Here you will find current Citizen Science projects of BOKU Vienna.

Restore4Life

What can we do to protect our wetlands and floodplains in Europe? What does the water management need to implement measure for the benefit of both the environment and the human society?

The Horizon Europe project Restore4Life aims at offering an online system that supports the restoration of wetlands in Europe. One important aspect is the development of easily applicable and meaningful methods to assess the state and functionality of wetlands before and after the restoration. This enables us to see whether the measures are sustainable for the future of the wetlands, for the climate and for us. 

Project lead: Gabriele Weigelhofer

Institute: Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management (IHG)

Project website: https://restore4life.eu

Bumblebee Monitoring Austria

Citizen science-based bumblebee monitoring is a pillar of the Austrian wild bee survey. Most wild bee species can only be distinguished under a microscope. The genus of bumblebees (Bombus) is an exception and can usually be distinguished at species level after a training phase in the field (see Gokcezade et al., 2010), so that not only professionals can help with the observation and recording of bumblebees. Bumblebee monitoring ties in with the already existing reporting platform "naturbeobachtung.at" of the Austrian Society for Nature Conservation.

The aim is to develop a functioning citizen science network in the next two years, which will be used in the long term. We aim to cooperate with other European countries that have established similar projects in order to address the ongoing biodiversity crisis on an international level. In the future, trends for individual populations are to be derived from the data and conservation measures improved.

Project lead: Bärbel Pachinger

Institute: Institute of Integrative Nature Conservation Research

Project website: https://www.naturbeobachtung.at/platform/mo/nabeat-t/index.do

AmphiBiom

The AmphiBiom project is focused on the study of the European green toad in Austria. With the support of Citizen Scientists, we investigate the distribution of this endangered amphibian species, which, as a typical pioneer species, can quickly colonize newly emerging water bodies.

Therefore, the European green toad is an ideal species for projects to investigate the distribution status through call monitoring and the installation of small water bodies with the support of the Citizen Science Community. With AmphiBiom we want to show that everyone can support the survival of this protected species with just a little effort. Already through these small but valuable measures, the general awareness that is needed to better understand species and habitat protection measures, is strengthened.

This project uses Citizen Science to study this pioneer species in order to investigate its distribution in areas that are often inaccessible for research (e.g., private gardens) and to actively involve citizens in the project.

In a further step, the complementary evaluation of already existing protection measures will clarify in which areas such measures (still) make sense, or where they could contribute to the resurgence of populations classified as extinct.

Project lead: Lukas Landler

Institute: Institute of Zoology

Project website: https://www.amphi.at

ServeToPe

The Citizen Science project ServeToPe develops methods to better quantify the demand for ecosystem services (ESS) and their availability in a landscape. ServeToPe thus aims to contribute to more sustainable management of ESS and more targeted policies that focus on people's needs. ServeToPe is thereby based in the biosphere reserve Wienerwald as a case study region. 

ServeToPe mainly aims to answer the following research questions.

  1. What is the current demand for ESS and to what extent can the Wienerwald region satisfy this demand with the offered ESS?
  2. What does "good management" mean from the citizens' point of view? How can policies contribute to a convergence of demand for ESS and their supply?

ServeToPe will reveal mismatches between the demand for ESS and their supply and will propose countermeasures. An example of this could be regional conservation efforts specifically planned for the landscape.

Project lead: Katrin Karner and Martin Schönhart

Institute: Institute of Sustainable Economic Development

Project website: https://servetope.boku.ac.at

Plastic Pirates – Go Europe!

Plastic Pirates - Go Europe! was first developed in Germany in 2016. Since January 2022, with the support of the EU Commission, the initiative has been extended to the whole of Europe as a European citizen science action in which school classes and youth groups (young people aged 10-16) collect plastic samples from streams and rivers and document their findings. The data collected across Europe is entered into a database and then analysed by scientists. Young people who are interested in science and the environment are given the opportunity to participate in practical research. They make an important contribution to researching the state of European rivers and the extent and pollution caused by plastic waste.

Project lead: Gudrun Obersteiner

Institute: Institute of Waste Management and Circularity 

Project website: https://www.plastic-pirates.eu/at

COwLEARNING

The COwLEARNING project aims to explore possible changes by bringing together scientific knowledge from universities with experiential knowledge from production, processing, trade, gastronomy and consumption. Together, possible changes are being sought and various innovations are also being looked at. These could be, for example, pasture feeding, cow-calf contact (the calf stays with the cow for a longer period of time after birth), mobile slaughterhouses, cow sponsorships or the slaughter of cattle only after all its parts have been sold, as well as milk and meat substitute products.  

Project lead: Marianne Penker

Institute: Institute for Sustainable Economic Development

Project website: https://cowlearning.boku.ac.at

Beeradar

The project focus on the first recorded, accidently introduced wild bee in Europe, the Sculptured Resin Bee (Megachile sculpturalis). The aim of the project is to evaluate if the species has to be considered as an invasive species causing ecological consequences by its establishment and to reconstruct its colonization history particularly with regard to further invasive wild bees emerging in Europe.

Project lead: Julia Lanner

Institute: Institute for integrative nature conservation research

Projectwebsite: https://www.citizen-science.at/en/projects/the-giant-resin-bee

Project Roadkill

In this citizen science project, we use scientific methods to create an overview in Austria of where which animals are road-killed and what the reasons for this might be. With your reports we aim to identify hotspots and mitigate them together with our partners.

Coordinator: Florian Heigl Institute: Institute of ZoologProject website: http://roadkill.at/en

Goldschakal

The golden jackal is a very shy animal and lives very hidden, at a first glance the distinction to fox or wolf is sometimes not so easy - but on closer inspection, there are a few unique features. If you feel you have seen a golden jackal in Austria, or find a canine animal on your game camera, please notify us of your reference. Coordinator: Jennifer Hatlauf Institute: Institut für Wildbiologie und Jagdwirtschaft Project website: www.goldschakal.at

Fire-Database

In spring 2013, the Institute of Silviculture has created a web platform that enables a simple and system-independent collection and analysis of forest fires. The Web-GIS application "Fire Database" is freely accessible and allows interested parties to query forest fire events and to create statistics or graphics. Similarly, current or historical forest fires can be reported via an online entry form. Coordinator: Harald Vacik Institute: Institut für Waldbau Project website: http://fire.boku.ac.at/public/