Citizen Science and the India Biodiversity Portal Thomas Vattakaven, Strand Life Sciences, Bangalore, India.

Aims to aggregate information on the biodiversity of India and make it openly accessible to all. All data is put out under Creative Commons Licences.

Information modules Species pages – descriptive content on species (Crowd sourced from verified users) Observations – species sighting records with media- (Crowd sourced – Citizen science) Lists – species records from a locality (Crowd sourced – Citizen science) Maps – map layers containing ecological information. Documents – publications on a species. (Crowd sourced)

Species Pages Observations Species listsMap layers Documents

Species Pages Observations

TreesIndia Aim: To document every tree species in India with a photo-essay and at least one occurrence record. Initiated in January 2014 Collaborative effort – several experts with interest in Trees of India were invited to join as founders of the group Members of IBP were invited to join as participants All existing tree observations and species pages were added to the group. A workshop was conducted in February to plan the a campaign to map and document neighborhood trees across India. 33 partcipants across the country attended. These included NGO representatives, researchers, school teachers and students as well as Masters’ and PhD students

Neighborhood Trees Campaign Users asked to photograph, document and write a story Campaign ran for 1 week from Earth Day 22 nd April to 28 th April. Run exclusively online Advertised on groups, facebook, Google plus and to all users of IBP Press kit and publicity material prepared and provided to the press – received wide coverage across India Interested organizations were asked to join as partners of the campaign and conduct tree-walks

Gurgaon Hoshangabad Mumbai Panjim Bangalore Kottagiri Thiruvananthapuram

Participation Percentage of registered users who uploaded observations Percentage of registered users who provided species Identification

Participation in Species Identification Less than 20% of the total observations were unidentified during the campaign The unidentified percentage is now less than 10%

Ficus religiosaDelonix regiaMangifera indicaArtocarpus heterophyllusPeltophorum pterocarpum Ficus benghalensisAzadirachta indicaSpathodea campanulataGrevillea robustaCassia fistula Most identified tree species About 680 species of trees were uploaded during the campaign, of which 68% were native to India and 32% are introduced species.

Outcome.. Participation continues with many of the users becoming regular users. Currently around 750 members. There are now 450 tree species pages with at least 1 image and 1300 species pages with at least 1 record. Continued effort to energize citizens to participate and upload observations/ provide IDs and to convert enthusiasts into species page contributors. Neighborhood Trees Campaign 2015

Uploaders ID providers 274 identified species

Dragonfly Observation Bucket Challenge

Challenges Participation Incentives Ease of use / user experience Guiding users on effective documentation and to overcome biases Identification guides Value addition

Acknowledgments Portal Team Support

Contributors