Global City Nature Challenge Begins This Weekend, Inviting Public to Document Wildlife
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The City Nature Challenge, a worldwide community science event, is taking place this weekend. Participants in over 700 cities across every continent except Antarctica will document wild organisms using the iNaturalist app to contribute to scientific archives. The event focuses on spotting wild nature, excluding cultivated plants and domestic animals.
Facts First
- A global community science event is occurring this weekend across more than 700 cities.
- Participants document wild organisms using the free iNaturalist app to crowdsource identifications.
- The challenge excludes cultivated plants and domestic animals, focusing on creatures like weeds in sidewalk cracks or animals spotted by their signs.
- Last year's documented wildlife included diverse species like a farmland green flying frog and a chestnut-fronted macaw.
- The event is codirected by Amy Jaecker-Jones of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
What Happened
The City Nature Challenge, a worldwide community science event codirected by Amy Jaecker-Jones of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, is taking place this weekend. Participants in more than 700 cities on every continent except Antarctica will document wild nature for scientific archives. Most cities use the free iNaturalist app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play, which allows users to upload photos for identification by a global community.
Why this Matters to You
This event provides you with a direct, free way to contribute to global scientific knowledge from your own neighborhood. By participating, you could help identify local species and track biodiversity, which may inform local conservation efforts. Your observations, even of common weeds or animal tracks, become part of a permanent scientific record.
What's Next
After the weekend, the crowdsourced identifications on iNaturalist will be verified, adding to the archive of observations from last year, which included creatures like a farmland green flying frog and a chestnut-fronted macaw. The collected data is likely to be used by researchers to study urban biodiversity and species distribution.