Technology is revolutionising the way we can monitor wildlife, with devices such as motion-sensor cameras and smartphone applications now a standard feature in the ecological tool-kit. Incorporating these technologies with citizen-science can bring out the inner scientist in all of us.
WildTracker – A Tasmanian Land Conservancy Initiative
Technology is revolutionising the way we can monitor wildlife, with devices such as motion-sensor cameras and smartphone applications now a standard feature in the ecological tool-kit. Incorporating these technologies with citizen-science can bring out the inner scientist in all of us, while providing researchers with access to new data and land managers with vital information on species needing greater protection.
Tasmania is home to amazing and unique wildlife – 33 species of mammal and over 180 species of bird. Many of these species, like the eastern quoll and forty-spotted pardalote, are found nowhere else in the world. But human activities such as land clearing, climate change and urbanisation, along with feral species such as cats, rabbits and deer pose a major threat to native wildlife.
Private landholders can play an important role in monitoring and protecting Tasmanian wildlife populations. Certainly, monitoring is a big job that is made a lot easier by sharing the load! The WildTracker citizen science program has been designed for private landholders to upload, tag and share images of wildlife collected using motion-sensor camera traps. The data that are provided can be used by scientists at the Tasmanian Land Conservancy to better understand how wildlife communities might be changing, if our management is making a difference, and where we might prioritise our conservation efforts.
