Rover Scouts Australia Citizen Science Project
Citizen Science is a way of using everyday people to assist in the collection of data for a range of scientific projects run by researchers, students, governments, NGOs, not for profits, etc. Citizen science is a way of making an impact by adding to a near endless list of datasets that cannot be completed by scientists alone. There many ways everyday people can contribute to citizen science. A phone app is popular way to collect data. The specific citizen science tool we are using is iNaturalist. This is used globally and is becoming very popular among the environmental science community in Australia. The app works by uploading a photo of for example an orchid then uses AI to try to identify what it is. It will offer suggestions, but it doesn’t just use AI. Other users need to confirm the photos identification using their own judgement. Once a photo is identified it is classified as research grade and can be used for research purposes.
I have been leading a Rover Scouts Australia service project for 3 months on iNaturalist for any Rover Scout in Australia. We have so far had 248 observations and found 151 species. I am completing this as a Messengers of Peace Badge project. We are extending this project for another year. The other benefits of using this app is there is no cost, restriction on geography or time of day and no limit of participants. We are also promoting similar events/bioblitz's including ones of greater scale on iNaturalist among project participants to increase our participants engagement and to collaborate with the broader iNaturalist community.
Citizen Science directly addresses Australia's biodiversity decline problems by inspiring more people to further understand what biodiversity really means and what it looks like in their local area. To give them an appreciation of the environment around them they otherwise wouldn't understand!