Citizen science

Citizen science involves public participation and collaboration in scientific research, with the aim of increasing scientific knowledge and community engagement. It’s a great way to harness community knowledge, skills and passion to help answer questions about the Murraylands and Riverland region, and the best management options for our precious landscapes. Our citizen science program is exciting, varied and constantly evolving; covering surface water quality, groundwater, aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, and land condition.

We monitor to:

• involve the community in management decisions
• support sustainable agriculture
• support rehabilitation projects
• contribute to research projects
• influence natural resource management
• build local knowledge, engage and educate.

Citizen Science Strategy 2021-2026

The Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board Citizen Science Strategy 2021-2026 sets a vision for citizen science in our region. It outlines how we can effectively enable the community to get involved in, and be passionate about, science and our regional landscapes.

Our Citizen Science projects

The Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board has a variety of projects that enables participants to share their local knowledge and showcase their contribution to landscape management. Some of our current programs are:

• Water Watch (previously Community Surface Water Monitoring) and Waterbug Bioblitz Events
• Bird Monitoring
• Bat monitoring
• Frog Monitoring with FrogwatchSA
• Fungi monitoring with FungiMap
• Getting the dirt on soil health
• Help save the Murray-Darling carpet python
• Soil Your Undies

We have on-line databases for these projects that provide a safe repository for community-collected data and are readily accessible to the general public.

Other Citizen Science programs

Many citizen science programs are run by our partners and are available for you to get involved in, whatever your interests!

Birds in Backyards

Echidna CSI

iNaturalist

Polly Tell Us - the regent parrot register

TurtleSAT

Wild Orchid Watch

Wild Pollinator Count

Wildlife Spotter

Support for community monitoring

Citizen Science support is provided through workshops, training and equipment loan. Checklists and fact sheets are also available to assist people involved in monitoring activities.

A community monitoring toolkit guides people who are interested in participating in monitoring. The toolkit includes extensive information on developing a monitoring plan and different options for contributing data to web-based collections.

Training workshops

Community members can access a variety of periodic training and annual up-skilling opportunities. The types of workshops available are determined by community interests and needs and project requirements.

To register your interest in attending training workshops, contact the Senior Project Officer Citizen Science on email.

Citizen Science e-newsletter

Subscribe to be notified of upcoming events and opportunities to be involved in environmental monitoring in the Murraylands and Riverland region. Our e-newsletter also includes project updates showing how citizen science data is being used in managing the region’s landscapes.