Over the last couple of years there has
been a recognition that the general public can play a very important
role in science, and wildlife monitoring in particular. Anyone from
the librarian's daughter to the postman can now also be a 'citizen
scientist'. In South Africa, probably the most rigorous in terms of
raw data collection is the South(ern) African Bird Atlas Project
(SABAP2) where birdwatchers upload lists of birds to a central
database. Due to the local focus on going 'wide and deep', as well as
encouraging repeat surveys, this is an outstanding database. In some
initial analysis I did on bird distribution of the fynbos, it proved
way better than the global ebirds project, and even Birdlife
International range maps. There is no ornithologist working on South
Africa's birds that does not refer to this major database. Join the
atlas efforts at http://sabap2.adu.org.za/
Citizen science projects cover a range
of activities, from really specialized skill sets, like bird-ringing,
to submitting photographs to online archives. The age of digital
photography has been around for a while, and now almost everyone has
a camera – ranging from built in cameras on mobile phones to fancy
D-SLR cameras with massive lenses. Recording nature has never been
easier. However, there is also now competition among citizen science
programs to recruit people willing to record their observations.
There are 2 major photo archive platforms in South Africa: iSpot and
the Animal Demography Unit's Virtual Museum.
iSpot was launched in South Africa in
2011 and has an online community that boasts many expert members that
has grown very rapidly through the institutional support of SANBI and
a vast amount of time dedicated to the task by Dr Tony Rebelo. Tony's
focus was initially to use the tool for documenting the plants of
southern Africa and he has succeeded remarkably well – aiming to
have 95% of South Africa's plant life documented by 2015. He
describes iSpot first and foremost as a learning tool (i.e. you can
upload photos and let others identify them). However, you can also
contact them to obtain spatial and other information.
iSpot was developed through the Open
University and they have brought incredible developmental power to
play to create a slick interactive tool – iSpot allows multiple
commenting streams which creates conversation and users are a tight
knit community. The South African iSpot community can be found at
www.ispot.org.za
(don't get confused with the UK site). Through a single portal it is
easy to upload photos to a range of groups (Amphibians and Reptiles,
Birds, Fungi and Lichens, Fish, Invertebrates, Mammals, Plants,
Other Organisms). Members collect points through interactions
(agreeing with ids). Apart from plants, birds and insects feature
prominently in group interactions (see
http://www.ispot.org.za/Stats%20update#comment-126872)
The Cape Town University's Animal
Demography Unit (ADU) Virtual Museum has been around for a few years
more, but created their virtual museums from scratch. Despite
constant financial constraints, the team led by Prof Les Underhill
has done a remarkable job. Registered users number only a quarter of
those of iSpot. A key difference is that identification is confirmed
by an expert – as opposed to iSpot where the users agree or
disagree on an identification. I prefer to do this than get involved
with dialogue, but each to their own. I also prefer the mapping
feature with the ADU's VM. There are several Virtual Museums (but
only one data upload interface at http://vmus.adu.org.za/
– you then choose which museum your photo belongs in). Apart from
trees, they don't do plants, but have more focus on the animal
kingdom – including weavers (PHOWN) and Starfish (EchinoMAP). There
flagship group is the MammalMap (mammalmap.adu.org.za), but their
LepiMap (Butterflies and Moths) formed a major contribution to the
recent “Conservation Assessment of Butterflies of South Africa,
Lesotho and Swaziland”, part of their proven track record of doing
something with the data submitted. http://lepimap.adu.org.za/
So which platform to use for
documenting your wildlife in the most helpful manner? While both
platforms would beg user loyalty, a simple answer is: Plants on iSpot
and Animals on ADU Virtual Museums. In fact, iSpot has been courteous
enough to link to the MammalMap and SABAP2 under their survey pages –
so there is a tacit recognition of the broad domain of each of these.
Participating in citizen science
programs is a really useful and rewarding exercise. Its a great way
to do something useful with your photos collecting real or digital
dust, and for recording your legacy – the information exists for as
long as we can produce electricity to run servers, and in any
scientific publications that result. By uploading photos with dates
and locations you are contributing to a database that allows one to
see where and when animals were documented at various locations, a
valuable conservation and management tool – but their value will
only be realised through sufficient participation – so register for
both now!
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