Explore Citizen Science Projects
Exploring Forest Biodiversity Through Sound Forest Groove explores forest biodiversity together with students through nature observations and sound recordings. The collected data on species and forest sounds support research and make the diversity of the forest audible and tangible. What are the aims of the project? Forest Groove investigates biodiversity in urban and peri-urban forests in Vienna...
Connecting People, Biodiversity and Cities UrbanBEE is an international study of wild bees in cities. Two hundred volunteers in Vienna will host bee hotels and send weekly photos of the occupation, helping the project unravel the dynamics of wild bees in urban ecosystems. What are the aims of the project? UrbanBEE is an international research project that aims to find out more about wild bees and...
This citizen science project works with citizens to develop and test a safe, group-based walking program in shopping centres. The goal is to promote physical activity, social connection, and well-being in later life. What are the aims of the project? The aim of the project is to work together with older adults to develop and test a practical, safe, and motivating physical activity program in shopping centres. By walking together in...
ADAPT4K explores how forests can better cope with climate change together with citizens and forest owners. By collaboratively observing and measuring forests, valuable knowledge for their future is generated. What are the aims of the project? The aim of ADAPT4K is to support climate-resilient forest development in Lower Austria together with the public. Over several years, data on forest conditions—such as drought stress, tree...
Surveying and experiencing biodiversity togetherOn the site of the future "Am Heidjöchl" district, the City of Vienna is working with experts and citizens to survey biodiversity over the course of a whole year. These findings will be incorporated into the design of the new district.What are the aims of the project?The fundamental planning objective of the project is to ensure that biodiversity in the new “Am Heidjöchl” district is higher than it is today in the area. In order to...
(INCO)In this project, young people work closely with researchers to develop ideas for social media campaigns for health promotion. They share their experiences and design first concepts. Selected campaigns are tested in experimental studies, evaluated, and thoroughly discussed with the participants.What are the aims of the project?The project aims to develop new ideas for health promotion on social media together with young people. Students are not only asked for their opinions...
The Tree-Quest project aims at developing an Austrian citizen science (CS) data component to bridge the in-situ data gap for more reliable forest mapping with Copernicus satellite data.What are the aims of the project?We’re inviting everyone to join our new citizen science campaign through the free Geo-Quest app. Using the Tree-Quest module, you can head outside and measure trees in your neighborhood — and discover how much carbon they store! You’ll learn how trees help fight...
Identifying trustworthy health information on social mediaIn the HealthCheckR project, we are working with citizens to create a simple tool that helps people find trustworthy health information on social media. This will help stop false information and support better health decisions.What are the goals of the project?The goal of the project is to develop an easy-to-understand and tested tool together with citizens that helps identify whether health information on social media is...
The project “Environmental distribution of bisphenol A” investigates the possible spread of bisphenol A (BPA) in our environment. To this end, citizen scientists collect samples (soil, sludge, water, etc.) and send them to our laboratory, where the BPA concentration in the samples is determined.What are the aims of the project?Via a public sampling approach, any kind of sample that possibly contains BPA is sent to the lab and BPA concentrations are determined. The team of the...
Discrimination is often difficult to grasp, both in everyday life and in research. By involving citizen scientists, we aim to broaden knowledge about discrimination.What are the aims of the project?Racist discrimination and stigmatization are difficult to grasp both in everyday life and in research, as they are often hidden behind naturalizations or justified with different rationales and intersectional categories. By involving people with different horizons of knowledge and...
Smart Movement Analysis for Knee Osteoarthritis
ACCESS investigates how knee osteoarthritis affects movement — directly in physiotherapy practices using modern 3D movement-analysis technology. Patients and physiotherapists collaborate with researchers to gain new insights for better treatment.
In the PolliDiversity project, students explore flowering areas and observe pollinating insects like wild bees. Using digital tools, they collect scientific data and learn how to protect and experience biodiversity.What are the aims of the project?In the PolliDiversity project, students investigate the development of flowering areas using the ReNatura® BW3 Gumpenstein wildflower mixture, observe wild bees and other pollinators, and collect scientific data using digital tools. The goal is to...
In the City-Tree-Soil project, the Federal Research Centre for Forestry (BFW), the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) and the University of Innsbruck are investigating the growth conditions of urban trees in Vienna and Innsbruck. Citizen scientists (schools and the general public) are responsible for recording the growth in thickness. In addition, soil carbon is being measured in both cities.What are the aims of the project?The...
What role can you play in the biodiversity and climate crisis - in the familiar surroundings of your own garden? Citizen scientists implement biodiversity-enhancing measures in their garden, observe animals and plants and are analyzed how their attitudes and behaviors change.What are the aims of the project?BIODIVERCITI pursues two core research questions to analyze the impact of its intervention on Citizen Scientists and their gardens: 1. What improvements can be achieved in indicator...
