Melbourne Water is hoping to entice Victorians into helping it capture frog data at local creeks, rivers and wetlands across the State with a ‘gamified’ update to its Frog Census app.
Waterwatch Coordinator at Melbourne Water, James Frazer said the app wasn’t just fun, it also played an important role in helping the Authority capture frog data.
“This information is then used in conservation efforts to protect frog populations,” Mr Frazer said.
“More than 10,000 avid frog monitors or ‘froggers’ have downloaded the app since it was launched almost six years ago,” he said.
“The app took citizen science to a new level, delivering a simpler, smarter and more accurate way for the community to get involved and monitor frog populations.”
Mr Frazer said frogs played an important role in the waterway ecosystem and were easily affected by changes to their environment.
The Waterwatch Coordinator said the data captured by the app helped inform Melbourne Water’s planning and decisions on waterway health for the future.
“The community is an integral part of this work,” he said.
“The latest version of the Frog Census App has additional features, some initiated by feedback from froggers.”
Mr Frazer said the updates included a gamified reward and recognition system called ‘Frogger Points’ to reward how accurately users identified a species, a dark setting, and more information via graphics, videos and 3D models.
He said the information collected from the app was publicly available for students, teachers, Agencies and researchers to use, and was also shared with Department of Environment Land Water and Planning, Victorian Biodiversity Atla,s and Atlas of Living Australia.
Mr Frazer said the updated version of Melbourne Water’s Frog Census app was available on the App Store and Google Play.
