Biologists from 50 countries are constructing an online observatory to study and monitor life on the planet that will depend in part on an army of citizen scientists.
The virtual observatory will be on the same scale as international systems used to predict the weather and record earthquakes, organizers say. But it will see the unprecedented involvement of amateur naturalists, who will be able to report their observations and help the professionals chart changes in the distribution of species because of global warming.
"It is really, really important that we have citizen scientists involved. Data from amateur naturalist groups have proven immensely valuable," says James Edwards, organizer of a conference in London, England, where 400 biologists and technology experts are meeting this week to plan the project. They aim to integrate databases, photos of species, their genetic codes, maps and satellite images into a seamless global view of biodiversity.
The details are still being worked out, but it will be free and available on-line, with all sorts of portals, says Dr. Edwards. A basic version should be operating within two years, and within a decade the scientists hope to be able to track changes in the range and abundance of plants and animals over time.
A number of Canadian researchers are taking part in the project, which aims to involve tens of thousands of amateurs, a sign of how important volunteers have become in the daunting task of mapping the world's biodiversity.
They can help verify density of local forest coverage, when local plants start to flower or when insects first appear in the summer. In Canada, hundreds of citizen scientists are already doing this kind of work.
Nature Canada, formerly known as the Canadian Nature Federation, has 1,635 volunteers who monitor frogs, plants, worms and ice conditions. Their observations are recorded, and forwarded to Environment Canada scientists studying climate change.
"They are truly dedicated, hard-core observers," says communications manager Chris Sutton.
Hardcore is how you would describe Judith King of Port Elgin, Ont., who is a volunteer with Bird Studies Canada. A few years ago, the non-profit group dropped her off in a boggy area near James Bay to help finish an atlas of birds in the province.
"It was slow going. You couldn't stand still because you kept sinking," says Mrs. King.
Not all of the organization's volunteers spend time in the bush.
There are 20,000 people who monitor the birds at their backyard feeders and send in their observations. That's up from 367 participants when the project started in 1976.
There is a long waiting list to obtain a route in the annual Ontario nocturnal owl survey, says organizer Jody Allair. The lucky 400 who have routes agree to drive rural roads at night during April, stopping 10 to 20 times to listen for the birds or play a compact disc of owl calls that might provoke a response.
"It is the most important tool for monitoring owls in Ontario," says Mr. Allair.
The idea is to link efforts like this all over the world, says Dr. Edwards. He notes that many new species, including a new kind of jellyfish recently found in the Caribbean, were first spotted by citizen scientists.
Technology is making it easier for them to contribute. People are sending cellphone images of plants or animals to the Encyclopedia of Life, a project directed by Dr. Edwards that aims to have a web page for each of the approximately 1.8 million known species on the planet.
It is one of the databases that will be linked together in the new observatory, which still doesn't have a name but will also serve as a high-tech field guide, allowing amateur scientists to more easily identify trees, plants, insects and fungi.
The researchers are also hoping to advance the field of "cyber-taxonomy," and allow the relative small pool of trained experts to identify new species with computer systems that allow them to compare the shape of leaves or insect body parts.
They also hope the project will contribute to human health by authenticating medically useful plants, identifying harmful algae and the origin of animal-related viruses.
The virtual observatory could also reduce the number of collisions between birds and airplanes by identifying the timing, altitude and routes of bird migrations.