Do you love diving or snorkeling? Then become part of marine research! Octopus Intelligence invites you to observe wild octopuses in the Northern Adriatic Sea and document your sightings. Every observation helps to learn more about these fascinating animals and their habitat. What are the aims of the project?The citizen science project Octopus Intelligence studies octopuses in the Northern Adriatic. The goal: to find out where octopuses occur, at what depths they live, how...
Monitoring of Amphibians and Reptiles in Austrian GardensThe BIOM-Garten project invites people of all ages to look out for amphibians and reptiles in their gardens and report their observations. This will help to fill gaps in existing monitoring and implement better conservation measures for these endangered animals.What are the aims of the project?Amphibians and reptiles are among the most endangered animals in the world. In Austria, more than half of the 21 amphibian and 15 reptile...
A snapshot of soil healthWith the SoilBlitz, Citizen Scientists independently carry out tests to determine local soil health, collect important data and become aware of the importance of healthy soils.What are the aims of the project?In a so-called ‘SoilBlitz’, five uncomplicated and fast tests are carried out to determine soil indicators such as soil texture and colour, water infiltration rate, earthworm occurrence and vegetation cover. The measurement results for these...
Since 1851, we have been researching the changes in weather, climate and nature and what this means for us humans by observing plants and animals. These phenological observations help, for example, in climate research, agriculture and pollen forecasting in order to better deal with climate change.What are the aims of the project?Plants act as an integrating measuring instrument for a variety of environmental factors such as weather conditions in the past and current vegetation year. If one...
Many people in Austria feel that colorful butterflies are becoming increasingly rare. Unfortunately, this is also reflected in the European Grassland Butterfly Index, compiled by Butterfly Conservation Europe from datasets across the continent. Since 1990, typical grassland butterflies have declined by 36%.Since butterfly populations naturally fluctuate from year to year, only long-term standardized monitoring can determine whether numbers are increasing or decreasing. To enable this, the...
Mental Health around ChildbirthThis project focuses on the mental health of parents around childbirth, aiming to detect issues early and provide better support. The goal is to promote the emotional well-being of parents and infants and improve access to support services in Tyrol.What are the aims of the project?The Healthy Minds project aims to promote parents' mental health during pregnancy and early parenthood and close existing gaps in care. The focus is on improving the early detection...
For our national tick monitoring programme, we invite you to provide us with ticks. Your samples will help us analyse which tick species appear when and where in Austria. Moreover, ticks will also be investigated for the presence of pathogens.What are the aims of the project?The goal of our national tick monitoring programme is to obtain data regarding tick species in Austria, their occurrence, and the pathogens they may carry. The objective is to sample ticks from a wide variety...
How to raise the village to raise the childThe Village Project supports children and adolescents of parents with mental health issues by strengthening their formal and informal support networks. The aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Village approach and integrate it sustainably into existing structures.What are the aims of the project?The "Village" project aims to improve support for children of parents with mental health issues in Tyrol. It investigates how affected families can...
Monitoring of Soilbiota by Citizen ScienceSoilRise is a research project on earthworm biodiversity in Europe. Earthworms play a crucial role in soil fertility and are considered important ecosystem engineers. With your help we like to collect data on the distribution and diversity of earthworms in Europe.But SoilRise is more than scientific research. We aim to build an interactive network between researches, citizen scientists (you) and stakeholders to raise awareness of the importance of...
The TRA:WELL project focuses on the relationship between active mobility (walking, cycling, scooters) and the well-being of young people. The entire physical activity behaviour is considered in order to assess the contribution of active forms of mobility to the fulfilment of physical activity recommendations.What are the aims of the project?The project has three main objectives:TRA:WELL investigates the relationships between children's mobility behaviour and subjective well-being. The focus...
A couple of Instagram stories here a TikTok video there: The pervasiveness of our everyday lives with more and more media content consumed in a short period of time has completely changed the way we access and deal with information: Due to their everyday use of and the strong fusion of their lives with social media, it is young people who are most affected by this development. The project “Young Citizen Scientists against Disinformation” aims to explore the topic of disinformation from...
DANUBE4all is an EU project with the main task of developing a comprehensive action plan for the renaturation of river stretches in the Danube River Basin (DRB). To this end, a collaborative stakeholder process is being developed that actively incorporates the interests of citizens. The action plan is intended to contribute to the improvement of the ecological status, biodiversity and river connectivity of the Danube ecosystems and thus supports the EU mission OCEAN ‘Mission Healthy Oceans...
