Citizen Science: How iNaturalist isExpanding Biodiversity Data

By: Grace Xie

The burden of collecting data may not always be realistically completed by a small team of scientists. What if you wanted to identify every species of plants and animals in the world? It would be impossible to do with a few people. That’s where citizen science steps in. 

Citizen science allows the public to participate in data collection for scientific research. They can even participate in analysis and result interpretation. Some notable citizen science projects include iNaturalist, Zooniverse, the Great Backyard Bird Count, and Project Budburst. Citizen science is primarily used when large amounts of diverse data is needed. It is an effective way to empower and connect communities with a shared objective. With access to many different people, researchers can obtain a large variety of samples they might otherwise not have access to. Communities also gain educational opportunities as they become immersed in the research process. Participants can follow the data collection and analysis process to learn and maybe even contribute to the conclusion. Citizen science is an effective way to give people a sense of responsibility and awareness of the world around them. 

However, there are also some downsides of citizen science. These include potential data issues, as citizens may not be familiar with data collection or research processes and requirements. Inconsistencies can be caused by failure to comply with all protocols. However, careful instruction and training can overcome this obstacle. Another downside is the digital divide. Communities without access to digital communication may not be able to contribute to research, thus making it difficult for research to encompass a diverse range of communities. This may result in skewed or biased data. However, this may be solved by direct outreach and funding. 

One of the largest citizen science projects is iNaturalist, an app where people can contribute to biodiversity data. Users can identify plants and animals while generating research data from the videos taken. In addition, the iNaturalist app connects regular citizens to scientists and naturalists who are experts in their field. In doing so, anyone can learn more about science. Users can even write their own observations on the collected data and collaborate with the community to further scientific research. The large number of projects on iNaturalist is truly amazing. A total of 530,177 different species have been identified with 266,910,394 total observations. The app is very active with over 3 million observers contributing to its data. iNaturalist has shared its data with repositories such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to facilitate even more scientific research. 

Citizen science is truly an effective way to engage citizens while collecting diverse research data and will continue to be useful for many more projects.