Large biodiversity datasets are currently being collected not only by experts and amateur researchers, but also by the general public. In this study, records of non-native and Japanese Red List fishes observed by citizens were extracted from all 85,453 posts on the bulletin board system of WEB sakana-zukan, a web-based encyclopedia of Japanese fishes that went online in 2002. We found 681 (0.8%) and 549 (0.6%) posts containing attached images of non-native and Red Data Book fishes, resulting in 418 and 362 Japanese distributional records respectively. The number of posts and the composition of non-native species reflected the Japanese inland fisheries policy to increase target species. These data included records of exotic species (eleven taxa) whose introduction to Japan had been unknown previously, as well as records of nine exotic/domestic species whose introductions into specific Japanese regions had been unknown. Additionally, we identified the range extension of one Red Data Book species. These photographs were stored in a public museum’s photographic collection for ongoing scientific use. Three heavy users of the website combined contributed 26.7% of the new distribution records (8/30 lots), while 15 light users contributed 50.0% (15/30 lots), suggesting that overall there is a greater contribution by light users. This indicates that a web community with abundant users can accumulate new biodiversity observations better than one with fewer users but many posts per user. Our results show that this web-community was able to contribute to monitoring non-native and Red List fishes in conjunction with expert participation, and therefore that web-communities targeting living organisms can contribute to biodiversity conservation.

中文翻译：

---

日本互联网社区对鱼类保护的有用性

当前不仅由专家和业余研究人员，而且还由公众收集大量的生物多样性数据集。在这项研究中，从WEB sakana - zukan的公告板系统上的所有85,453个帖子中提取了公民观察到的非本地和日本红色名录鱼类的记录，这是一个基于网络的日本鱼类百科全书，该百科全书于2002年上线。我们发现681（0.8％）和549（0.6％）个帖子中包含非本地和红色数据书鱼类的图片，产生了418和362个日本分布记录分别。员额数目和非本地物种的构成反映了日本内陆渔业增加目标物种的政策。这些数据包括以前不知道传入日本的外来物种（11个分类单元）的记录，以及不知道传入日本特定地区的9个外来/国内物种的记录。此外，我们确定了一种红色数据手册种类的范围扩展。这些照片被存储在公共博物馆的照片集中，以进行持续的科学使用。该网站的三名重度用户合计贡献了新分配记录的26.7％（8/30手），而15位轻度用户贡献了50.0％（15/30手），表明总体而言，轻度用户的贡献更大。这表明，拥有大量用户的网络社区比拥有较少用户但每个用户有很多帖子的社区能够更好地积累新的生物多样性观察结果。我们的结果表明，该网络社区能够与专家参与一起，有助于监测非本地鱼类和红色名录鱼类，因此，针对活生物体的网络社区可以为生物多样性保护做出贡献。这表明，拥有大量用户的网络社区比拥有较少用户但每个用户有很多帖子的社区能够更好地积累新的生物多样性观察结果。我们的结果表明，该网络社区能够与专家参与一起，有助于监测非本地鱼类和红色名录鱼类，因此，针对活生物体的网络社区可以为生物多样性保护做出贡献。这表明，拥有大量用户的网络社区比拥有较少用户但每个用户有很多帖子的社区能够更好地积累新的生物多样性观察结果。我们的结果表明，该网络社区能够与专家参与一起，有助于监测非本地鱼类和红色名录鱼类，因此，针对活生物体的网络社区可以为生物多样性保护做出贡献。