Mosquito Alert: Tiger Mosquito Dataset

Anonymous citizen scientists send reports of possible observations of Asian tiger and Yellow fever mosquitoes and their breeding sites using the open source and free smartphone app Mosquito Alert. To send an observation, participants need to answer a small questionnaire (three taxonomic questions in the case of mosquitoes or some descriptors in the case of breeding sites), indicate the location (current participant location or selecting it on a map), add a picture (optional) and notes or comments (optional). The app and project website offers information to help identify the target species and take good pictures that allow a proper post validation from entomologists (see more information on Quality Control section). Participants can edit or remove the observation at any time (only if the participant still mantains the Mosquito Alert app in their phone). The last version of each report is considered the prevailing information.

Data is obtained from citizens scientists who send observations of Asian tiger and Yellow fever mosquito possible observations (and their breeding sites) from the Mosquito Alert smartphone app. There are no limitations in terms of geographic areas allowed, so data can be sent from all over the world. Nevertheless, the Mosquito Alert citizen science project has been mainly focused in Spain. Similarly, there is no pre-set sampling frequency: participants can send as many data as they like. The project runs "face-to-face data collection events" mainly in schools, meaning that in some places and for a given time period, data sampling might be more intense. This is also true when and where there has been a particular dissemination event (e.g. project appearence in TV, Science Fair, etc.).

Each report containing at least one picture is evaluated by three independent entomologist and, if needed, reviewed by a fourth expert (senior entomologist). The dataset only includes reports from citizens tagged by them as "adult mosquito", that contain at least one picture and that it has been evaluated by entomological experts. According to these experts, the picture/s of this observation could be tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus): their taxonomic features can be clearly seen in the picture/s, especially the white stripe on head and thorax; or only some characteristic features can be observed, but it could be this species nonetheless. There is no other quality control (but see Sampling Description for a summary on how the project promotes quality amongst participants).