Citizen science: Conservation on iNaturalist

Science curator Thomas Mesaglio will show us how to use iNaturalist, a social network that allows anyone, general public, citizen scientists, biologists, naturalists, teachers, nature photographers and other biodiversity enthusiasts, to share biodiversity information and help educate one other about nature.

Learn how to record your own observations, help identify species and collaborate with others to collect information and access iNaturalist data generated by other users.

By learning about iNaturalist, become a citizen scientist and use these newfound skills in the upcoming Great Southern BioBlitz, from 28 to 31 October, an opportunity to discover our local environment and showcase our beautiful biodiversity to the world. 

Thomas Mesgalio is a PhD student at the University of NSW researching Australian plants. Much of his research has focused on using iNaturalist data to answer questions relating to ecosystem recovery, identifying different plants and improving citizen science data quality. He has also worked on bushfire recovery, marine forensic science and invertebrate taxonomy and ecology. Thomas is a curator and forum moderator on iNaturalist and has made over 32,000 observations on the site, in addition to 215,000 identifications made for other users. He is also a regular BioBlitz organiser and participant, having organised the City Nature Challenge and Great Southern BioBlitz for Sydney, and the 3 recent Big Bushfire BioBlitzes across NSW.

This event is presented in partnership with the City's Cultural Programs and Services and Urban Ecology teams.

You can also join us for habitat surveys at Sydney Park (Friday 28 October) or Federal Park (31 October).