The iNaturalist City Nature Challenge is an annual citizen science event where cities worldwide compete to record the most observations and species, and to have the greatest number of participants over a four-day period. Science Researcher Lara Shepherd highlights some of the interesting discoveries made during the challenge, in whatRead more
Knowing where species occur and how common they are is key for conservation management. Last year, Te Papa botanists Lara Shepherd and Leon Perrie were part of an expert panel that assessed the conservation status of every indigenous vascular plant species in the Greater Wellington region – over 1000 inRead more
A new paper entitled Wikidata for Botanists: Benefits of collaborating and sharing Linked Open Data has been published in the Annals of Botany. This publication is the result of a collaboration of four researchers (who are all also Wikidata editors) from three countries. Curator Botany Heidi Meudt talks about how did this unique international collaboration come about, and what does Wikidata have to do with Botany?Read more
For the past four years, Te Papa’s scientists Lara Shepherd and Leon Perrie have participated in the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge – a global competition that connects people with nature by encouraging them to record the wildlife in our cities. This year, as well as being behind the camera, we also had fun in front of the lens whilst being filmed for a short documentary about the challenge and goals.Read more
The iNaturalist City Nature Challenge is an annual event where cities around the world compete to record the most observations and species, and have the greatest number of participants over a four-day period. Science Researcher Lara Shepherd highlights some of the interesting discoveries made during the challenge, in what isRead more
In the ninth blog in the series on the Strannik 2023 Auckland Island Expedition, Botany Curator Heidi Meudt interviews the two organisers behind it. Rodney Russ and Alex Fergus discuss their subantarctic experiences, including those on the expedition, and offer their insights, passion, and above all hope for the futureRead more
As a botany curator, Heidi Meudt pays a lot of attention to plants, however, she is also curious about the other living things she sees when out in the field. When she was on Motu Maha Auckland Islands in January 2023, she tried to photograph as many of these non-plantRead more
Read about Tora, a little boy with a big love for insects. Tora is determined to learn everything about his loved bugs and also to help them. One group of his favourite insects are bees, not the ones that produce native honey, but native bees that are crucial for Aotearoa New Zealand’s ecosystem. Bee inspired, Curator Invertebrates Julia Kasper shows us nature’s six-legged wonders through a child’s eye.Read more
Massey University student Hayden Jones and Botany Curator Carlos Lehnebach are launching a citizen science project aiming at solving the identity crisis that surrounds one of our most common terrestrial orchids and your observation could provide the clue to solving this taxonomic imbroglio. Maikuku – the white sun orchid (ThelymitraRead more
Snails and slugs are some of the most threatened animals on our planet today and their biodiversity is still vastly uncharted. In the digital age, community science platforms such as iNaturalist pose an interesting perspective to gather new information on these organisms through user-submitted photos and data. Using Brazil as a case study, our new study explores the potential of iNaturalist as a source of biological data on rare snails and slugs. Undergrad student Rafael Masson Rosa reports on some new discoveries and recent outcomes from the study.Read more
This year Wellington is competing against over 400 cities worldwide, and five other New Zealand cities in the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge. The aim of this friendly bioblitz-style competition is to record as many species as possible in the four days from 29 April to 2 May. With our fabulous array of forest and marine reserves, we hope Wellington can show the rest of the country, and the world, what a biologically diverse city we live in.Read more
One hundred years ago, Wellington naturalist George Hudson walked the forest near his home – now Zealandia wildlife sanctuary – in search of fascinating New Zealand insects. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Hudson collected and identified thousands of moth specimens, now part of one of the largest insect collections in New Zealand.
Natural History intern Annie Robertson describes his legacy, the 100 Year Project, and what the citizen science and entomologist communities have found.Read more
How many species of plants and animals do you think you could find in only four days? This year Wellington participants in the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge found 1537 species! Our Researcher Lara Shepherd and Curator Botany Leon Perrie summarise what was discovered.Read more
In 2018, Curator Invertebrates Julia Kasper put out a call on Te Papa’s blog looking for enthusiastic code crackers to decipher Hudson’s handwritten collection records with her post, Help crack the insect code. Approximately 80 people contacted Te Papa and asked about more information and how they could help with the research, and now Julia is hoping for more volunteers.Read more
This past summer we engaged the services of citizen scientists nationwide to deliver samples of mosquitoes | waeroa, in our first nationwide mosquito census.Read more
