New app for nature lovers helps create biodiversity network

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A new University of Alberta app is encouraging Albertans to get back to nature and talk about it.

 

A new University of Alberta app is encouraging Albertans to get back to nature and talk about it.

Based on an Instagram-type model, NatureLynx allows users to take photos and log basic information about what they see, and ask questions and communicate with a like-minded community of nature lovers.

“If you know the species name, great, if not, no problem. The idea is our expert community will help verify it,” explained Tara Narwani, information centre director of the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, which created the app.

She said NatureLynx allows users—whether they are venturing into the woods for the first time or are seasoned naturalists—to become citizen scientists to collect observations of whatever captures their curiosity, and then share those findings.

 

Continue reading at University of Alberta.

Image via University of Alberta.