Users of 6 different citizen science apps submitted almost 150 thousand observations during the largest fungi bioblitz in North America, thanks to the BioSMART technology.
The BioSMART aggregation platform allows reporting from multiple apps. The technology, initiated by EarthGuardians.LIFE, provides event organisers and conservation projects worldwide with the ability to access data from a wide range of citizen science apps without the administrative overhead of sourcing and blending various datasets.
The first edition of the Great North American Fungi Quest took place between 15 September and 15 October this year. The Fungi Quest participants had to photograph and upload their observations to one of the participating citizen science apps: QuestaGame, Mushroom Observer, iNaturalist, CitSci, NatureMaps, and Observation.org.
For full results visit: https://www.biosmart.life/north-america-fungi-quest-2022
The event, designed to develop a better understanding of mushrooms and friends (molds, yeasts, toadstools and more) across all 23 countries of North America was initiated by ThinkFungi in collaboration with Earth Guardians, who provided technological support.
Aggregating results from multiple apps increases involvement and produces even more biodiversity data. By combining the activities of various citizen science apps, organisers aimed to encourage greater inclusion and the best possible results for science.
The initial goal to reach 50 000 sightings was achieved on day 8, far surpassing expectations. On the last day, the organisers recorded 148,214 observations, achieving 3 times the number of observations that were initially anticipated. Someone may ask - why do we need all this data?
“By encouraging people to get out, take photos and upload their observations, we can map as many species as possible in as many regions as possible”, says Robert Courteau, founder of ThinkFungi.org. “There’s an extremely important reason to do this. To be listed as a threatened or endangered species, the criteria typically includes evidence that observations of the species have been made and documented, and that the species is diminishing. Since fungi are so irregular by nature, it requires a lot of people and time to properly observe and document this data.”
Of course, it’s not just the quantity that counts. The collected data helps real research and fungi conservation, and the QuestaGame players contributed to this outstanding result with some extraordinary finds. The rare ‘Pluteus aurantiorugosus - Flame Shield’ was captured in Ontario, Canada by QG player ‘Snailrocks’, who won The Best Find Award for their discovery (see the images below). A great find indeed of this endangered species, threatened mainly by habitat destruction.
“A similar challenge was held in the United Kingdom by the British Mycological Society (BMS)”, says Courteau. “One lucky participant observed a mushroom that the BMS had thought, for the last 50 years, to be extinct on the islands. That’s an amazing discovery!”
The participants were incentivised not only by the possibility of finding a rare species - 6 partners (Guardians of Earth, FreshCap, Grow Mushrooms Canada, Swallow Tail, North Spore and Mushroom Mountain) provided prizes for the participants.
The Great North American Fungi Quest will be back next year, with more apps and more participants. Keep an eye on QG and ThinkFungi socials for more info coming in early 2023.
If you are interested in getting a more detailed recap of the event, visit the ThinkFungi website below: https://thinkfungi.org/fungiquest-2022recap/
See the QuestaGame results at https://questagame.com/north-american-fungi-quest and for more info head over to https://thinkfungi.org/fungiquest/ or contact gosia@earthguardians.life.