Parks Victoria is encouraging Victorians to follow their science side by visiting parks and capturing photos through the Agency’s Data Discovery Program.
Marking Citizen Science Month (April), Parks Victoria said citizen science helped gather important data across the world and supplied scientists with information needed to better understand biodiversity.
“More recently, the need for citizen science data has been even greater as we tackle big global issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss,” Parks Victoria said.
“The more we know, the better we can understand the challenges contributing to the decline in health of our ecosystems and give us the opportunity to take critical action to protect habitats,” it said.
“By supporting Parks Victoria’s Data Discovery Program, you can help improve our research in parks across the State.”
Parks Victoria said that to get involved, all people needed to do was visit a location, take photos of the plants and animals they saw, and upload them to the iNaturalist app on their smartphone.
It said by recording images, people could help build knowledge about the species that lived in the park.
“You might even help identify a plant or animal that hasn’t been recorded in that area before,” it said.
“The more observations you record, the more knowledge we have to care for important species.”
Parks Victoria offered up photography tips to help people help Parks research scientists, including keeping the camera as still as possible; taking close-up photos; taking multiple photos from different angles; and keeping safe by watching where they were walking and not venturing off the track.
Further information about Parks Victoria’s Data Discovery Program can be accessed at this PS News link.
