In the project Expedition Backyard, we will help people to study, in a scientific way, the hidden nature in their gardens and on their balconies. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of different animals and plants live there. Usually, when people think of “urban nature”, such private gardens are overlooked, but they are just as important as public greenspaces. All those miniature nature reserves around people’s homes probably even contain a greater biodiversity that all the public parks in a city.
Supported by experts and a mobile lab, neighbourhood people will record which species occur in their own gardens and on their own balconies. They will also get recommendations on how to increase the biodiversity value of their gardens. Using posters, starter kits for building a natural history collection, and/or a dedicated project page on the citizen science platform waarneming.nl, the results will be made public.
People can sign up as a street or a neighbourhood. Within 4 weeks, they will hear whether or not their street has been selected for an actual expedition. If you have not been selected, you will still receive a kit to run an expedition yourselves. For these remote participants, a helpdesk will also be set up.
Want to join? Click here. (in Dutch)
See here for a video impression of the expeditions.