Biodiversity @University of Trieste
A campus-wide citizen-science project that invites the university community to observe, document and share the species living around us.
The campus as a living laboratory.
Biodiversity @University of Trieste is active on iNaturalist and collects georeferenced observations made across University spaces and surrounding areas. Each contribution helps build an open, shared picture of the living organisms that coexist with teaching, research and everyday campus life.
The project links citizen science with environmental responsibility, education and open biodiversity data. Observations can support scientific analyses, teaching activities, spatial assessments, environmental monitoring and future collective initiatives such as BioBlitz events.
From observations to open knowledge.
Plants are currently the most represented group, followed by insects, with observations also covering birds, reptiles, fungi, arachnids, molluscs and other organisms. The project is explicitly open to the full University community.
Beyond documenting species, the initiative aims to change how the campus is perceived: not simply as built infrastructure, but as an urban ecosystem that can be observed, understood and cared for.