Discover & Protect

Queensland’s Threatened species

A citizen science project collecting meaningful data to support recovery of Queensland’s threatened species

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Our mission

Discover and Protect is a citizen science pilot project first established in May 2025 to collect robust, high-quality biodiversity data on Queensland’s threatened species and to facilitate data sharing with the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) and WildNet.

By focusing on survey effort and repeatable monitoring, we aim to:

engage the community with tools to collect structured, useful data via iNaturalist
enable meaningful trend analysis by capturing variation in effort and detectability
track species distribution and population changes over time
support conservation planning by facilitating data sharing with the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) and WildNet.

Why it matters

Queensland is home to at least 1069 threatened species, facing urgent challenges like habitat loss, climate change, and invasive species. Yet only around 10% have data on how their populations are changing over time. Without this data, we can’t tell if conservation efforts are working – or where they’re most needed.

Citizen science has huge potential to fill these gaps. Research shows it can:

provide consistent, long-term data across broad areas
support mental health and wellbeing for participants
build community engagement and commitment to protect local environments.

Platforms like iNaturalist are rapidly growing, and with the right structure, they can directly contribute to real conservation action.

How to get started

Download the iNaturalist app (iOS or Android), or use the online version.
Create a free account.
Join our projects: Discover and Protect iNaturalist and Queensland Threatened Plant Network.
Start observing during structured walks, spotlight surveys, camera trapping or just opportunist encounters!
Upload your sightings to the project and fill in the survey fields.
We recommend the following ID apps: birds: Birdata app; frogs: Frog ID app; fungi: Fungimap Australia; tree hollows; Tree hollows and significant habitat trees Australia; and WildNet and Threatened Species Index for the bulk upload of threatened species data.

To find out more about Queensland’s threatened plant network, visit: https://www.anpc.asn.au/queensland-threatened-plant-network/

Your observations count!

Through iNaturalist, your data is automatically shared with the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) and WildNet, supporting real-world decisions that affect Queensland’s biodiversity.

Contributing to “Discover & Protect Queensland’s Threatened Species”

HOW TO USE SURVEY FIELDS

Trip name

We want you to repeat your survey walks consistently. If you do an afternoon loop at the same spot, give it a name like “Creek Trail Afternoon”. Use that same name every time you repeat it. This helps us group multiple observations from the same survey, so we can track patterns over time. This helps us gain a clearer picture of survey effort versus detection rates.

Was a threatened species observed?

This field is to record presence/ absence surveys. If you are observing a threatened species, simply choose yes. If you are recording an absence survey, choose no (more information below). If you don’t know, choose unsure. You can always edit this later.

Survey method

Survey Method provides context on how the observation was made, allowing for accurate data analysis by accounting for variation in effort and detectability. For example, walking a trail loop at night with a torch looking for threatened species would be considered a spotlight survey; during the day, this would be a trail walk.

Number of Individuals & Number of Observers

Tell us how many individuals of the species you saw and how many people were looking. This helps to quantify survey effort.

Distance & Time

Distance travelled and time spent surveying the area: Knowing the total time and distance of your walk helps us better understand how survey effort relates to species detectability and abundance.
Tip: Start a timer when you set off on your walk and use Strava or your health app to estimate total distance travelled!

Description, Photos, Audio recording

Providing us with a good observation photo/recording (and credit if desired) and a description ensures we can obtain the full context of your sighting and maximise its scientific value. You can still upload an observation without a photo – in case an animal rushes away too quickly! Also add a note of the threatened species you searched for but did not observe on this trip.

Example Observation

See this post!

Didn’t see a threatened species?

PLEASE STILL UPLOAD YOUR SURVEY

If you didn’t spot a threatened species during your survey, that’s just as important. To record this absence, just upload a species you did see during the same walk to Discover and Protect (any common plant, animal or fungus) and make sure you include:

the same Trip name you used for other visits to this location
your survey method, total time, total distance, and number of observers
a “No” marked in the field: Was a threatened species observed?

This shows us that you were there, you looked, and under those conditions, a threatened species wasn’t detected. Without this kind of “zero” data, we can’t tell whether a species wasn’t found or just wasn’t searched for.