Associate Professor Raoul Mulder from the Department of Zoology at the University says their study shows that sightings of tagged swans and kangaroos contributed by members of the public have made a substantial contribution to advancing our understanding of how these species cope with adverse conditions.

“By submitting sighting reports of tagged animals, the public are helping us to reveal surprising aspects of the behaviour of these iconic species,” he says.

Associate Professor Mulder says the aim of the research is to collect long-term data on individual movement patterns and survival rates, which will help in species conservation efforts.

“We are particularly interested in how environmental stresses such as the drought affect the swans’ movement - the more we know about their behaviour, the better we can protect them in poor environmental conditions,” he says.

“Monitoring large populations of animals is not a simple task, and regular sightings of individual animals are essential to monitoring success.  The swan and kangaroo populations are large and mobile and cover areas too big for a single research team to cover, and this is where the public can help.”

Following the tagging of populations of more than 200 swans at Albert Park and 160 kangaroos at Anglesea with conspicuous identification tags that are highly visible to the public, the team set out to evaluate how often members of the public reported sightings in the absence of a formal appeal to the public for assistance.

The researchers received a surprisingly large number of unsolicited reports with more than 1000 reports of swan sightings and 90 reports of kangaroo sightings, highlighting the huge potential value of recruiting citizen scientists to the projects.

Associate Professor Mulder says the more citizen scientists who contribute to the project, the better.

“Imagine how many valuable reports we can get once we embark on broad scale community outreach – this is what we’re working towards now.”

As part of a knowledge transfer grant from the University of Melbourne, the researchers are developing an interactive online database where the public can upload sightings of individuals.

“The database will provide information about the project and instant feedback with ‘did you know’ facts on the individual sighted,” Associate Professor Mulder says.

The researchers hope the online database, available before the end of the year, will revolutionise population monitoring techniques.

“Humans represent a largely untapped source of information about urban wildlife and we plan to enhance public understanding of the projects to help us monitor the populations.”