Mitchell Shire Council has joined forces with more than 20 other councils across Greater Melbourne, along with Scouts Victoria, the Entomological Society of Victoria and the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, to participate in one of the world’s biggest community science events – the City Nature Challenge 2022.
It is only the second time Melbourne has been represented in the global challenge.
From Friday 29 April to Monday 2 May, cities all over the world will compete to see which city can gather the most – or more interesting – observations of nature using the iNaturalist App.
“We’re calling on all our citizen scientists to join us in sharing our unique biodiversity with the world by recording as many observations of local animals, plants, and fungi as possible over the four days,” Mitchell Shire Council said in a statement.
“Participating is easy and it provides a great opportunity to explore and learn about the natural environment that surrounds us even in a big city.”
To take part:
- Download iNaturalist on your phone and create an account.
- Explore nature – in your own backyard, farm, park or local waterway from Friday 29 April to Monday 2 May.
- Look for plants, fungus and animals that you would like to record (indoor or garden plants, pets, captive animals, and humans don’t count).
- Take a photo of each different plant, animal or fungus you find and upload your observation to iNaturalist, and make sure to include the location. This way the observations will be automatically pooled to the Greater Melbourne project as well as to Mitchell Shire.
- Enjoy your time connecting to nature and inspire other people to join the challenge.
You can see how Greater Melbourne is going against the rest of the world here, and how individual Melbourne councils are faring here.
“By participating, you will be helping the global scientific community to better understand biodiversity in urban spaces and find ways on how we can improve its protection,” Council said.
There are also some free online webinars being held in the lead up to the event:
The small and mighty Micro World webinar
- Tuesday 26 April 2022
- 6.25pm to 8pm
- Fungi and invertebrate experts share their knowledge
- Register online
Leaves, feathers and scales: the Macro World
- Wednesday 27 April
- 6.25pm to 8pm
- Plants, birds, frogs and reptile experts share their knowledge
- How to successfully upload your photos in iNaturalist
- Register online
