What if anybody could become a scientist from home? Not with expensive laboratory equipment or years of academic training, but with something as ordinary as a smartphone. Today, a growing number of people are stepping into the role of ‘citizen scientists’ through apps that allow them to identify birds, document plants and record species, contributing to scientific research from their neighbourhoods, terraces, beaches, and wetlands.
For Chennai-based naturalist and nature educator Gowtham Marimuthu, the idea of citizen science begins with two things: conservation and documentation. “The importance of being a citizen scientist is conservation in the first place, and the second thing is documentation,” he says.
Gowtham recalls how his observations uploaded through iNaturalist became useful to researchers beyond India. “There’s a person researching humpback dolphins in Sri Lanka. Seeing me document the same through my iNaturalist updates, he reached out asking about the species and water quality during the sighting. Through my observations, he got data for his research,” he explains.
For him, this is the real power of citizen science platforms. “Whoever makes use of these sites is a citizen scientist, even if they have not formally studied science. By doing this, people contribute to meaningful projects in simple ways,” he says.
Citizen science applications have quietly changed the way ordinary people engage with nature. What was once limited to scientists, researchers, and birdwatchers is now accessible to anyone with curiosity and a phone camera. A walk near a wetland, a bird perched on a terrace wall, or a strange mushroom after rain can now become part of global biodiversity records.
Gowtham says he became familiar with these technologies after engaging with the environmental collective Palluyir and doing an internship with them. That experience introduced him to applications that transformed observation into documentation.
Earlier, he says, people would notice unfamiliar species without knowing what they were looking at or where to begin learning about them. “Now, with these apps, we can take photos, date them, and save the location. The applications can identify the species for us instantly,” he explains.
Among the widely used applications is iNaturalist, a biodiversity documentation platform that allows users to upload photographs of plants, animals, fungi, and insects along with location and date. The app suggests species identifications and connects observations to a global network of experts who help verify them. Gowtham describes the experience as deeply rewarding. “Even if you upload an image of fungi, it can identify it easily. With Google Lens, you may not get this level of experience,” he says. He also notes that the application becomes especially useful in coastal ecosystems, where many species remain unfamiliar to the general public.
Bird enthusiasts often rely on eBird, a platform dedicated to bird documentation. Through checklists, users can record species they spot during walks or while sitting on their terraces. The app helps track bird populations, migration patterns, and habitat changes, contributing valuable data for conservation efforts.
“If a place faces environmental threats in the future, these observations can help identify why certain birds that once regularly came there have stopped appearing,” Gowtham explains. The collected data can also help conservationists identify protected species under wildlife schedules and strengthen arguments for habitat protection.
Connected to eBird is Merlin Bird ID, which assists users in identifying birds through photographs as well as sound recordings. “Sometimes we hear a bird but cannot identify it. Merlin helps identify birds through sound and vibration,” Gowtham says. The app has become particularly useful for beginners trying to recognise unfamiliar bird species by appearance or audio recordings.
For plant enthusiasts, PlantNet offers a similar experience focused entirely on flora. Users upload detailed images of leaves, flowers, or stems to receive accurate identifications from a global plant database.
The application works best with clear photographs and has become a useful tool for documenting urban and wild plant species alike.
Another beginner-friendly application is Seek by iNaturalist, which offers instant species identification through the camera without requiring technical knowledge. Designed to make nature exploration interactive and accessible, especially for young learners, the app encourages people to engage with biodiversity in simple and playful ways.
Yet, despite the convenience of technology, Gowtham believes there is a delicate balance between instant identification and genuine observation. “There’s an advantage and also a small disadvantage. Once people know the species instantly, they may stop observing deeply. Observing is really a beautiful thing,” he reflects.
For him, curiosity should not end with identification. Instead, these tools should become gateways to paying closer attention to ecosystems, behaviours, and details that might otherwise go unnoticed. He also points out that beginners often make mistakes while using such applications. The most common error is failing to turn on location services. Since species can appear morphologically similar across regions, missing location data can lead to incorrect identifications.
“Location and date are very important in these apps. Without them, observations can become confusing because these applications are used worldwide,” he stresses.
As environmental crises intensify and biodiversity loss accelerates, citizen science is emerging as an unexpectedly powerful form of participation. A student documenting butterflies, a fisher recording coastal species, or a birder uploading sightings from a terrace may all contribute valuable ecological data. The technology itself may be simple. But the shift it creates is profound. A phone camera is no longer just for selfies or social media - in the hands of a curious observer, it becomes a tool for conservation, research, and memory.