Working for Superb Parrot Research study

By u6093684

In the past few weeks, I joined an online volunteer program on DigiVol. DigiVol is a crowdsourcing platform developed by the Australian Museum in collaboration with the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) and used as a way of transcribing and digitizing the data in various forms like field notebooks, registers and photographs.^[1] It is quite simple to participate on DigiVol as a citizen scientist, you will have to register first and then join expeditions in the list and complete tasks as required. What I did is image classification as below. I did them in separate times over the past two weeks, which is an advantage of being an online volunteer as you do not necessarily need to finish the work intensively. I completed 254 tasks of images identifying in total until now but that’ll not be the end.

Superb Parrot Research study

The project that I participated involves detailed monitoring of superb parrot (Polytelis swainsonii) nests located in ACT called the Superb Parrot Research study. The research aims to track the breeding success and nest hollow competition of superb parrots in the ACT.^[2]

Background about Superb Parrots

The superb parrot is an Australian woodland endemic bird currently listed as Vulnerable in NSW and nationally. It is threatened by climate change and the ongoing loss of critical breeding habitat, specifically large hollow-bearing trees that they need for nesting.^[3] As we discussed in the workshop, the superb parrot nests in very old hollow-bearing trees and the threats for them include clearing of old paddock trees due to agriculture and urban development and competition for hollows by introduced species like European starling. More than 90% of their habitat (e.g. Box Gum Woodland) is cleared and habitat loss associated with habitat fragmentation is considered as the biggest threat to biodiversity in Australia. Furthermore, there are many impacts of climate change on superb parrots. For example, the core geographic range of superb parrots will shift south-eastward concentrating the population over the ACT and areas to the immediate north in response to changing climate.^[4]

*A photo of a superb parrot.*
https://images.app.goo.gl/a4wZJk8vq94NmbGG7

Results from the Superb Parrot Research

I have spoken to Michael Mulvaney who is working for the Superb Parrot Research about the details of tracking the breeding success and some results of nest hollow competition of superb parrots. According to Michael Mulvaney, the research is showing that the size of the hollow entrance is important and with too large hollows being more prone to predation. The superb parrot breeding population under study appears to be steady, showing the need to undertake management actions. For instance, designing covers with the ideal hollow entrance dimensions and future management of hollow competitors.

*A photo of two Superb parrots and one crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans) taken by the Superb Parrot Research study.*
https://volunteer.ala.org.au///data/volunteer//tutorials/SUPERB%20PARROTS%20IN%20THE%20ACT.pdf

Being a Citizen Scientist

For my online working experience on DigiVol, I personally think it was a great experience because firstly I can identify lots of species especially birds now, and also I got a deeper understanding of the threats with possible recovery actions for superb parrots. DigiVol is a perfect online platform as citizen sciences for people who are looking for volunteering opportunities but unable to travel to participate in person because you can complete the volunteering anywhere and at any time with only a computer with available internet. Being a citizen scientist is wonderful as you can help researchers to sort through hundreds of thousands of camera images to obtain detailed information and better understand the conditions of threatened species and be part of an active community that supports and contributes to science and culture,^[5] at the same time enrich your own knowledge about biodiversity conservation.