This is the question at stake from Friday, April 30 to Monday, May 3, 2021 in the “City Nature Challenge“, which is being organized again this year by the Museum of Nature South Tyrol with the support of Eurac Research and the Provincial Office for Nature.
In the global event “City Nature Challenge 2021” (CNC), all citizens are invited to photograph and document as many animal and plant species as possible in their own city within a few days. It is a prime example of “citizen science” that was first held in 2016 between the two cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. This year, more than 400 cities are participating in the “City Nature Challenge 2021”, including Bolzano and Brunico.
Last year, 41,000 people took part in the friendly competition. Over the course of an extended weekend, they found a total of 32,000 animal, plant and fungal species in 244 cities, including 1,300 rare, endangered and threatened species. In South Tyrol, where the event was held for the first time, the 150 or so participants came up with 3,246 observations of more than 900 species. The edition was called the “Corona Nature Challenge” due to the pandemic and was extended beyond the city limits to all of South Tyrol.
Those who want to participate in the #CNC2021 keep an eye out for wild plants, animals and fungi on the days mentioned and photograph them with a smartphone or tablet via the app iNaturalist. The integrated artificial intelligence will make a first determination, which will be checked or improved in a further step by the experts of Eurac Research, Nature Museum and the State Office for Nature.
And this is how you can participate!
1. download the iNaturalist App (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) on your smartphone
2. create a free iNaturalist account
3. take photos of wild plants, animals and fungi
4. tap “What did I see” in the app, and make a predetermination of the species you observed
5. upload your observations
6. done
Click here to go to the iNaturalist project pages of Bolzano and Brunico.
A short explanatory video can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsRahNxU0OA
