A team from the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE, CSIC-UV-GVA) has developed Bioclima, an easy citizen science mobile application – for Android and iOS – that seeks to collect data related to the phenological pace of common plant species, in order to understand how climate change affects plants.
Through the Bioclima app, now available for free download on mobile devices, it is possible to record the changes in rhythm in the life cycle of plants and their relationship with the impact of climate change, that is, their phenology. Collecting a large amount of data, with the participation of citizens, is the main objective of the new app, through which experts and hobbyists can provide information on the growth, flowering and fruiting of the species.
Intuitive and easy to use, this application developed by CIDE is a pioneer in Spain. Its observation area is limited, by now, to the Valencian Community.
The observations will be scientifically validated by the Bioclima Network, from where a database on the phenology of Valencian biodiversity will be built. The data will be included, for free viewing and download, in the largest virtual platform for collecting current data on the geographical distribution of wild species in the Valencian Community: the Biodiversity Data Bank (BDB) of the Ministry of the Environment, Water, Infrastructure and Territory.
With the extensive database generated quickly and on a large scale, urgent questions about the impact of climate change on our biodiversity will be addressed.
The development of Bioclima has been coordinated by Francesco de Bello, researcher at the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE), a joint centre of the University of Valencia, the CSIC and the Valencian Government. The project has the collaboration of the Centre for Forest Research and Experimentation (CIEF) and the technology consultancy Encamina.
Funded by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition of the Government of Spain, and by the Department of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society of the Valencian Government (Aico program), Bioclima is available in Spanish and can be easily downloaded from Google Play store and Apple App Store.
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