Spring habitats in the Großes Walsertal Biosphere ReserveIn view of increasing extreme weather events, including periods of drought and consequent water shortages, the protection and knowledge of springs in the Großes Walsertal Biosphere Reserve is becoming increasingly important. In addition to their essential role in water supply, springs are often small but very important habitats for endangered organisms. The pressure to utilise and develop existing springs has increased significantly due...
Monitoring in the Karawanken UNESCO Global Geopark Together we can limit the spread of invasive species and protect the biodiversity of our mountain regions!Project descriptionOur Citizen Science project is dedicated to the spread of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) in the Geopark Karawanken. Invasive species are plants or animals that are mostly introduced by human activity into regions where they do not originally occur, for example through intercontinental trade. While most introduced...
Many archaeological artifacts today are only preserved in fragments. Reassembling these parts into their original form is therefore an important but challenging task for archaeology. Computer-assisted methods can facilitate this task or even partially solve it in some cases. However, due to the usually poor preservation of these artifacts and their potential incompleteness, reliable fully automatic reassembly is rarely possible in practice.The goal of the Open Reassembly project is to...
Your cat - our researcherAttention cat owners in Vorarlberg! Under the motto "Show me your mouse, cat!", we are collecting dead mice and other small mammals that your cat brings to your home. From June to November 2024, you can hand in these "gifts" from your cat to us or other collection points in Vorarlberg. The aim of this campaign is to obtain as much data as possible on our native small mammals for the compilation of the Vorarlberg Red List of Small Mammals.A project as part of the...
Giving a voice to children and adolescents: Co-research with children and adolescents in developing a model of health literacyBackgroundHealth literacy is crucial for promoting health and well-being It encompasses finding, understanding, evaluating, and applying health information and services to make informed decisions for maintaining or improving health and quality of life. This competency is important at every stage of life, including in childhood and adolescence. However, existing...
The sourdough microbiomeAttention sourdough bakers and fermentation enthusiasts - HealthFerm is researching plant-based and fermented foods you eat and raise in your home!Fermented foods are present both in our daily diet and in various food cultures: from sourdough bread to beer, wine, pickles, sauerkraut, miso, kombucha, and much more. The art of fermentation is (again) on the rise, and many people are making their own fermented foods at home. Can fermentation help us transition to a more...
State-of-the-art DNA technology and citizen science - "Frog in a drop of water" unleashes new prospects for amphibian researchDetective work for amphibian protection - for the first time, amphibian screening is being carried out throughout Austria by detecting their DNA traces in water - and everyone can take part. Amphibians - including frogs, toads, toads, salamanders and newts - are strictly protected in Austria. Nevertheless, populations are continuously and in some cases dramatically...
Relevance of mathematics lessons from the students' perspectiveThe relevance that students attribute to mathematics education is a crucial variable for its success. Against this background, it is surprising that there is little international scientific evidence on these ideas. Instead, it is evident in various countries, including Austria, that students in secondary school have at best fragile ideas about the relevance of mathematics instruction: For example, it is usually emphasized that...
Innovation to strengthen the Austrian fresh vegetable supplyMarket garden centres work according to so-called bio-intensive methods. This means utilising the maximum possible natural yield potential on the land. This yield potential results from the respective location, the climatic conditions (temperature, precipitation, wind, etc.), the production methods and, to a large extent, the soil itself. Beside the type of soil and texture, the thickness of the individual soil layers, the condition...
What can we do to protect our wetlands and floodplains in Europe? What does the water management need to implement measure for the benefit of both the environment and the human society?The Horizon Europe project Restore4Life aims at offering an online system that supports the restoration of wetlands in Europe. One important aspect is the development of easily applicable and meaningful methods to assess the state and functionality of wetlands before and after the restoration. This enables us...
Citizen Mapping as a Practice of City-MakingThe project “City Layers: Citizen Mapping as a Practice of City-Making”, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) introduces a contemporary framework for city-mapping which centres on citizen experience of urban space as an integrative way to contribute to more egalitarian city design. Within the frame of the Citizen Science Award 2023, the City Layers app has been developed in collaboration with students, citizens and researchers all interested in...
Promotion of child and youth-friendly urban landscapes through participatory research on urban green The development of child- and youth-friendly cities is becoming increasingly important due to the deteriorating quality of life in urban areas. An important contribution to this relates to the provision of urban green suitable for young people and their involvement in the future design of urban landscapes. However, it must be taken into account that children and the youth make demands on urban...
Mosquito Alert is a citizen science project that allows tiger mosquitoes and other mosquitoes to be easily reported using a free app. Tiger mosquitoes are always smaller than a 1-cent coin, have a single white line on the back of the head and thoraxand white stripes on the body and legs. The submitted photos are examined by national and international experts and the finds are then displayed anonymously on a publicly accessible map.Tiger mosquitoes are non-native mosquitoes...
