Scientific and public spider observation records from Sweden

This project compares spider biodiversity records from two public citizen
science platforms, iNaturalist and the Swedish biodiversity database
Artportalen, and data from a national scientific survey, the Swedish
Malaise Trap Project (SMTP). The analysis highlights the strengths and
biases of each source in terms of spatial coverage and species
representation. Citizen science platforms provide cost-effective and
large-scale data collection but tend to overrepresent common, easily
observed species in populated areas. Traditional scientific surveys
contribute valuable records from rural areas and are especially effective
at detecting rare and cryptic species. Combining these approaches improves
our understanding of spider distributions across Sweden and supports more
comprehensive biodiversity monitoring.