What is citizen science and how can I get involved?
Do you love nature? Enjoy exploring the outdoors, spotting lizards, watching birds, or listening for frog calls? Or maybe you just want to make a positive impact on the environment in small ways every day? If so, citizen science might be the perfect hobby for you.
What is citizen science?
Citizen science is when the public help collect and analyse data about the natural world, often in collaboration with professional scientists. You don’t need a science background or any technical skills to get involved – a sharp eye and a smartphone are often all it takes. It’s a great way to use community knowledge and passion to make a meaningful impact on the environment.
Why participate?
Citizen science allows more people to monitor different locations, helping to fill in the gaps. It’s not only a great way to spend time outdoors, but also a chance to contribute to valuable research. Your efforts could even help to find invasive pest species that could cause serious harm if left undetected.
By participating in citizen science, you’re helping in more ways than you might think. You’re supporting sustainable agriculture, contributing to research projects, influencing natural resource management, and building local knowledge. Plus, you’re helping engage and educate others in the process.
How can I get involved?
A great place to start is SciStarterAustralia, which provides a list of citizen science projects from across Australia. Another great platform is iNaturalist, an internationally recognized platform which helps identify plants and animals of all kinds while contributing data to conservation and research projects worldwide. Your regional Landscape Board also lists local events and ways to get involved, so be sure to check that out too.
Got a special interest?
If you have a particular passion for a specific area of nature, there are plenty of specialized citizen science projects you can dive into:
- Frogs: Download FrogSpotter, which is designed to make it easy and fun to learn about and track South Australia’s frogs. This platform is the backbone of FrogWatch SA.
- Water: Join Waterwatch to monitor water quality in South Australia, or participate in a local Waterbug Bioblitz event. You’ll receive training and equipment and contribute to a national water resource database.
- Turtles: Use TurtleSAT to contribute data on local turtles and help protect them.
- Fungi: Check out FungiMap to record and map fungi species in Australia, raising awareness of their crucial role in biodiversity.
- Birds: Help protect bird populations across Australia with Birdata by contributing to data collection and conservation efforts.
You can also explore more projects on Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu’s citizen science page.
What is a BioBlitz
As you get more involved in citizen science, you may come across the term "BioBlitz." This is an event where scientists and the public team up to collect data about the biodiversity of a specific area. Whether you’re helping net fish in a creek, identifying fungi, or tracking bats at night, you can participate as much or as little as you like. All the data collected is uploaded to iNaturalist, where it’s used to track species locations and improve our understanding of biodiversity in the area. ‘Waterbug’ Bioblitzes are held across the state each spring to monitor the health of our waterways.
Park of the Month
This April, we’re celebrating citizen science in parks as part of the Park of the Month program! It's a great time to get involved, with activities like a Bush BioBlitz at Kinchina Conservation Park and an online webinar on the Bats of the Bush, hosted by the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board. You can find all the exciting activities here.
Ready to dive in and make a difference? It’s easier than you think – start exploring the world of citizen science today!
Main image credit: SATC, Flinders Ranges & Outback
