Current projects

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…

The Citizen Science project "PolliDiversity" addresses the question "Which pollinators, especially wild bees and honey bees, prefer the four selected plant species - meadow clover (Trifolium pratense), cornflower (Cyanus segetum), corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) and gold-of-pleasure (Camelina sativa) - as a food source in differently structured landscapes and what is…

“Explore the European landscape and help science to protect the climate and the environment!” Do you like to be out in the fresh air? Would you like to make a concrete contribution to protect the environment and the climate and earn something in addition? With the FotoQuestGo app, you can…

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…

Schmetterlinge Österreichs: an app for scientifically recording Austria's butterflies On behalf of Blühendes Österreich, a charitable foundation of REWE International AG and the environmental NGO GLOBAL 2000, butterfly expert Peter Huemer published a report on the dramatic state of butterflies in May 2016. In Europe, their number had halved since…

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…

On Geo-Wiki.org you can participate in global environmental monitoring and help to observe and document the earth and what happens on it on a large scale. Whether it is deforestation, the varying size of fields in agriculture or the fast and precise evaluation of hurricane damage - your contribution is…

Project description The Pollen Diary (www.pollentagebuch.at; www.pollendiary.com; Patient's Hayfever Diary) was already launched as a scientific project in 2009. 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…

Important groundwork for bird protection The 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…

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 about Until 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…

The Ragweed Finder was developed in 2017 by the Austrian Pollen Information Service at MedUni Vienna (Research Group Aerobiology and Pollen Information). The Ragweed Finder consists of four components: Specimen report Ragweed distribution map Information about Ragweed Manual to recognize ragweed Specimen report The most important data such as location,…

Can drinking tea help us to understand climate change? Yes, but we need your help! We would like you to become our research partner and participate in one of the largest experiments on soil decomposition processes at the moment.

In Viel-Falter: Butterfly Monitoring volunteers, together with researchers from the Department of Ecology of the University of Innsbruck, observe, identify and count butterflies. Given the diverse habitats in Austria, around 210 different species of butterfly live here, considerably more than in the whole of Germany. At the same time, many…

We take care of our meadows! And we take care of our alpine pastures! Since 2007, farmers from all over Austria have been observing the development of plants and animals on their meadows. The project motto "We take care of our meadows!" stands for the annual counting and documentation of…

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…

We invite urban community gardens, garden projects or similar garden initiatives to take part in this project and research alongside us. The goal of this project is to scientifically assess the potential risk of heavy metal contamination in crop plants in Vienna’s city gardens. Background Urban gardening has become increasingly…

In the Institute of Silviculture at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, the occurrence, spread, causes and characteristics of forest fires in Austria have been analysed as part of various research projects since 2008. The array stretches back over several decades and includes approximately 5,500 fires, more…

Mineral deposits in Austria 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…

In “Tell us!”, we are looking for research questions on accidental injuries. Medical advances need innovative ideas: your knowledge is valuable! Who knows best how occupational, traffic-related or sports injuries should be investigated and treated? With “Tell us!”, the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft has started to bring questions of accidental injuries…

Who is behind Nan-O-Style? Nan-O-Style is a research and education project by the University of Salzburg, Department of Biosciences. What is Nan-O-Style researching? Nan-O-Style researches the complex topic of nanotechnology. Together with Austrian schools, we want to discover new and previously unknown interactions between modern lifestyle products and nanomaterials. Are…

  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…

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…

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…

Karst and cave documentation The 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 Working Group on Karst and Caves is primarily active…

What is the project specifically about? So much hangs on just one thing - and yet words sometimes fail us. How do we talk about our bodies and the things that we need, want, and do when it comes to sex and sexual pleasure? And who do we talk to…