The City of Whittlesea is calling on Citizen Scientists to contribute plant and animal sightings to help further our understanding of native species in the municipality. Citizen Scientists are members of the public who collect data about the natural world, as part of a collaborative project with scientists.

Spring is the perfect time to get outdoors on your block or local patch to see what species live there. By submitting your records through this page you will be helping to contribute to a scientific study that is happening as part of the Council’s Biodiversity Strategy (2019-2029), looking at improving our knowledge of local biodiversity.

Local Biodiversity in the City of Whittlesea

Biodiversity is the mix of plants, animals, and other organisms that make up landscapes. The City of Whittlesea has a unique landscape supporting biodiverse communities like Damp forests in the north and rare Grassland and Woodlands in the south. It forms part of the lands of the Wurundjeri Willum Clan, the Traditional Owners of the land, who have cared for this Country for tens of thousands of years and continue to do so today. There are many significant flora and fauna species which depend on this landscape for their survival, from rare orchids to nocturnal marsupials like the Tuan (Brush-tailed Phascogale).

Citizen Science contributing to biodiversity study

There is still much we have to learn about our rare local species and citizen science can play a key role in helping to fill in some of these knowledge gaps. The City of Whittlesea is presently conducting a biodiversity mapping study which will be updating local species records, mapping species distribution and conducting targeted field surveys in conjunction with expert ecologists. The last municipality-wide biodiversity study was carried out over 24 years ago, so this study and data from citizen scientists will be important in making sure we have the most up to date information to understand and care for our locally significant plants and animals.

We invite you to drop a pin on the map below of any sightings you have made. Feel free to share any sighting you are excited about or want Council staff to identify for you!

If email or post is easier for you, please simply send your records to biodiversityplanning@whittlsea.vic.gov.au or via post to: 25 Ferres Boulevard, South Morang, Vic 3752.

Records should include a location for the species within 50 m accuracy. This may include dropping a pin on the map, a GPS waypoint, or description of the location. We encourage you to also submit photographs, video or audio recordings which can help to verify the sighting.

Please also help us to protect these plants and animals by not collecting any specimens. Specimens will not be accepted by Council. In most cases a permit is required to collect plants and animals from the wild.

If you are interested in staying informed about this study or would be interested in having your sightings verified by our expert ecologists, please email us your contact details at biodiversityplanning@whittlesea.vic.gov.au or give us a call on 03 9217 2332.