State-of-the-art DNA technology and citizen science - "Frog in a drop of water" unleashes new prospects for amphibian research

For the first time in Austria, amphibian screening using the detection of their DNA traces in water is being carried out - and everyone can take part. Amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders and newts) are strictly protected in Austria. Nevertheless, populations are declining continuously and, in some cases, dramatically, which is mainly due to habitat loss. 

Natural, private garden ponds can play an important role. They act as important possible retreats, but are usually not accessible to the public. In addition, there are often small and amphibian-rich waters that are only known to those familiar with the area. Do you have a garden pond - do you know a promising water nearby? This is where Citizen Scientists come into play. With their efforts, they make a valuable contribution to species records and data on the distribution of the amphibian fungus Bd, short for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. 

Apply online and receive a sampling kit from the University of Innsbruck. Taking the sample is easy: the water is filtered to retrieve the precious DNA traces left behind by living organisms in the water. The filter then holds all the information regarding the species diversity in the pond, as well as the occurrence of Bd. The filter is sent to the University of Innsbruck, analyzed in the high-tech laboratory and analyzed bioinformatically. Sampling will take place throughout Austria in spring 2024. Find out which amphibians live in your sampled pond and apply now. The results will be published in fall. The application is open from February 2024 until end of March - join the detective work for amphibian conservation! 

Videos zum Projekt

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 to see whether the measures are sustainable for the future of the wetlands, for the climate and for us. 

Why Citizen Science?

The integrity of wetlands can be assessed via a multitude of factors. Biodiversity indicates the health of the ecosystem, plant biomass shows how much carbon can be stored. In order to assess these data across Europe, we need methods which can be used also by non-experts. Together with Citizen Scientists, we want to develop, adapt, test, and optimize such methods so that we can offer them to other countries willing to implement restoration activities. We especially invite school classes to participate in our project. 

The opportunities for joining the project are manifold: you can determine bird species via their songs, estimate the diameter and height of trees, evaluate orthophotos and satellite images, and many other things.

Where:            

• March-Thaya-floodplains near Hohenau
• Salzach-Floodplains

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 Community. With AmphiBiom we want to show that everyone can support the survival of this protected species with just a little effort. Already through these small but valuable measures, the general awareness that is needed to better understand species and habitat protection measures, is strengthened.

Project background

Amphibians are among the most threatened animal taxa in Austria and worldwide. The reasons for this include habitat destruction and degradation, fungal diseases, and changes in land use. For some amphibian species, despite many disturbances, agricultural areas or even cities also represent important habitats. The natural spawning grounds of the European green toad, are steppe lakes filled after rainfall or ponds formed after flooding with strong sunlight. With a few exceptions, the natural spawning habitats of the European green toad have largely disappeared in Europe. In addition to these near-natural water bodies, artificial water bodies or puddles filled after rain showers are often accepted by European green toads today.

The importance of alternative habitats

The disappearance of fallow land and closure of gaps between buildings, leads to a deterioration of the conservation status of the green toad in rural areas as well as in inner-city areas. Countermeasures, such as the provision of replacement habitats, can prevent this negative development. The initiative for the creation of small water bodies, which is scientifically accompanied in the AmphiBiom project, not only forms an additional spawning offer for green toads and other threatened amphibians (e.g., Yellow-bellied toad). It gives us the opportunity to study the succession and progressive colonization of water bodies by diverse pioneer fauna.

The contribution of AmphiBiom to the conservation of the green toad

This project uses Citizen Science to study this pioneer species in order to investigate its distribution in areas that are often inaccessible for research (e.g., private gardens) and to actively involve citizens in the project.

In addition to creating new habitats for the green toad and other amphibians, we are also using the power of citizen science to launch an Austria-wide, app-based amphibian call monitoring programme. With its high-pitched warbling, the green toad is certainly one of the most beautiful calling amphibians in Austria, but it is not the only one with a characteristic song. For example, tree frogs and toads can also be clearly identified by their song. As part of the AmphiBiom project, we invite interested people to use our mobile phone app "AmphiApp" to record amphibian calls in their neighbourhood and thus contribute to the knowledge about the distribution of these protected animals.

