“If we love this land enough to preserve it, we must love it enough to study it.”
Aldo Leopold, nature protection pioneer
Research on the living world and nature has led to a large number of new discoveries, many of which warn of global changes and sudden loss of biodiversity. The widespread destruction of habitats and the decline of the populations within them may appear as impossible obstacles, but this perspective is far from accurate.
The development of technology for large-scale data collection and storage has advanced citizen science projects, allowing everyone to contribute to a better understanding and protection of nature. Today, volunteers’ field observations are used to improve further scientific research and conservation plans. This invaluable data that is available to the public through various platforms, such as EuroBirdPortal, would be difficult to collect without the great help of volunteers.
Collaboration and communication between experts and the public are extremely important in preserving the species and habitats we love and rely upon. Your notes and observations can inspire our next actions!
How to get involved? – Become a birdwatcher!
Personal observations of nature are particularly valuable when recorded in online databases.
Fauna.hr is a database designed for use in Croatia and operates as part of a broader European network for animal data collection. You can contribute to this database using your mobile phone through the Naturalist app.
- Naturalist is an application that makes it easy to record observations of different groups of animals. The submitted data, along with data from other users, is available on fauna.hr, providing insight into the distribution and abundance of individual species.
In addition to submitting individual observations, Naturalist also enables you to upload complete lists of sightings.
Complete lists—records of every species observed during a visit to an area are the most valuable type of data. By using this data, scientists can uncover new insights into bird behaviour, ecology, and migration patterns.
To help you install and use the application, you can download these guides:
So far, volunteer observations have helped to:
- Record changes in bird nesting caused by climate change (Dunn and Winkler, 1999.)
- Monitor sudden increases and decreases in bird populations (Hochachka et al., 1999.)
- Study the impact of habitat and food availability on various bird species (Koenig et al., 2009.); (Hames et al., 2002.)
- Define rare species in specific areas and enhance their protection (Backstrom et al., 2023.)