Have you uploaded observations on to an iNaturalist project or participated in a citizen science activity? If the answer is yes, then give yourself a pat on the back!
The critical role of citizen scientists has been in the spotlight recently, in two related articles, one in Conservation Biology and one in The Conversation. The articles both explored the role of citizen scientists, particularly in relation to filling in the gaps in information needed for undertaking IUCN Red List Threat Assessments and contributing to saving threatened species.
Fungimap’s own Jasmin Parker (Research Fellow in Wildlife Conservation, University of Adelaide) co-authored the article in Conservation Biology which outlined the importance of iNaturalist projects like the Fungimap Australia project.
The article outlined the different ways in which citizen scientists contribute to these and other types of projects, namely:
- Occurrence data
- Presence-absence observations
- Structured surveys
- Physical samples
- Narratives
Fungimap has facilitated the collation of over 200,000 records from citizen scientists. The data has included observations with location and date and often information on habitat and substrate. These citizen science records have proved vital for threat assessments of 19 species of Australian fungi at a Global Fungal Red List Initiative workshop in 2019.
The article concluded by noting that occurrence data is just one facet of what is needed to support the IUCN processes and that more targeted citizen science activities can be developed by establishing clearer links between citizen science programs and the IUCN assessment processes. On the flipside it also suggested that IUCN assessments themselves could evolve to accommodate alternative sources of knowledge, including that of citizen scientists.
The Conversation article (also co-authored by Jasmin) focused on the role citizen scientists can play in saving Australia’s threatened species. The article observed that “There are more than 100,000 citizen scientists in Australia alone. As a nation, we’re the third-biggest contributor to the global citizen science platform iNaturalist“.
The article stated that Fungimap’s has supported threat assessments for at least 13 species and highlighted the importance of including additional information in iNaturalist records like habitat and substrate.
Thank you to all who have contributed to the success of the Fungimap, long may it continue and grow.
And congratulations to Jasmin Parker on her outstanding work highlighting the role of citizen science.