ClimateWatch: Australia's phenological citizen science program

ClimateWatch is a phenology monitoring program developed by Earthwatch Institute with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and The University of Melbourne. The nation-wide program encourages all Australians to observe the world around them and record sightings of over 170 indicator plant and animal species, covering the tropics, temperate, arid, alpine and marine zones.

Indicator species were selected based on four mandatory and 10 optional criteria, designed to maximise community engagement and minimise misidentification among untrained observers.

Observations are recorded using an online interface or a free smartphone app. ClimateWatch users can make sightings anywhere in Australia, including at more than 40 self-guided trails in urban parks, botanic gardens and education centres.

Since 2009, over 13,000 Australians have registered for ClimateWatch, contributing in excess of 60,000 sightings. The program is currently used by nine universities across Australia to teach biology and scientific observation techniques, resulting in more than 4000 new phenologists in training every year.

This presentation will describe the implementation of ClimateWatch across Australia, including its unique engagement with the tertiary sector. Spatial and observation biases in the dataset will be discussed, as well as the issues associated with collecting data from such a wide network. Preliminary analysis suggests that with the correct approach, observations from the ClimateWatch network provide valuable data to analyse phenological changes across Australia.