive species, such as the coquí frog. Originally from Puerto Rico, the coquí frog hitchhiked on nursery plants and became an established invasive species in Hawai’i in 1988. They are most commonly found on the Big Island, where the frogs cause noise pollution, eat native invertebrates, decrease the property value, and have recently been found to be a host for rat lungworm. Invasive species organizations on the Big Island of Hawai’i are working to manage the spread of the coquí frog. Our goal is to provide the NWRC with resources, materials, and knowledge for expanding its citizen science outreach in invasive species management.
Citizen science is defined as scientific research completed by the general public in collaboration with scientists to collect, categorize, and analyze large-scale patterns. Citizen science engages community members to help advance scientific knowledge. Engaging citizens in research can be successful in collecting a large amount of data. However, some projects have not been successful due to a lack of data verification. Learning from the benefits and errors of previous citizen science projects, we assisted the NWRC in the production of their own citizen science project. The NWRC would like to engage citizens in the control efforts to gather data on the spread of the coquí frog across the Big Island of Hawai’i.
To accomplish the project goal, we designed a mobile application to track the occurrences of coquí frogs. In order to acquire all of the information the NWRC wanted, the app needed to have audio and image file uploading, location pinning, and offline data caching. To gather information to assist in creating the app, we conducted surveys of local residents and interviewed experts. The surveys collected general demographic information about surveys of local residents and interviews with coquí management and invasive species experts. Through the surveys, we gathered information about what individuals know about coquí frogs in Hawai’i and if they would use an app to track occurrences of coquí frogs. We used this data to evaluate any additional aspects that would be included in the app. We found that people have a lack of understanding about the coquí frog in Hawai’i. This encouraged us to consider including an educational component in the app.
We then created three separate storyboards, one with essential functions, another with educational aspects, and a third with interactive components. Our first storyboard focused on the essential requirements for the app. This storyboard would make the development process comparatively quick and low-cost since it is the lowest in complexity, while still containing all the necessary functions for the app to collect the desired data from users. Our second storyboard expanded on the essential requirements to include an educational component. This contained panels with basic facts about the coquí frogs, differences between the coquí and greenhouse frogs, a description of the effects from the coquí on the Big Island, and what the user can do to help. Our third and final storyboard focused on making the app more interactive. This storyboard added the ability to view a map of the user’s own sightings. It also included a feature where the more sightings a user reports, the higher their character advances. Their character starts as a baby frog, then continues to advance further to a froglet, frog, knight frog, and finally a royal frog. After we completed these storyboards, we identified options to partner with other organizations.
To develop the app, the most cost-effective and viable approach for the NWRC is to partner with another organization with an established outreach program, such as the Hawai’i Invasive Species Council (HISC). The app could either be an extension of an existing invasive species management app, such as HISC’s 643-PEST reporting app or could be a new app created using our storyboards as guidance. The app’s development, maintenance, and data handling would be shared between the two or more organizations. The benefits of working with HISC are that the NWRC would be provided with assistance in making the app, and the current outreach strategies of HISC would facilitate marketing of the app.
Another option is for the NWRC to create their own app through the storyboards we designed. We identified one app development platform, Alpha Anywhere, that would allow the full development of our storyboarded app, even by individuals with no coding experience. This option would allow the NWRC to meet all of the needs required, however, they would need to upkeep and maintain the app themselves. The ongoing cost of this option are significant, such as the cost of Alpha Anywhere, and publishing in the Apple App Store and Google Play Stores. The benefits of this method include that the app would meet all of the NWRC’s requirements and the NWRC could easily access the data and maintain full control over the app. Since the NWRC currently does not have an outreach program, they would need to market the new app to potential users through social media or flyers.
We hope that the research we have done provides the NWRC with the right tools and background information to continue developing an app that will bridge the gap between users and scientists. This will hopefully allow the NWRC to develop a better understanding of coqui ecology in Hawai’i and provide them with more informed management strategies.