In a further step, the complementary evaluation of already existing protection measures will clarify in which areas such measures (still) make sense, or where they could contribute to the resurgence of populations classified as extinct.

Podcast episode

If you would like to learn more, you can listen to the Wissen macht Leute podcast episode about the project (in German). More information can be found here.

Dieses Projekt wird durch den Biodiversitätsfonds des Bundesministeriums für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie gefördert.

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 influenced by humans. These include, for example, agricultural activities or the construction of roads. As a consequence, society regulates human actions and thus indirectly the availability of ESS. Examples of such policies are agri-environmental programs or local land use planning.

The Citizen Science project ServeToPe develops methods to better quantify the demand for ESS and their availability in a landscape. ServeToPe thus aims to contribute to more sustainable management of ESS and more targeted policies that focus on people's needs. ServeToPe is thereby based in the biosphere reserve Wienerwald as a case study region. 

ServeToPe mainly aims to answer the following research questions.

1. What is the current demand for ESS and to what extent can the Wienerwald region satisfy this demand with the offered ESS?
2. What does "good management" mean from the citizens' point of view? How can policies contribute to a convergence of demand for ESS and their supply?

ServeToPe will reveal mismatches between the demand for ESS and their supply and will propose countermeasures. An example of this could be regional conservation efforts specifically planned for the landscape.

What methods are used?

ServeToPe uses a variety of methods to answer the research questions and to involve as many and as diverse citizens as possible. For example, workshops were held in schools or with citizens from the region. All citizens can participate online via a survey (see below). On the project website you can find more information about the methods and the roles of citizens (in German). 

How can I participate?

Citizens are important research partners in ServeToPe. In particular, they support the visualization and quantification of the demand for ESS and of conflicting goals and trade-offs of between different ESS. A trade-off exists, for example, when several citizens want to use the same area for different purposes resulting in conflicts (e.g. recreational use and food production). You as citizen can therefore make an important contribution to the research project by participating in the following anonymous surveys. 

In the main survey you can (1) enter your own activities and uses of ESS in the Wienerwald, (2) enter and locate frequently observed activities and ESS uses, and (3) identify trade-offs and opportunities for improvement. You can also upload pictures for this purpose. The main survey can be filled in only once.

However, you can also participate more regularly and thereby support ServeToPe even more intensively. This is possible via a second short survey, where you can enter and locate observed activities and ESS uses, as well as trade-offs. A picture upload is also possible here. In this short second survey, you can participate repeatedly over the entire duration of the project - i.e. continuously enter your observations. This gives us an even more accurate representation of uses and activities. You as a citizen scientist gain the opportunity to locate multiple uses and activities in areas and therefore identify multiple and more accurate trade-offs and improvements.

What happens to these results?

The results from the surveys of activities, uses, and trade-offs in the Wienerwald are compiled by the BOKU Vienna and University of Vienna research team and compared with other data on the supply of ESS (see methodology). These results are then published on the ServeToPe website. You can also sign up in our contact form to receive the results via email. 

Afterwards, the results are presented to stakeholders from the region (e.g.: Employees of the administration, representatives from agriculture, nature conservation, recreational use, education and regional management) in a workshop. In this workshop, solutions and countermeasures will be developed based on the identified trade-offs and conflicts due to differences in ESS supply and demand. 

If you have any questions, please contact Katrin Karner (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) without hesitation.

The project team

ServeToPe is led by Martin Schönhart (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Katrin Karner (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), from the Institute for Sustainable Economic Development at BOKU University. Furthermore, the project team includes Thomas Wrbka (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Florian Danzinger (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) from the Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research at the University of Vienna. In addition, the students of the course " Conservation Related Methodologies of Social, Cultural and Economic Sciences" of the University of Vienna are involved in the project. If you have any questions, please contact Katrin Karner (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) without hesitation.

What are Urban Heat Stories?

It will get hotter and hotter in the city over the next few years. The impact of heat can vary greatly from neighborhood to neighborhood. It depends not only on the building density or the degree of sealing in the city, but also on the age and state of health of the people and their immediate living environment.

