INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time, Indiana Sciences and Keep Indianapolis Beautiful are challenging Indianapolis residents and surrounding communities to compete in the global City Nature Challenge from April 27 – 30, 2018.
As citizen science initiatives increase in popularity and impact on research, this year’s third annual City Nature Challenge has expanded to more than 65 cities across the globe. Kicking off April 27 at 12:01 a.m. in each time zone, the Challenge runs through April 30, 11:59 p.m. The multi-city, global event calls on current and aspiring citizen scientists, nature and science fans, and people of all ages and science backgrounds to observe and submit pictures of plants and wildlife using the free app iNaturalist. Indianapolis participants should add observations to the “City Nature Challenge 2018 Indianapolis” project in iNaturalist. Results will be announced on May 4.
For both budding and veteran citizen scientists, participating is easy:
• Find wildlife. It can be any plant, animal, fungi, slime mold, or any other evidence of life (scat, fur, tracks, shells, carcasses) found in your participating city.
• Take a picture of what you find, and be sure to note the location of the critter or plant.
• Share your observations by uploading your findings on our iNaturalist project.
In 2017 participants made 1,656 observations of species that were either rare, threatened, or endangered representing 393 species in all. One such species was a critically imperiled butterfly, Bartrams’s scrub-hairstreak, found near Miami. This one observation from the City Nature Challenge is only the 5th observation ever recorded for this species on iNaturalist. In stark comparison, pigeons were found in every single city in 2017.