Become a Citizen Scientist and Help Biodiversity Ireland to Record Data on Ireland’s Flora and Fauna
Although citizen science is a relatively new term, citizens have been participating in and contributing to scientific research for years – Science Citizens. The widespread use of smartphones means that scientific data can now be very easily shared and mapped, resulting in a rapid increase in the number and type of citizen science research projects.
Recording Biodiversity Data
Almost 97,000 records have been submitted to the Data Centre On Biodiversity Ireland’s website during 2018. Biodiversity Ireland thanks everyone for taking the time to submit sightings – all of these records help them to build a better picture of what species occur in Ireland. It would be a really nice way to round of the year if they could break the 100,000 record mark and are asking for your help in reaching this mark between now and year end? Help out by reporting sightings of Ireland’s plant and animal species on the Biodiversity Ireland website – CLICK HERE
Interesting Statistics on Leitrim
The Recording Page has an interesting menu at the top of the page with a County League. Leitrim is quite low on the chart right now having 202 species of plants, insects, animals, etc. recorded during 2018. All is not lost. Get out there over Christmas and start recording. The author of this page lives on Leitrim’s coastline and will be hoping to record some lichens and seaweeds.
How to submit a record
You will need to give your name and email and the location of your sighting. This is easy to do by just clicking on the map: the coordinates will come up where you click. Also, if you’re taking a photo on your phone or smart camera, many of these devices will have your location embedded in the properties of the photo.
Happy Species Spotting.
About the Biodiversity Data Centre
The National Biodiversity Data Centre is a national organisation for the collection, collation, management, analysis and dissemination of data on Ireland’s biological diversity. Biodiversity data are a key requirement for understanding our natural surroundings, for tracking change in our environment and for gaining a greater insight on how we benefit from, and impact upon, the ecosystem goods and services provided by biological diversity; a national asset which contributes at least €2.6 billion to the Irish economy each year. The Data Centre was established by the Heritage Council in 2007 and is funded by the Heritage Council and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
For more about the Centre and their projects – CLICK HERE
For More on Science Citizens, EPA and other organisations in Ireland – CLICK HERE
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