In order to find out how information about HPV needs to be prepared to reach the target groups, we are working together with parents, teachers and students in the project “Humane PapilloWAS?” to reveal what is known about HPV and which misinformation is circulating.BackgroundOnly 46% of the population in Austrian are aware about human papilloma viruses, or HPV, and only 34% associate HPV with cancer. This shows that there are gaps in the population's knowledge of a virus that almost...
The AmphiBiom project is focused on the study of the European green toad in Austria. With the support of Citizen Scientists, we investigate the distribution of this endangered amphibian species, which, as a typical pioneer species, can quickly colonize newly emerging water bodies.Therefore, the European green toad is an ideal species for projects to investigate the distribution status through call monitoring and the installation of small water bodies with the support of the Citizen Science...
Citizen science-based bumblebee monitoring is a pillar of the Austrian wild bee survey. Most wild bee species can only be distinguished under a microscope. The genus of bumblebees (Bombus) is an exception and can usually be distinguished at species level after a training phase in the field (see Gokcezade et al., 2010), so that not only professionals can help with the observation and recording of bumblebees. Bumblebee monitoring ties in with the already existing reporting platform...
What is the project about?The crowdsourcing project "Viennese playbills 1930-1939" is about the metadata capture of the playbills from the holdings of the Vienna City Library from this period. Previously only organized by theater and not indexed individually, during the project these valuable historical sources will become recorded individually and thus discoverable for all. The playbills provide insights into an initially internationally acclaimed and lively Viennese theater world, which was...
Better governance of ecosystem services at local scales in the Wienerwald region A joint research project of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) and the University of Vienna. What is ServeToPe studying and what are its goals?Society uses a variety of services that natural ecosystems provide, such as clean water, an attractive landscape for recreational purposes, food, or renewable energy sources. Many of these so-called ecosystem services (ESS) are...
What is the project about?The crowdsourcing project "Letters 1920-1934" is about the transcription of the unique letter collection of the Vienna City Library from this period. In contrast to historical printed works, which are now subjected to automatic full-text recognition as standard, this is still not so easy to do for manuscripts - especially when the documents come from many different writers, as in this case. Since the democratization of knowledge plays a central role in the range of...
It is an open secret that hardware operating on our smart devices contains not only plastic, but also conflict materials such as tungsten, tin, tantulum and gold. Technology is therefore not neutral. These resources are mined in conflict regions, assembled to electric circuits under harmful labour conditions and mostly ending up in contaminating landfills. This pollution is best understood as an enactment of ongoing colonial relations to Land. Arts-based research...
From alpine crested newt to sand lizard - gardening enthusiasts report pleasePrivate gardens not only provide a place of peace and relaxation for humans but can also serve as important habitats and stepping stones for many animal and plant species. Especially the two endangered species groups of amphibians and reptiles can benefit from a garden designed with nature in mind. However, occurrences of common tree frogs, smooth newts, common lizards, and other species in residential areas are...
With your ideas towards a innovative social sector for all Our society is facing numerous social challenges and the public administration, charities & social service providers, civil society and (social) enterprises are already working to solve them. In the face of increasingly complex challenges, there is a need for more collaboration and dialogue across sectors. Together we can achieve more! UpdateSocial is designed to provide the framework for collaboration!In all sectors of our...
The lack of sustainability in human activity is leading to the global destabilisation of our natural systems. The resulting biodiversity and climate crises require a transformation to an environmentally sustainable society. However, the expertise in the field of taxonomy required for this transformation is often only shared by a few experts. This leads to a bottleneck in biological species knowledge, where, depending on the group of organisms, often only a few citizen scientists have the...
What is the project about?The crowdsourcing project "Letters 1914-1919" is about the transcription of the unique letter collection of the Vienna City Library from this period. In contrast to historical printed works, which are now subjected to automatic full-text recognition as standard, this is still not so easy to do for manuscripts - especially when the documents come from many different writers, as in this case. Since the democratization of knowledge plays a central role in the range of...
Language is one of the most important means of human communication, an essential part of our culture and it can also fulfill an identity-forming function. At the same time, it is constantly changing with the society that uses it. There are words that were used a century ago, but that no one knows today. Simultaneously, there are other words are still in use but have changed their meaning.With the "ABCs of Dialect" you can rediscover old German dialect words and help us process the...
Counselling centres for women* are important institutions that have been founded since the 1980s by the second women's movement. In the project, researchers are conducting research together with counsellors and clients of Viennese women's* counselling centres. We are interested in the life stories of women* who seek help at counselling centres. How can women lead a good life in this society today and what role can women's counselling play in this? In workshops, questions and methods are...