The Urban Heat Stories research project therefore collects individual heat experiences of vulnerable groups in Vienna. The aim is to make the diverse concerns and demands of city dwellers visible. 

The aim is also to develop a chatbot pilot. It should provide insights into the social dimension of heat at city level. On this basis, recommendations for sustainable urban development in the face of rising temperatures can be expanded to include a social dimension, thus integrating the needs of vulnerable groups into planning in the long term

How does Urban Heat Stories work?

The main cooperation partners are the city's residents. In a two-part workshop, they first map their locations in the public space around their homes. The temperatures of the localized places are investigated using mobile sensors in a joint perceptual and exploratory walk. The measured temperatures are compared with the personal perception of heat. This provides a basis for discussion of the Urban Heat Stories. These stories are the foundation for the development of the new chatbot pilot on heat perception in the city. 

How can I participate in the research?

Starting in September 2023, four workshops with senior citizens as Citizen Scientists have taken place around Quellenplatz (10th district, Vienna). The format is to be continued in spring/summer 2024 in other districts with other target groups. A first chatbot pilot will additionally be launched in winter 2024. 

Upcoming events: 

• Urban Heat Stories at the Citizen Science Day at the Natural History Museum Vienna: As part of the Citizen Science Day (06.04.2024, NHM Vienna), interested citizens will have the opportunity to learn about the project, share their own stories and measure temperatures with us. We are looking forward to your visit!
• Citizen Science Award 2024: We are delighted to have been selected as one of eight projects for the Citizen Science Award 2024. Workshops with schools will take place between April and July 2024. Details on how to register at: www.youngscience.at/csa.

If you are interested in conducting a Citizen Science research on heat experiences (e.g. workshop participation, chatbot test) in your neighborhood, we would also be pleased to receive a short initiative mail.

Podcast episode

As part of the episode "The Citizen Science Award 2024 - behind the scenes", Sebastian Harnacker presented the project in the podcast Wissen macht Leute. You can listen to the episode on our blog or on the podcast app of your choice (the episode is in German). You can find all the details here.

What happens with the results?

The findings will provide the basis for recommendations in urban planning and will be incorporated into current Viennese planning projects (e.g. WienNeu+, 10th district). They will also be published on the website of the future.lab Research Center of TU Wien. For participants - as co-researchers - the results will also be made available free of charge as a print edition.

Who is responsible for the project?

The project team consists of researchers from the future.lab Research Center and TU Wien Bibliothek as well as residents as citizen scientists. Urban research does not take place in a laboratory, but together on site. Residents contribute their experiences and interests.

The project is being implemented - as part of the European research project "OPUSH" - in close cooperation with the partner project Heat Chronicles (Cròniques de la Calor) of Open Systems at the Universidad de Barcelona. There is cooperation at local level with the City of Vienna (MA 22, MA 25, GB*), the Vienna Chamber of Labor and the Natural History Museum.

What roles are there in the project?

• The transdisciplinary project team is made up of the research group of the future.lab Research Center and the TU Wien Bibliothek. The TU Wien Bibliothek can draw on experience in the fields of big data and urban heat, among others.
• The residents participate as citizen scientists in the development of content for the Chatbot and are central to the collection of data in the form of micro-stories.
• The Natural History Museum is involved as a local stakeholder with extensive experience with citizen science experiments. 
• Local project partners are also the municipal departments of the City of Vienna MA 21 and MA 22 (expertise and meteorological background data), the Vienna Chamber of Labour (e.g. social space monitor), OpenKnowledgeMaps (data visualization) and Wunderbyte (chatbot programming).

Biodiversity and ecology of freshwater bacteria

The 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 bacteria belong to this group. Environmental bacteria drive material cycles and are involved in primary production; without their metabolic activities, the ecosphere as we know it would not exist. They are also absolutely essential organisms for our ecosystems, such as water bodies. Despite this importance, there is still a great need for research. According to estimates, there are probably several million species of bacteria, but only a little over 20,000 of them have been named and described. This enormous wealth of species is therefore still largely undiscovered. The project therefore aims to draw attention to this world hidden from the naked eye and to awaken understanding for scientific work, especially basic research.

