A key component of GuardIAS monitoring efforts and citizen science involves leveraging iNaturalist, a nonprofit platform with almost 300 million biodiversity records and close to 200,000 active users (as of January 2026). Users submit observations and receive species suggestions from iNaturalist’s integrated AI system and/or by other users.
Through the iNaturalist project, Aquatic Invasive Alien Species Occurring in Europe, GuardIAS aims to strengthen the detection and monitoring of aquatic IAS in Europe,whilst enhancing engagement of citizen scientists and nature observers.
The project currently has 83 members and includes 250 invasive species. More than 100 experts have been contacted directly to contribute by providing reference material and by identifying or confirming observations, particularly for species not yet recognized by iNaturalist’s integrated AI system. Finally, we are using iNaturalist observation data to analyse IAS distribution patterns and compare them with records from other monitoring platforms.
