Discover fauna and fungi on campus
The University of Melbourne is using citizen science to record observations of fauna and fungi on campus to inform Metric 7 in the Biodiversity Baseline Data Project.
Staff, students and visitors can help protect on-campus biodiversity by recording animals, insects and fungi they find on University grounds using citizen science apps.
Contribute as a citizen scientist
To maintain accurate, representative data of fauna and fungi on our campuses, regular data collection of species is vital. Staff, students and members of the public can contribute to this ongoing quest by recording sightings of biodiversity using the citizen science apps, iNaturalist and QuestaGame.
iNaturalist and QuestaGame both contribute species occurrence data to Atlas of Living Australia, an open-source biodiversity database.
The University will periodically download data from Atlas of Living Australia to inform Metric 7 of the Biodiversity Baseline Data Project. Current data will be compared to original datasets to analyse changes in species composition over time and provide insights as to whether campus activities are negatively impacting species.
Left image: “Koala” by Theo Crazzolara is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
How to get involved
Sign up to iNaturalist and/or QuestaGame today and submit sightings of fauna and fungi you find across any of our seven campuses!
Collecting data though collaboration
Historical species occurrence data were captured through the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) and analysed for each of the University’s campuses by former Master of Environmental Science student and Biodiversity Intern, Oliver Richards. Oliver completed an internship with the Sustainability Delivery team as part of his degree.
Oliver's analysis revealed a total of 1098 unique species had been sighted across the University’s campuses.
More importantly, 39 of these species are listed under state or federal conservation legislation and 22 species are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Some of these species include:
- Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor)
- Growling Grass Frog (Litoria raniformis)
- Grey-headed Flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus)
- Murray River Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia fluviatilis)
- Squirrel Glider (Petaurus norfolcensis)
Litoria raniformis, Growling Grass Frog by Catching The Eye is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Get involved with FaungiFinder
The FaungiFinder observation analysis tool is the result of over five years of collaborative development, driven by the need for faster and more accessible biodiversity insights to support the University of Melbourne’s Sustainability Plan 2030. Specifically, it contributes to the Biodiversity Baseline Data Project, an initiative under the plan designed to track progress toward key biodiversity targets.
FaungiFinder supports progress on Metric 7: Number of Fauna and Fungi Species, enabling the University to track its performance against this target over time. The need for a more efficient analysis tool first became clear in 2020 during a student-led internship that involved manually reviewing data from the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA). This early work revealed a clear challenge: traditional methods were too slow to support timely land management decisions.
In 2022, five Master of Data Science students took on this challenge as their capstone project. Their goal was to develop a solution that enables rapid, repeatable, and scalable analysis of biodiversity data. The successful prototype developed through this project laid the technical foundation for what would later become FaungiFinder.
Two years later, to uphold the University’s Nature Positive Pledge and strengthen its commitment to biodiversity, the Sustainability Delivery team secured additional funding through the inaugural Campus Living Lab Accelerator Program. The project received $10,000 in supplementary support, bringing the total budget to just under $30,000. This investment enabled the further development of FaungiFinder into a robust and open-access platform, demonstrating the University of Melbourne’s dedication to knowledge sharing and making biodiversity insights accessible to other institutions, local governments, and large landholders across Australia.
Now, thanks to this collaborative effort and University support, FaungiFinder empowers other tertiary institutions and land managers to easily analyse ALA data, making biodiversity insights more accessible and actionable for decision-makers across Australia.
The Biodiversity Baseline Data Project
The Biodiversity Baseline Data Project strives to cease biodiversity loss on campus by measuring biodiversity using seven pioneering metrics.
Metric 7 is a record of species occurrence data of fauna and fungi. This data set will help the University monitor species found on campus and will be vital for ensuring our ecosystems are healthy and resilient to future climate change.