SoilPlastic is a citizen science project that collects data on plastic in soils. No prior knowledge is needed to participate and you can enter your observations in the SoilPlastic app in just a few minutes.What is it about?Plastic products and their remains are ubiquitous. However, we still know little about how much and which types of plastic end up in soils and what effects this has. Observations by citizen scientists help scientists to fill this knowledge gap. This is an...
Flexibilisation of WF-mowing dates according to the phenological model The ÖPUL-measure Nature Conservation results in farmers usually having an agreement on a fixed mowing date. Due to the ongoing climate change, vegetation development fluctuates more and more especially during spring and early summer. Therefore, it was proposed to expand the flexibility of harvest date requirements. For this purpose, over a hundred farmers all over Austria started to observe the course of panicle...
Biodiversity and ecology of freshwater bacteriaThe bacterial genus Aquirufa, which was discovered and scientifically described in cooperation with pupils, is the eponym and focus of the research project. The aim is to research the ecology, biodiversity and distribution of Aquirufa in water bodies through the active and creative participation of citizen scientists in the entire research process.Many people only know bacteria as pathogens, although only a small proportion of...
The sale of electrical and electronic equipment is constantly increasing and accordingly e-waste has already become the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Our society needs to face this challenge without delay, so the Recycling Heroes project aims to raise awareness about e-waste, especially among students but also in society in general, by combining the principles of the circular economy with citizen science methods.ParticipationAs citizen scientists, the students develop a...
Participate in archaeological field surveys and/or in cleaning, documenting & interpreting archaeological finds.A transdisciplinary look at the early Neolithic communities in the Schletz settlement clusterThe project aims to explore the surroundings of the famous Neolithic settlement of Asparn/Schletz (Lower Austria). Numerous human remains suggest a violent attack on this site in the Late Linear Pottery Culture, approx. 7.000 years ago. Due to its size and earthworks...
Plastic Pirates - Go Europe! A Citizen Science Initiative to investigate plastic pollution along riversThe pollution of beaches and riverbanks in Europe with plastic waste does not stop at borders. Preventing micro- and macroplastics in the environment, addressing this challenge scientifically and researching sustainable materials are therefore tasks we need to work on together across Europe.Plastic Pirates - Go Europe! was first developed in Germany in 2016. Since January 2022, with the...
Breaking the blame game: COwLEARNING for sustainable beef and dairy supply Our society faces grand challenges, such as mitigating climate change and adapting to its consequences, ensuring a healthy diet and maintaining cultural landscapes with high biodiversity. A sustainable agri-food industry addresses these challenges. In Austria, with its high share of meadows and pastures, cattle husbandry is particularly important. Several aspects of dairy and beef supply are perceived as...
Every observation counts!The City Nature Challenge (short: CNC) is an annual nature competition between regions that takes place in spring (usually at the end of April, beginning of May) and is held simultaneously in various cities and regions worldwide. On four consecutive days, people around the world document the diversity of wild animal, plant and fungi species in their region using photos and sound recordings and share them on iNaturalist. Together with others the observations are then...
"Crows in the zoo" is a Citizen Science project of the Department for Behavioral and Cognitive Biology of the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Konrad Lorenz Research Center and the Zoo Vienna. The researchers aim to find out more about the species and subspecies of crows that use the zoo area. All visitors of the Zoo Vienna are welcome to join in and contribute collecting behavioural data by using an app developed for smartphones.As typical cultural followers, corvids regularly...
Be an expert on your disease and join our research!The PATIO initiative is working hard to strengthen the voices of prostate cancer patients and their caregivers heard in medical research.Why is it important to act now? Porstate cancer affects a considerable number of people in Austria. On the one hand, around 65,000 men have suffered from this particular type of cancer by the end of 2020 (Statistics Austria, 2022), and on the other hand, there are countless partners, children...
DeVOTE is a research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) from January 2021 to December 2025, and led by Ass.-Prof. Carolina Plescia to develop and apply a new approach to study what ‘voting’ means for ordinary citizens. The project’s goals are:understand what ‘voting’ means for ordinary citizens;examine the variation of 'voting' meanings across individuals and across countries;study how elections create and modify these 'voting' meanings;investigate the consequences of...
Since April 2021, the BaF-Biodiversität am Friedhof project has been researching biodiversity in Austrian cemeteries in collaboration with Friedhöfe Wien GmbH, with a special focus on Vienna's cemeteries. The aim is to document biodiversity and analyse the impact of human activities on these urban habitats. This close cooperation between BOKU and urban cemeteries enables a deep understanding of the diverse ecosystems and supports the development of sustainable measures to protect...
