Dear nature enthusiasts! Take part in campus species surveys

Are you familiar with butterfly species or is bird watching your thing? Contribute to citizen science and help chart biodiversity and its distribution on University campuses. Members of the University community familiar with different species are now sought for campus surveys.

As part of a broader survey on ecosystem services and natural capital, the University of Helsinki will carry out species surveys on its four campuses in the City Centre, Meilahti, Kumpula and Viikki. The surveys, coordinated by the Finnish Museum of Natural History, focus on four groups of species: birds, flowering plants, butterflies and bumblebees. Observations made by volunteer members of the University community, who are now encouraged to take part in the surveys from May to July, will constitute an important element. 

Anyone familiar with bird, plant, butterfly or bumblebee species can contribute, and participants are free to choose the species group they wish to survey. The occurrence of individual specimens is surveyed in hectare-sized survey plots with the help of the Mobile Notebook application of the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility. Species observations can be reported in the app as complete lists, which makes it possible to systematically collect information on all species surveyed. Data collected using the complete list method are of a significantly higher quality than randomly reported observations. 

You can survey one plot, for example, during a lunch break or in the morning before the start of your work or study day. All you need is a map displaying the survey plots and a smartphone with the Mobile Notebook app installed. 

The efforts of the University community in the species surveys are valuable and help compile comprehensive and high-quality data on species distribution on the campuses of the University of Helsinki. The collected data help monitor the diversity of the campus environments and facilitate the targeting of measures that promote biodiversity. 

Ready to survey? Read detailed instructions and print out a map with the survey plots from the Luomus Knowledge Base (in Finnish).

Want to see how surveys work and try it out with other interested people? Join us for a species survey demo!  

What? A demonstration where you get instructions on how to do the surveys independetly. There will be snacks and refreshments for all participants! 

Where? In front of the Physicum building in Kumpula 

When? Thursday 6.6. from 15-16 

Sign up for the event via e-lomake.

Photo: University of Helsinki