Observe nature and lend a helping hand to science
The government is aiming to better understand how climate change is affecting ecosystems
A MOBILE phone application to ‘monitor the life cycle of plants’ has been launched by the government science investigation agency (CSIC).
According to the CSIC, the ‘Bioclima’ app is for citizens to help keep track of the effects of climate change in Spain, although at the moment it is only available for the Valencia region.
Via this ‘simple application’, the scientists are aiming to collect a large quantity of data to understand how this phenomenon is impacting on plant life.
The app has been developed by scientist Francesco de Bello, who works in the centre of investigation on desertification (CIDE), which is a branch of the CSIC.
It has been done in conjunction with Valencia university and the Valencia regional government.
“Bioclima has been born out of the necessity to understand how climate change is affecting our ecosystems,” noted Sr de Bello.
He said people who sign up will be able to register the changes in the life cycles of plants which are the result of climatic variations – and note the strategies which species are adopting to adapt to these changes, he stated.
In order to do this effectively, it is crucial for them ‘to garner a large quantity of data and citizens will carry out a very important role in this’.
“Both experts and aficionados can take note of the dates in which these changes in the biological cycles of plants occur,” he said.
These are known as phenophases
– which are observable stages in the annual life cycle of a plant or animal that can be defined by a start and end point.
Phenophases generally have a duration of a few days or weeks.
Examples include the period over which newly emerging leaves are visible, or the period over which open flowers are present on a plant.
Sr de Bello said app users will be asked to answer questions such as when the first flower opens; or when the first leaves fall.
It will help them study the variations in the cycles of plants throughout the country.
He said the Bioclima app is pioneering in Spain and will allow the researchers to follow
the phenology of common species in our ecosystems.
“This simple-to-use app is open to anyone who wants to collaborate during their outings to the countryside,” he added.
All they have to do is download the free app from Google Play or the Apple App Store and register their details.
Currently the observation area is only based on the Valencia region, but they expect to be able to extend it to other areas of Spain in the near future.
The data supplied will be validated by scientists who are part of the Red Bioclima (Bioclimate network).
They aim to create a database of reliable information on the phenology of biodiversity in Spain. This wealth of information will allow them to ‘address urgent questions on the impact of climate change on our biodiversity’.
It will be stored in the biodiversity database of the Valencia government’s department of the environment, which is connected to national and international databases.
All this data can be ‘freely downloaded’ from the webpage of the biodiversity database, Banco de Datos de Biodiversidad (BDB) de la Comunitat Valenciana.
The system has been funded by the ministry for ecological transition and the Valencia government. A basic understanding of Spanish is necessary to use the app.