land use

Citizen Science Am Heidjöchl

Project lead: Andreas Baur
City of Vienna - District planning and zoning
Address: Rathausstraße 14-16, 1010 Wien
Telephone: +43676811888596
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Plants, Animals, Land use, Living together
Activity: photography, locating, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://mitgestalten.wien.gv.at/de-DE/projects/citizen-science-am-heidjochl

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...

StadtWildTiere Vienna ("UrbanWildAnimals")

Project lead: Richard Zink
Verein Entdecke und Bewahre Natur
Address: Verein Entdecke und Bewahre Natur Trautbach 22 3491 Elsarn im Strassertal Vetmeduni Vienna: Savoyenstraße 1a, 1160 Wien
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Animals, Land use
Activity: photography, counting, locating, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://stadtwildtiere.at/
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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...

Wild Neighbours

Project lead: Richard Zink
Verein Entdecke und Bewahre Natur
Address: Verein Entdecke und Bewahre Natur Trautbach 22 3491 Elsarn im Strassertal Vetmeduni: Savoyenstraße 1a, 1160 Wien
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Animals, Land use
Activity: photography, counting, identifying, locating, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://wildenachbarn.at/

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!

Tea Bag Index

Project lead: Taru Sandén
AGES
Address: Spargelfeldstraße 191, A-1220 Wien
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Land use, Soil
Activity: measuring, counting, locating, taking care
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://teatime4schools.at/tea-bag-index/
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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!

Nature conservation monitoring

Project lead: Barbara Steurer
"Österreichisches Kuratorium für Landtechnik und Landentwicklung" (ÖKL)
Address: Gußhausstraße 6, 1040 Wien, Austria
Telephone: +43 (0)1/5051891-17
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Plants, Animals, Land use
Activity: photography, counting, identifying, locating, taking care, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://www.naturschutzmonitoring.at/

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...

Fire Database

Project lead: Harald Vacik
Institute of Silviculture, BOKU University
Address: Peter-Jordan-Str. 82, 1190 Wien
Telephone: +43-1-47654-91318
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Plants, Weather, Disasters, Economy, Land use
Activity: photography, locating, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://fire.boku.ac.at/firedb/en/
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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...

Citree

Project lead: Stefan Mayr
Department of Botany - University of Innsbruck
Address: Sternwartestr. 15, 6020 Innsbruck
Telephone: 0043 512 507 51001
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Plants, Land use
Activity: measuring, locating, taking care, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: http://www.citree.net/

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...

CrowdWater

Project lead: Prof. Jan Seibert & Dr. Ilja van Meerveld
Physical Geography Division Department of Geography
Address: University of Zurich - Irchel Winterthurerstr. 190 CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
Telephone: +41 44 635 51 74
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Weather, Land use, Water, Waste
Activity: Online game, measuring, photography, counting
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://crowdwater.ch/en/welcome-to-crowdwater/
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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...

Biodiversity at cemeteries

Project lead: Thomas Filek
Institute of Zoology, BOKU University
Address: Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33/I 1180 Wien
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Plants, Animals, Mushrooms, Land use
Activity: photography, counting, identifying, locating, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://www.baf-austria.at/
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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...

COwLEARNING

Project lead: Marianne Penker
Institute for Sustainable Economic Development BOKU University
Address: Feistmantelstraße 4 1180 Wien
Telephone: 01 47654-73115
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Food, Animals, Land use
Activity: observing
Participation: Closed participation
Project link: https://cowlearning.boku.ac.at/

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...

SoilPlastic

Project lead: Taru Sandén
AGES - Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety
Address: Spargelfeldstraße 191, 1220 Wien
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Land use, Geology, Soil
Activity: photography, identifying, locating, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://www.ages.at/soilplastic

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...

Bumblebee Monitoring Austria

Project lead: Katharina Thierolf
BOKU University, Naturschutzbund Österreich
Address: Frauenlobstr. 24, 55118 Mainz, Deutschland
Telephone: 00491635995997
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Plants, Animals, Land use
Activity: photography, counting, identifying, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://www.naturbeobachtung.at/platform/mo/nabeat-t/index.do

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...

