The WikiAves platform as a citizen-science tool for studying bird migration in Brazil

Revealing and studying the migratory patterns of birds demand coordinated samplings made in adequate spatial and temporal scales. These are some of the difficulties that leads to perpetuation of the large knowledge gaps that exists on this subject in Brazil. In this sense, platforms such as WikiAves allow volunteers to share online images, sound recordings and other information about Brazilian birds, thus having the potential of providing crucial data to bird migration studies. The purpose of this study was to propose and validate the use of the data in this platform, after proper treatment, in bird migration studies. Thus, we first selected five known migratory and four known resident species as models. To validate the platform data use in migration studies, we expected to find seasonal patterns for the records of migratory species along the year, while residents should have records distributed throughout the year. Once validated the use of this platform as a citizen-science data source for migration studies, we demonstrate the advances allowed to this line of research by solving existing literature inconsistencies on the migratory behavior of six model species. Our study validates the use of the WikiAves platform data as important assets in studies of Brazilian migratory birds. Moreover, it also highlights the relevance of general public on reducing both knowledge gaps and some of the logistic barriers which preclude advances in this research area which currently is underexplored by Brazilian researchers.