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.