Hundreds of members of the public, organisations, NGOs, universities, research centres and national parks will be taking part in the First Spanish Flora Biomaratón between 21 and 23 May.
The first citizen science event focusing on botany is due to take place very soon in our country, coinciding with the week of International Fascination with Plants Day.
This Bio-Marathon was launched with the aim of to highlight the importance of plants in our society and to overcome the neglect they have been suffering. This is an event organised by the Spanish Botanical Society which has been received with great enthusiasm across the country. As a result, groups of citizens have spontaneously organised themselves in all the Autonomous Communities and will be heading out into the countryside that weekend with the sole aim of enjoying themselves and learning by observing as many plants as possible. This wave of enthusiasm has led to the organisation of numerous free events and botanical walks between 21 and 23 May.
All members of the public are therefore invited to take part in this great challenge, working together in a completely voluntary capacity to collect data on flora and have fun whilst learning. The aim is to “capture” as many species as possible with a camera (such as a mobile phone camera) throughout the weekend. The species will then be identified with the help and advice of other participants and the botanical community. Anyone can take part, without needing to know initially what plant it is, and more experienced users will collaboratively suggest the identity of the species in each photograph. In this way, scientific knowledge will be brought closer to the public.
More than 50 organisations spread across Spain have already joined this collaborative event: numerous universities, associations, NGOs, various regional institutions, research institutes, botanical gardens, Biosphere Reserves, National Parks and, above all, many individual members of the public. And with the event fast approaching, the number of people who have already pre-registered – currently over a hundred – is expected to double.
So how do you take part in this Biomaratón? Well, it’s very simple. All you have to do is register on the iNaturalist citizen science platform, download the app, and upload photos of the plants you’ve spotted between 21 and 23 May. A National Project has been set up within this platform, comprising sub-projects for all the autonomous communities, so that the flora and number of sightings can be viewed by geographical region. Furthermore, all reliably recorded sightings will be uploaded to a global network of open-access scientific data (GBIF). This data will be useful for scientific research and, amongst other applications, can contribute to the understanding and conservation of rare and threatened species, to a better understanding of plant distribution and habitats, and to determining how plants may respond to climate change.
Anyone can take part in this Bio-Marathon and become a scientist! Fancy giving it a go?
You can find out more about how to use the app and keep up to date on Twitter and on the project’s website on iNaturalist!