ClimateWatch | SPOTTERON vs Frog Census Usage & Stats
The ClimateWatch program is the collaborative brainchild of Earthwatch Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology, and the University of Melbourne to understand how changes in temperature and rainfall are affecting the seasonal behavior of Australia's plants and animals. The first continental phenology project in the Southern Hemisphere, ClimateWatch enables every Australian to be involved in collecting and recording data that will help shape our country’s scientific response to climate change.
What is phenology?
Phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate. Examples include bird nesting, insect hatching, plant flowering, and fruit ripening. Many studies have already provided insight into the relationship between climate variables, such as temperature and rainfall, to the timing of these phenophases. Monitoring phenology is important as changes can impact entire biological communities, our food sources, and our environment. Unfortunately few significant datasets have been collected and researched in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere.
We need your help capturing the impact climate change is having on our plants and wildlife. With our free ClimateWatch app, you can gather information in your own backyard, on the way to school, in your school ground, or at a local park. The information you collect will help us develop adaptation strategies for species’ survival into the future.
We acknowledge our funders, QBE Insurance and Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, without whom this superb upgrade to the ClimateWatch app would not have been possible. Thanks to Parks Victoria for supporting the ‘ClimateWatch in Parks’ program, connecting communities and enabling them to take action on climate change.
The ClimateWatch App is running on the SPOTTERON Citizen Science platform.
- Apple App Store
- Free
- Education
Store Rank
- -
The Frog Census app provides a description of the 16 species of frogs commonly found in the Melbourne region and enables community members to submit frog calls easily and efficiently to the Frog Census program - a community frog monitoring program that has operated since 2001. Frog Census aims to engage the community around the value, importance and threats to frog species throughout Melbourne. The census seeks to collate data gathered by volunteers to provide further information on frog species’ distribution across the Port Phillip and Western Port region. The program encourages community members to get involved by becoming citizen scientists and recording frog calls at their local waterway.
This data is used to track the movement of frog populations across Melbourne and help inform and influence river health management within Melbourne Water and other land management organisations. It is also added to the Atlas of Living Australia and the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas. The contribution of citizen science data helps us to protect frog species across Melbourne and can provide an indication of water quality in our local waterways.
The Frog Census program is designed to target all regions within Melbourne Water’s service area with a focus on locations that are deficient in frog data, or have been identified as areas of interest.
The Frog Census app was developed by Melbourne Water using code from the NatureBlitz app developed by North Central Catchment CMA’s Waterwatch program.
The Frog Census app
- allows the user to submit a frog recording and/or upload photos with additional descriptive text to accompany the records.
- includes an interactive map display where all frog records are displayed.
- Auto-captures GPS location data.
- Auto-fills weather conditions from the Bureau of Meteorology.
- Verifies all frog recordings using a professional ecologist.
Users will be asked to identify themselves with name and email address when submitting a record for the first time. This information is required to submit a record. The app will remember a user’s details for subsequent recordings. Names and email addresses will not be shared and are used to verify recordings when required.
Frog photographs are courtesy of Peter Robertson and frog audio calls are courtesy of Ed McNabb. All images and sounds are copyright of the creators.
To seek permission to use any media from the Frog Census app, or for further information, please contact the Melbourne Water Frog Census team at frogs@melbournewater.com.au
- Apple App Store
- Free
- Reference
Store Rank
- -
ClimateWatch | SPOTTERON VS. 
Frog CensusJanuary 6, 2025