The Ideenbox (box of ideas) collects the problems of citizens and patients around the topic of health (such as physical and mental health issues, social consequences, care, health prevention...), for which solutions are to be developed with citizens, researchers and other stakeholders. Which health problem do you want research to solve? Who should be involved in finding a solution? Send us the health problem that you would like research to address through this simple online questionnaire (in...
CrowdWater is a hydrological citizen science project of the University of Zurich. CrowdWater uses an app to collect data about water. No prior knowledge is required to participate.What is the project about?CrowdWater stands for independent and reliable data collection by anyone with an interest in water. The observations collected with the CrowdWater app can complement existing measurements and be used for hydrological modeling. The method is being developed in Zurich and will also be used...
Due to the enormous request and the multitude of consignments of fossil images encompassing almost the entire Earth history, the precise issues and the resulting project target were adapted in accordance to the requirements and wishes oft he citizen scientists. The geographical and chronological distribution of fossils in Austria is a particular focal point in the scientific problem of this geoscience project. Exciting field research in the Austrian Alps forms the foundation of the...
The “Blick ins Dickicht” project is dedicated to the search for the smallest native dormouse – the hazel dormouse. Until now, only very little has been known about this rare small animal. In order to learn more about its way of life and also how best protect it in working forests, evidence of hazel dormice is being sought in the Wienerwald forest and in the Donauauen national park. There are many different ways to participate here.Where are hazel dormice found?The hazel dormouse...
We are tracing the Sculptured Resin Bee!Home of the Sculptured Resin Bee (Megachile sculpturalis, Smith 1853) is far away in Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan. In 2008, the Sculptured Resin Bee was discovered in southern France as the first introduced wild bee species in Europe. Since then, the bee has been particularly active and dispersed rapidly throughout Europe. Together, we track down the Sculptured Resin Bee in Austria. Report your observations via email at This email address is being...
Are swallows nesting at your house or in your stable? Have you seen a badger in the middle of town? Or do you regularly observe a kestrel in your garden? We are interested in your observations in rural settlement areas!
"Pilzfinder" - what it's all aboutUntil a few decades ago, knowledge of wild edible and poisonous mushrooms was widespread. Especially the older population knew about the seasonal occurrence of the mushrooms. Finding mushrooms is a popular hobby for young and old, which is accompanied by great experience. In order to preserve and extend this knowledge and above all to bring it closer to the younger generation, the Mushroom Finder is now available. Due to the global warming of the last few...
Participatory exploration of the "Kremser scorpion” (Euscorpius tergestinus) with school students"Triestino scorpion" (Euscorpius tergestinus - still listed as E. carpathicus in the Red List of NÖ), which are threatened with extinction in Lower Austria, exists as an archaeozoon in Krems. This population is an isolated north-eastern outpost of the distribution area. Since 2019, sightings of these animals have been collected together with students of the BRG Krems Ringstraße 33, a UNESCO...
The kestrel is the most common raptor in the city of Vienna. Since 2010, the "Vienna Kestrel Project" has been investigating how these falcons have adapted to city life. A key component of our research is knowledge about nest locations which allow us to access broods for further investigation. The Vienna Kestrel Project was initiated by Dr. Petra Sumasgutner and Priv.-Doz. Dr. Anita Gamauf as a cooperation between the University of Vienna and the Natural History Museum (Bird Collection)...
Archaeological finds of textile remains give an insight into ancient weaving techniques, including fabrics from the Hallstatt salt mine dating from between 1500 and 300 BC, or finds of gold threads such as those from Ebreichsdorf in Lower Austria, ca. 1100 BC. They are scientifically analysed and reworked in the Prehistoric Department of the Natural History Museum in order to understand the manufacturing technique and the amount of work involved. Especially the board weavings and fabric with...
Austria is rich in a wide range of mineral deposits. Precise documentation of both “old” deposits (e.g. mining heaps and tunnels, slag heaps) and “new” location spots (e.g. quarries, natural outcrops, road cuts, etc.) is one of the focuses of the Department of Mineralogy and Petrography at the Natural History Museum Vienna. This can be achieved only with the help of mineral collectors, amateur mineralogists and members of the general public interested in mineralogy who collect minerals and...
Karst and cave documentationThe Working Group on Karst and Caves (KHA) of the Natural History Museum Vienna cooperates closely with the Speleologic Society in Vienna and Lower Austria, but also with other groups of the Austrian Speleological Association (VÖH). The KHA is primarily active in the eastern part of Austria. Working in the terrain requires some physical fitness, surefootedness and a sense of orientation, as marked paths are usually abandoned. However, interesting objects can be...
