The biodiversity of Rio Grande do Sul through the lens of citizen science
an analysis of observations recorded on the iNaturalist platform in 2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37002/biodiversidadebrasileira.v16i1.2838Keywords:
iNaturalist, biodiversity, citizen science, Rio Grande do Sul, BrazilAbstract
Rio Grande do Sul/RS is home to significant biodiversity, and the use of digital technologies has expanded the capacity for environmental monitoring through citizen science tools. Among these, iNaturalist stands out as a collaborative platform that allows the general population to record and identify species. This study aimed to analyze biodiversity observations recorded on iNaturalist in the state of Rio Grande do Sul between January 1 and December 31, 2024. The data were extracted from the platform on January 1, 2025, totaling 49,940 observations, and analyzed using Google Sheets and Google Colab. The analysis indicated a predominance of records from the Animalia and Plantae kingdoms, with emphasis on the Insecta group and genera such as Vanellus (birds) and Solanum (plants). It was observed that a small group of users was responsible for the majority of contributions, which highlights the importance of encouraging broader participation from society. The temporal distribution of observations followed seasonal patterns and was impacted by extreme weather events, especially the floods that occurred in RS in May. Regarding data quality, a significant number of records were identified without specific identification or without consensus among platform users. In summary, iNaturalist demonstrates great potential to expand knowledge about Rio Grande do Sul's biodiversity and foster public engagement in environmental conservation. However, efforts are needed to improve the accuracy of identifications and promote greater user adoption of the platform.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Lucas George Wendt, Maurício Coelho da Silva, Darley Locatelli, Ana Paula Sehn, Fabiano Couto Corrêa da Silva
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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