Citizen Scientists Log Wyoming Biodiversity With App

Citizen scientists can help log wildlife and biodiversity as they hike Wyoming trails. (Courtesy of WyoBio)

A new initiative through the University of Wyoming Biodiversity Institute, Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center and the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database has made it possible for hikers to log wildlife findings on a website so others can access them to learn more about biological diversity, according to a release.

The website (WyoBio) is open to anyone and will be a useful tool for students, teachers and researchers alike who are interested in data about animals, plants and fungi throughout the state. The program is one of many popping up all across the country which refer to their users as “citizen scientists.”

Citizen scientists are expected to collect data, take photos and share a description of their experience on the website. In the year since the website began, there have been over 100 citizen scientist contributors and more than 1,100 observations submitted from people all over the country.

The WyoBio team hopes to create an app so that it can be accessed on the go. They even hope to add a live chat so that one day citizen scientists can ask in real time what they are seeing in nature.

Top image: Citizen scientists can help log wildlife and biodiversity as they hike Wyoming trails. (Courtesy of WyoBio)