Be a citizen scientist - log biodiversity

by Shane Sody

For four days this month, you can play a part in the annual “Great Southern Bioblitz” - recording biodiversity in your Adelaide Park Lands and elsewhere.

There is an easy way to make observations about anything you see in your Park Lands, and share that record with the world.

From Friday 20 September to Monday 23rd September, you can help scientists by discovering and logging the wildlife in your area.

It’s so easy to get involved, and no better places to do it, than within your Open, Green, Public Adelaide Park Lands. All you need is the smartphone app “iNaturalist” (available free from Google's PlayStore or the Apple AppStore).

There’s no age restriction for citizen scientists!

The biodiversity logging project from 20 to 23 September in the greater Adelaide region is just one part of the much wider “Great Southern Bioblitz”, scheduled each year for spring in the southern hemisphere.

Observations that you upload to iNaturalist will be pooled with observations from thousands of others. Read more here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2024-greater-adelaide

Biodiversity in your Park Lands

A recent City of Adelaide report on biodiversity revealed the success of re-greening and habitat restoration in selected parts of your Park Lands.

The City Council’s report relied in part on observations by citizen scientists that have been uploaded to iNaturalist.

The iNaturalist database includes a page for each one of the dozens of separate Parks within your Adelaide Park Lands, so you can see what volunteer citizen scientists have already reported in each Park. Here are the observations for each Park within your Park Lands:

Northern Park Lands

There are also iNaturalist biodiversity records in other parts of your Adelaide Park Lands, such as the six Squares and/or the formal Gardens of North Adelaide.

The combined iNaturalist records page for the entire Adelaide Park Lands. Each coloured dot is a biodiversity observation by a citizen scientist like you. This month, put some of your own dots onto this map!

The author of this article, Shane Sody, is the President of the Adelaide Park Lands Association and the editor of the semi-monthly newsletter, "Open Green Public".

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