Ou da a on FTs impo s was e ie ed om he CITES da abase, which includes all impo s o
he species on i s appendices o all a i ying coun ies. Howe e , ins ead o he numbe o
shipmen s like Mai e al. (2019), we op ed o use an app oach simila o he one o Slábo á e
al. (2021) and used he numbe o aded indi iduals. By doing i , no only do we inc ease he
ep esen a ion o he mos h ea ened species, bu we also inc ease he ep esen a ion o small
aded species ha can be impo ed in la ge shipmen s (Slábo á e al., 2021). Ne e heless, he
use o CITES da abase s ill has se e al cons ains. Fi s , i does no include all aded species. One
example is Pseudemys concinna, a non-lis ed species in CITES, bu a commonly sold pe (Banha
e al., 2019; Kopecký e al., 2013). Simila ly, one species may be added o dele ed o he CITES
appendices, wi h no al e a ion o his species ma ke (e.g. Pelodiscus sinensis) bu i s impo s
s op being epo ed. The cons ains abo e desc ibed do no a ec ou conclusions and migh
e en mean ha ou impo numbe s a e unde es ima ed, wi h a highe numbe o aded FTs. I
so, he in oduc ion o FTs may be much mo e p oblema ic in he u u e.
Al hough ci izen science pla o ms, such as GBIF, gi e use ul in o ma ion on wild popula ions
(F aisl e al., 2022; I ano a & Shashko , 2021), he e a e se e al cons ain s o ha da a ype.
These pla o ms ely on pho o iden i ica ion o dis inguish he se e al species, ha o en a e
misiden i ied by use s (Dickinson e al., 2010; Du so e al., 2021). In some cases, ci izen science
pla o m use s may in en ionally upload he w ong loca ion o e en upload pho os o u les in
cap i i y (Ra o e al., 2024). Also, when u les bask in g oups, mul iple indi iduals, and e en
di e en species, may be cap u ed by a pho o (Ra o e al., 2024). The opposi e may also occu ,
wi h se e al pho os o he same indi iduals, esul ing in mul iple eco ds o he same indi idual
a a gi en loca ion (Du so e al., 2021). These cons ain s a e e y ha d o deal wi h when wo king
wi h la ge da ase s, because hey imply e i ica ion o each pho o, he manual exclusion o
duplica e eco ds, and coun o all wild indi iduals in all pho os. Gi en ou da ase dimension,
he e we conside ed each GBIF eco d as one indi idual o he epo ed species, and we did no
e alua e each pho o indi idually. Apa om he cons ain s o ci izen science pla o ms
hemsel es, eco ds o wild species end o be biased o highly popula ed a eas, o day ime and
weekends and o “p e ie ” and a e species (Callaghan e al., 2021; Dickinson e al., 2010; Du so
e al., 2021; F aisl e al., 2022). Addi ionally, species cha ac e is ics ha inc ease de ec abili y
also may a ec use eco ds on ci izen science pla o ms (Callaghan e al., 2021).