Important groundwork for bird protectionThe association BirdLife Austria has been researching and protecting the native avifauna for over 50 years. Citizen science has always been an essential basis of this work, as BirdLife's expertise is based on decades of collecting bird records. In the past, observations were recorded on paper slips, today www.ornitho.at is a modern and simple way to report bird observations.Many functionalitiesWith the platform ornitho.at you can not only report...
Citizen Science with a long traditionThe first water bird counts in Austria took place as early as the 1950s. In the following years, the number of counts was gradually increased, and from 1970 onwards Austria-wide surveys have been carried out. This makes the waterbird census one of the longest running citizen science projects of BirdLife Austria. The censuses are carried out by volunteers between one and five times per winter (depending on the province) at defined river sections.Decline in...
Annual countsThis advanced citizen science project requires knowledge of the common native breeding bird species and participation over several years. Twice a year, the participants count all birds seen and heard at fixed points. The total of all counts is then used to calculate population trends. The available data is currently sufficient to determine meaningful trends for about 90 bird species – from 1998 onwards. Sadly, the results show how important it is to monitor our breeding bird...
The Ragweed Finder was developed in 2017 by the Austrian Pollen Information Service at MedUni Vienna and has also been available to download as an app for Android and iOS since 2019.The Ragweed Finder consists of four components:Specimen reportRagweed distribution mapInformation about RagweedManual to recognize ragweedSpecimen reportThe most important data such as location, population size and symptoms can be entered quickly using the specimen report. Uploading a photo is mandatory...
Interested groups (mainly school classes) can participate in this scientific project about the whereabouts of the greylag geese in the Cumberland game park in Grünau im Almtal (Upper Austria).The social behaviour of the flock of greylag geese of the Konrad Lorenz Research Center (a core facility of the University of Vienna) has been monitored for more than 40 years. The birds are individually marked by coloured leg-rings and can move completely free.What is it all about?During the...
Amphibians and reptiles under observation in AustriaImportance and evaluability of databases increase with the extent, the precision and the currency of the data stored.The Natural History Museum Vienna, one of the largest non-university research institutions in Austria, houses more than 30 million objects from the fields of biology, earth sciences and human sciences. Since 1982, the Amphibian and Reptile Collection has also been collecting data on the historical and recent...
The golden jackal (Canis aureus) was not considered native in Austria, until the first golden jackal discovery was made in 1987, followed by sporadic records scattered over several federal states and in 2007 the first reproduction record was documented in the National Park "Neusiedler See-Seewinkel". Since then, rumours about camera trap pictures, fallow deer and one or two sightings have led to the assumption that these secretly living animals are present in some areas of Austria. In the...
Many weather phenomena as well as their impacts and damage on the ground are reported in real time or immediately after the event by means of weather reports. Within the framework of the Trusted Spotter Network Austria, all reporters can be trained to become particularly trustworthy observers. All weather and impact reporting parameters as well as the training and competence levels of the observers are comparable throughout Europe.Why weather reports?A large number of automatic weather...
Read more: Wettermelden.at / Trusted Spotter Network Austria
The growing flood of images cannot be processed by institutions alone. Partnership with citizen scientists is vital. Topotheque is a digital archive and network in which this historical legacy can be gathered. For the locally resident Topotheque users, every new image and new piece of information means a valuable building block with which they can document their regional history in more detail. Enthusiasm for the work with the Topotheques creates local archives that captures an interest that...
With the Citizen Science Project "CITREE" a crowdsourcing instrument for monitoring the growth of urban trees, will be developed and used. It builds on the "Sparkling Science" project "Woody Woodpecker", which deals with the growth, structure and function of wood.Urban trees fulfill a variety of functions, such as improving the microclimate and air, noise protection or the design of public spaces. Monitoring of urban trees is important because climate change leads to an intensification of...
App for the scientific recording of Austrian butterfliesOn behalf of Blühendes Österreich - BILLA gemeinnützige Privatstiftunga, butterfly expert Peter Huemer published a report on the dramatic state of the butterfly fauna in May 2016. In Europe, their number had fallen by half since 1990 and over 50 percent of Austria’s butterflies are acutely threatened with extinction according to the Red Lists. Butterfly habitats have been massively restricted by agricultural intensification, increasing...
In Viel-Falter: Butterfly Monitoring volunteers, together with researchers from the Department of Ecology of the University of Innsbruck, observe, identify and count butterflies. The aim is to build up and establish an Austria-wide systematic butterfly monitoring.Butterflies are an excellent indicator group for the ecologically extremely important animal group of insects. They react quickly and sensitively to habitat and environmental changes. Butterflies are also excellent for raising...
