iNaturalist and eBird are smartphone apps intended to engage the regular citizen in reporting biodiversity observations. As an analogy, both apps are like Pokémon GO — yet collecting real-life creatures.
iNaturalist, for example, has a ‘lead board’ for observation and species records, ranking users by area/city/country, and eBird has a ‘Life List’, where new species records are saved as a personal collection.
iNaturalist and eBird are among the most relevant science-citizen platforms for conservation, extending the reach of biodiversity knowledge by engaging the public in data collection. These apps foster public participation, promoting a deeper connection with nature, encouraging ecological awareness and stewardship.
Both platforms are open-access databases, making citizen-generated data valuable for scientific research, conservation planning, and biodiversity monitoring worldwide, thanks to their integration with the the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). GBIF aggregates occurrence records from a range of sources beyond citizen science initiatives, including records from museums, herbaria, and DNA data from research projects.
iNaturalist evolved from being the outcome of a master’s thesis at the University of California Berkeley, to become a joint initiative between the California Academy of Science and National Geographic Society. The app functions as a social network that lets anyone record and share observations of plants, animals, and fungi.
Users upload photos and locations, and the app provides an automated species identification proposing the most likely species guess. These identifications are then verified or fixed by the community, and after sufficient consensus (‘Research-grade’), the observation is shared to GBIF and other global databases.
eBird and its sister app Merlin Bird ID are managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and focus specifically on birds. Merlin is an exceptional app that allows bird identification in five simple steps, targeting beginners and casual birders. eBird is its advanced version and supports structured data collection through bird checklists, often tied to effort metrics such as time and distance.
Contributing to biogeographical reports
One of the most significant contributions of iNaturalist and eBird is their ability to fill spatial, temporal, and taxonomic gaps in biodiversity datasets. Citizen-based biodiversity observations are essential because they dramatically expand the scale, scope, and continuity of ecological data collection beyond what professional scientists alone can achieve.
Scientific fieldwork is often limited by funding, personnel, and time, covering relatively small areas for short durations. In contrast, citizen scientists contribute millions of observations across wide geographic regions and throughout the year, capturing rare events and subtle seasonal or long-term changes.
This massive influx of data improves the accuracy of ecological models, supports real-time conservation efforts, and helps track trends such as species declines or shifts due to climate change.
Supporting Conservation Policy
The richness and accessibility of data from iNaturalist and eBird have made them instrumental in global biodiversity assessments. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) increasingly rely on occurrence data to inform their assessments. For instance, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species uses distributional and population data, often supplemented by citizen science records, to evaluate extinction risk.
Because these apps can capture real-time data across broad geographies, they are particularly valuable for monitoring dynamic processes such as species migrations, range shifts due to climate change, and the spread of invasive species. Such data are crucial for early warning systems and adaptive management strategies.
Scientific Contributions
Thousands of research paper have been published, citing research-grade observations of iNaturalist and eBird, often in the field of ecology, conservation and climate change. Among these are:
- Researchers used mathematical models and over a billion of eBird observations to guess how many bird species exists, and what is the total number of all birds. They estimated that there are over 9,700 species, and about 50 billion individual birds on Earth right now! They found out that most bird species are pretty rare, and only a few kind are super common. (Callaghan, et al. 2020. PNAS, 117(14), 8184–8190.)
- In 2022, iNaturalist photos were used to confirm that the hermit crab (Pagurus traversi), thought to exist only in New Zealand, had been sighted in Tasmania and Victoria (Australia) since 2013. This is the first time scientists have seen this kind of crab move and live in a new place outside its distribution range. (Eichler et. al., 2024. Memoirs of Museum Victoria, 83, 317-322).
- In 2023, a species of mantis first discovered with the aid of iNaturalist was named Inimia nat so that its abbreviated form, I. nat, would be a word play that pays homage to iNaturalist. (Connors, et. al., 2023, Zootaxa. 5380 (3): 201–226.)
- The Frosted Phoenix Moth of New Zealand, feared extinct, was “rediscovered” when a Swedish tourist found it on his hotel balcony; his upload to iNaturalist was the first time the moth had been seen alive in 65 years.
These studies highlight the capacity of citizen-contributed data not only to supplement but in some cases to drive scientific inquiry.
The Environment Consultant 