DANUBE4all

Project lead: Helmut Habersack
BOKU University
Address: Am Brigittenauer Sporn 3
Telephone: +43 1 47654-81901, 81911
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Plants, Animals, Economy, Land use, Geology, Traffic, Water, Waste, Living together
Activity: measuring, photography, counting, identifying, locating, rating, discussing, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://www.danube4allproject.eu/

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...

Butterfly Monitoring Austria

Project lead: Daniela Lehner
Austrian Butterfly Conservation
Address: Museumsplatz 1/Stiege 13, 1070 Wien
Telephone: 06702042347
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Animals, Land use
Activity: photography, counting, identifying, locating, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://www.abc-schmetterlinge.at/

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...

Biodiverciti

Project lead: Sebastian Seebauer
JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbh, LIFE Institut für Klima, Energiesysteme und Gesellschaft
Address: Waagner-Biro-Straße 100/9, 8010 Graz
Telephone: +43 316 876 7654
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Plants, Animals, Land use
Activity: photography, counting, locating, discussing, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://biodiverciti.joanneum.at

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...

Climate Ready Schools

Thermal image of a school class in front of the school building

Project lead: Martin Schneider
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
Address: Giefinggasse 4, 1210 Wien
Telephone: 066478588203
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Plants, Weather, Politics, Land use, Living together
Activity: Offline participation
Participation: Closed participation
Project link: https://climatereadyschools.at/

The impacts of rising heat are becoming increasingly noticeable in the school context as well. To enable Austrian schools to adapt to future climate conditions, the project ‘Climate Ready Schools’ is researching ways to increase their climate resilience. What are the aims of the project? In Climate Ready Schools, students, teachers, and school administrations from six partner schools are actively involved in the scientific work as...

GEO Wiki

Project lead: Steffen Fritz
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Address: Schlossplatz 1 2361 Laxenburg
Telephone: (+43) 2236 / 807353
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Land use
Activity: Online game, photography, locating
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://www.geo-wiki.org/

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 important to evaluate satellite images or to check the automatic evaluation of satellite images and existing maps of land use. In this way, you help scientists to create reliable information...

FotoQuest Go

Project lead: Steffen Fritz
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Address: Schlossplatz 1 2361 Laxenburg
Telephone: (+43) 2236 / 807353
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Land use
Activity: Online game, photography, locating
Participation: Open participation
Project link: http://fotoquest-go.org
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“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 use your free time to help science improve important data sets for research into landscape changes in Europe. The app works very simply: with the help of your smartphone's GPS, it navigates you to the place...

Homegrown

Project lead: Christian R. Vogl
Institut für Ökologischen Landbau Universität für Bodenkultur Wien
Address: Institut für Ökologischen Landbau, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien Gregor Mendel Straße 33 1180 Wien
Telephone: +43 (0)1 47654 93312
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Participation: Closed participation
Project link: https://boku.ac.at/nas/ifoel/arbeitsgruppen/ag-wissenssysteme-und-innovationen-agwi/projekte/homegrown

“Homegrown - There is nothing like a homegarden”Project descriptionWith their variety of plant species and the experience of the gardeners, rural home gardens constitute an integral component of the cultivated landscape in the Lienz district, East Tyrol. Together with pupils of the BG/BRG Lienz school (and biology, math/physics and English teachers), scientists are investigating rural home gardens, including stocks of plant species and the use of plants. These results will be compared with...

Looking for Cowslips

Project lead: Sabrina Träger
Department of Biology / Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg
Telephone: +49 345 55 26412
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Topic: Plants, Land use
Activity: photography, counting, identifying, locating, observing
Participation: Open participation
Project link: https://cowslip.science/

In spring, scientists invite everybody around Europe to take part in the biggest cowslip observation campaign “Looking for Cowslips”. The aim of the project is to examine the patterns of flower morphological traits (i. e. heterostyly) in cowslip populations all across Europe using a citizen science approach. The citizen science project “Looking for Cowslips” was carried out already in 2019 and 2020 in Estonia and Latvia. Within the frames of this campaign, we obtained heterostyly data from...