The red lines between us: How historic segregation in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, USA affects the distribution of data in iNaturalist

Presenting Author(s)

Elora Robeck

Fenton, MO, USA

Co-Author(s)

SH

Sacha Heath

Tyson Research Center, Living Earth Collaborative
Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
AG

Anahi Gamboa

Tyson Research Center
Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
Solny A. Adalsteinsson (she/her/hers)

Senior Staff Scientist
Washington University in St. Louis
Eureka, Missouri, United States

During the last two decades, the quality and use of community (or citizen) biodiversity databases has rapidly increased. These databases are especially helpful to those studying the effects of urbanization on plant and animal distributions. However, map data for certain cities suggest potential biases. For example, iNaturalist observations in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, become sparse north of Delmar Boulevard, corresponding with the historic and present-day area of racial housing segregation in the city known as the Delmar Divide. In this study we evaluated how historic racist housing policies, including red-lining, influenced the distribution and density of iNaturalist observations in Saint Louis. We compared the distribution of these observations to a 1937 HOLC map along with 2010 census data depicting demographics and population for the city of St. Louis. The purpose of studying these patterns is to investigate one of the many potential consequences of historic racist housing policies and how they continue to impact communities and cities. This study also demonstrates the need to account for potential biases in community science data collection when estimating plant and animal distributions in cities. We hope that documenting bias will inspire more effort to bring community science projects to underrepresented areas and consequently increase participation in science.