The Pollen Diary was launched back in 2009 as a scientific project as part of a master's thesis at the WU Vienna Executive Academy. Meanwhile it has become an important service for pollen allergy sufferers in 13 European countries: Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey. The number of users is growing every year, not at least because of the projects that were made possible by the Pollen Diary, such as the...
Since 2008, the Institute of Silviculture at BOKU University, Vienna, has been analyzing the occurrence, distribution, causes and characteristics of forest fires in Austria as part of various research projects. The data series spans several decades and includes around 8000 fires, of which around 7000 are forest fires. The last 20 years are the best documented. The Institute of Silviculture has created the web GIS platform “Fire Database”, which is freely accessible and allows interested...
We take care of our meadows and alpine pastures!For more than a decade, hundreds of farmers have been saying "We look at our meadows and alpine pastures!".The regular observations of the more than 700 participants impressively show that on more than 80 % of the monitoring plots in extensive grassland the number of individuals of the species observed has remained the same or even increased.By observing the animals and plants every year, the perspective with which the farmers perceive their...
The project “GeoMaus” collects information about the distribution of small mammals in Austria, Germany and in Switzerland. Nature enthusiasts are invited to report their observations to learn more about the occurrence of small mammals. Two identification keys (text key and decision tree), information on trace images and on the appearance, biology and way of life of the species will help. The report is made using a form through which the required data such as species, location, date and photo...
Can tea help us understand climate change? Yes, but we need your help! We would like you to become our research partner and take part in one of the largest experiments on soil decomposition processes at the moment!
The European genealogy database"Connecting genealogists"GenTeam is a European platform of genealogical databases. Both scientists and amateur genealogists can make their data available here for free for other researchers. The cooperation of collaborators from many different countries has made it possible to compile databases that one researcher could not typically manage alone due to the volume. Our focus is currently on the indexing of ecclesiastical sources from Lower Austria, on a...
Have you ever seen a sparrow hawk in Vienna? Did a badger cross your path on your way home at night? Or do you have swallow nests at your housing complex? We are interested in your observations in Austrian cities!The project works specifically in urban areas. With the help of Austrian city dwellers we want to get an overview of the distribution and way of life of mammals and birds in urban areas. We hope to obtain a broad data base based on sighting reports in order to better...
Ural owl resettlementThe resettlement of the Ural owl is led by a team of researchers headed by ornithologist Richard Zink at the Austrian Ornithological Centre at "Vetmeduni" Vienna. The goal is the "Come Back" of the big owl into the forests of Austria. A new occurrence in the alps creates an essential link between the populations south (Slovenia, Italy) and north (Germany, Czech Republic) of the Alpine republic. Individual owls migrating between these populations ensure gene flow within...
The project Pilzdaten-Austria.eu aims at a comprehensive documentation of the occurrence and distribution of fungi in Austria, and to present and evaluate the available data. It is an Austria-wide cooperation of numerous mycologists, citizen scientists and institutions, which collect distribution data of fungi or hold collections of fungal specimens, coordinated by the Austrian Mycological Society.The freely accessible online database Pilzdaten-Austria.eu continues the previous Bio-Office...
The Austrian wide winter bird count of BirdLife AustriaEvery year, the bird conservation organisation BirdLife Austria hosts the "Hour of Winter Birds", the Austrian winter bird count. All nature lovers are invited to count birds for one hour on the days around January 6th. All participants actively contribute to bird research with their personal count results.Anyone can take part even without much prior knowledge in bird identification. The campaign focuses on the most common and...
Read more: "Stunde der Wintervögel" - An hour for winter birds
A project of the Viennese environmental protection departmentIn spring (from early April), there's no doubt: the first swallows and swifts have returned from Africa to breed in Vienna. Other species, like house sparrow and jackdaw, have spent the winter with us and have already occupied their breeding places.House Martin building a nest © Ferdinand SchmellerAll these species build their nests almost exclusively on houses, mostly under the cornice or hidden in niches and holes on the...
Since 2006, a wide variety of nature observations can be reported on naturbeobachtung.at. Specially designed reporting masks for various groups of animals, plants and fungi allow detailed entries. The reporters can, as far as possible, identify their observations taxonomically or report them as "undetermined species". The latter can then be subsequently identified by the community. Optionally, more precise reports are possible, e. g. with weather data or a detailed description of the site...
In this citizen science project of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, we would like to create an overview of where animals are roadkilled and what reasons there might be for this.In the Roadkill project, we would like to cooperate with you in many ways, because citizen science means for us an active cooperation between research and society, in which everyone can contribute expertise and is highly valued. The collaboration is on a voluntary basis and can therefore...