School classes and other citizen scientist groups will collect water samples from self-selected or specified water bodies and process them microbiologically under supervision. Smaller groups will also work in the laboratory and help with sampling campaigns. With the involvement of the citizen scientists, newly discovered Aquirufa species will also be scientifically named and described during the course of the project.

Interested citizens can participate in the project in workshops in Mondsee and in the Weitwörther Au (near Salzburg). More information is available on the project homepage. You can also follow the project on Instagram.

Citizen Science Seminar

In 2023, poject coordinator Alexandra Pitt held a lecture about the project Aquirufa (in German) as part of the lecture series "Citizen Science Seminar" at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU). You can watch the video recording of the lecture at the end of this page.

Video

Videos (in German)

Plastic Pirates - Go Europe! A Citizen Science Initiative to investigate plastic pollution along rivers

The 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 support of the EU Commission, the initiative has been extended to the whole of Europe as a European citizen science action in which school classes and youth groups (young people aged 10-16) collect plastic samples from streams and rivers and document their findings. The data collected across Europe is entered into a database and then analysed by scientists. Young people who are interested in science and the environment are given the opportunity to participate in practical research. They make an important contribution to researching the state of European rivers and the extent and pollution caused by plastic waste.
As part of the project, the types of waste identified by the individual groups (e.g. cigarette butts, pieces of foil or packaging) are recorded on a suitable river bank or stream with the help of detailed action materials and subsequently published on a digital map. The data collected by the young people will help science to gradually close existing research gaps on the occurrence, composition and production of plastic waste.

Interested school classes and youth groups are cordially invited to participate in the initiative. All information about the "Plastic Pirates" can be found on our homepage (www.plastic-pirates.eu/at) or can be obtained by sending an email request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Photo Gallery

• Citizen Scientists on their way to the collection Citizen Scientists on their way to the collection
• Group discussion of the collection protocols Group discussion of the collection protocols
• Collection at the Danube in Vienna Collection at the Danube in Vienna
• Throwing of the Manta net Throwing of the Manta net
• group C at the microplastics sampling group C at the microplastics sampling
• Manta net stabilised with PET bottles Manta net stabilised with PET bottles
• microplastic sampling with minister of education Polaschek microplastic sampling with minister of education Polaschek
• Minister Polaschek collects garbage for group B with Viennese students Minister Polaschek collects garbage for group B with Viennese students
• group B sorts their garbage finds group B sorts their garbage finds
• Garbage gets sorted Garbage gets sorted
• group B counts and documents their finds group B counts and documents their finds
• Picture for the data validation of the results of group B Picture for the data validation of the results of group B
• group A documents a photo of their transects for the data validation group A documents a photo of their transects for the data validation
• after uploading the data onto the website, they can be seen on the interactive map after uploading the data onto the website, they can be seen on the interactive map
• Plastic Pirates at the European Researchers' Night Plastic Pirates at the European Researchers' Night
• Microplastics Danube wetlands Microplastics Danube wetlands
• Plastic Litter National Park Donauauen Plastic Litter National Park Donauauen
•  

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 in remote areas and regions with low data availability. 

How can interested citizen participate?

With the CrowdWater app for Android and iOS, participants can collect data on water levels (with physical and virtual staff gauges), soil moisture, the condition of temporary streams, plastic pollution and water body type independently and without measuring devices. New observation stations can be created anywhere in the world or additional observations can be added to an existing station.

In the CrowdWater online game, the data quality of the uploads in the category "virtual staff gauge" is checked and if needed improved by contributing citizen scientists.

What happens with the data?

The data are published anonymously on our homepage and can be used for free for own projects. In the research project, the data is used for hydrological modeling so that its potential can be investigated. Two PhDs have already been completed in the CrowdWater project, and two more PhDs are currently ongoing. Currently, the focus is on temporary streams and water quality observations. The publications that have come out of the project so far can be found here. What the current research team is working on can be read here.

Interactive map:

Citizen Science Seminar

In 2022, poject coordinator Jan Seibert held a lecture about Crowdwater as part of the lecture series "Citizen Science Seminar" at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU): "What we can all observe - Experiences from the CrowdWater Project" (in German). Here, you can watch the video recording of the lecture on our YouTube-channel: