Citizen Science on Montserrat
As part of the “Securing Montserrat’s threatened endemic species…” project the team set out to add to the knowledge of biodiversity on the island. It did this by working with experts both on island and overseas, but also with the local community. Field work can be labour intensive, so communities can supplement and enhance this work by continuously adding data. It can also be very fun and healthy. This is because one of the most important parts of being a citizen science is that it encouraged people to go outside and explore. That said, some interesting records have come from inside houses.
Partners on the Hidden Histories project introduced iNaturalist, which fitted perfectly with the projects aims to continuously record biological data, to provide the community on Montserrat with a tool to get involved and to try and record some of the most secretive or rarely recorded species.
iNaturalist
iNaturalist is an online network where biodiversity information can be shared to help learn more about the natural environment. It is made up of a network of naturalists, citizen scientists and biologists. Records of any wildlife can be submitted with an image and an identification , if known. If unknown. These records are then identified by the online community. After that they can become part of global recording schemes and global data sources (Global Biodiversity Information Facility or G-BIF). This allows anyone to learn more about the wildlife they see, but can also help others learn about the wildlife by helping identify records.
A dedicated project page was set up on iNaturalist called “Biodiversity of Montserrat”. All observations from the island can be found there.
Ever since recorders have been steadily adding records for Montserrat.
As of September 2024, there are 6128 observations. When the project started there were around 180.
Future projects may add to these records. A next step may be to start some monitoring programmes for certain species e.g. butterflies. Some of these can used to help understand the condition of the environment.
Bioblitz
Events organised to promote the use of citizen science tools are called a bioblitz. They usually involve short periods time conducting biological surveys to record all the living species within an area. Groups of scientists, naturalists, and volunteers conduct an intensive field study over a continuous time period.
The first island bioblitz took place in 2022. See Facebook posts for more details.
A set-by-set guide was produced for the event. This can be seen below. It can be downloaded as a pdf here:
