You don’t have to be a highly qualified professor to contribute to furthering the scientific understanding of invasives! Citizen science is an exciting and fulfilling way that everyone can get involved in research, making a real difference to the knowledge of invasive species distributions (e.g. Gallo and Waitt, 2011). Currently there are many citizen science programs being implemented throughout the country that you can personally contribute towards such as Conker Tree Science and PlantTracker. All that is necessary is that you report your sightings of invasive species!
Thanks to a range of Smartphone apps available to download for free, participation couldn’t be easier! The apps provide excellent high resolution photos, enabling you to identify and report the sightings of invasives wherever you are. The information received is then saved to an online database which maps the species, location and time of sighting. This data can then be used to assist scientific research.
 |
| Apps downloaded from Apple App Store |
It is encouraging to learn that approximately 100,000 members of the general public are already getting involved with citizen science across the UK (Feilden, 2013). If you're yet to give it a go, then I highly recommend downloading an app suited to your geographic location today!
