Conservation Science Web Conference Series CSP3900

Social Networks for Biodiversity Conservation: iNaturalist and
the Global Amphibian BioBlitz
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011: 2:00 – 3:00 PM (EST)

Social networks have revolutionized the way people share information across the internet. The volume of plant and animal photographs shared on sites like Facebook and Flickr has outpaced specimen collection efforts by mueums governments and academics. Yet this information has yet to be harnessed for science and conservation. iNaturalist.org, a social network for naturalist, aims to connect amateurs and experts to convert photos of biodiversity shared on the web into useful data for science and conservation. On May 25th, in partnership with the Smithsonian, IUCN/ssc, and others iNaturalist launched the Global Amphibian Bioblitz, an effort to cenusus every species of amphibian. In the first three weeks, the effort yielded over 400 distinct species from 36 countries representing 79% of the world's amphibian families and 83 threatened species. The effort peaked the interest of those interested in engaging the public about conservation as well as concern from groups combating collecting and poaching. The success of efforts like the Global Amphibian Bioblitz reveals the potential of citizen-science through social networks as a scalable and cost-effective new tool for monitoring global biodiversity.

Presenters:	Scott R. Loarie, Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA www.stanford.edu/~loarie Email: loarie@stanford.edu Phone: 415-278-1220
Coordinator:	Matthew Patterson, Course Leader U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center Shepherdstown, WV 25443 Phone: (304) 876-7473 Email: matthew_patterson@fws.gov

PDF of the Webinar presentations:

Social Networks for Biodiversity Conservation: iNaturalist and the Global Amphibian BioBlitz handout

Relevant Press:

WIRED: Biologist Munt Webby Ampjibian Rescue Campaign
MSNBC: Social Networking to Save Frogs
Huffington Post: Your iPhone: A Crowd-Sourced Field Guide to Save the Planet
National Geographic: How a Toad can Turn You into a Prince
Scientific American: Citizen Scientists and Social Media Aim to Help Prevent Frog
Daily Californian: Naturalist Launch Amphibian Website