Are you concerned about the environment? Do you want to help preserve the natural heritage of Australia for generations to come? Then get involved with the ClimateWatch App - the first continental phenology project in the Southern Hemisphere - and be part of an active community making a real difference to the future of our planet.

Do you like spiders? In the SpiderSpotter Citizen Science app, you can share your observations of spiders and their webs to help the research about their adaptation to the environment and contribute to biodiversity monitoring. The app features a range of spider species with and it has an active community of spider enthusiasts and arachnologists. If you love spiders (or at least appreciate them) join this Citizen Science project!

Spiders, their colours and their nets

The increasingly hot summers of recent years are problematic, not just for us humans - especially in the cities. The concrete and the buildings heat up during the day, and radiate the heat back during the night, causing challenges for all living beings. Of course, spiders are also looking for new ways and means to adapt to these new conditions. With the SpiderSpotter app, scientists are trying to figure out how these changes are going to happen.
Lighter cars heat up less than dark ones - that's a well-known fact. However, this also applies to spiders! Scientists, therefore, expect spiders to adapt to the city's hotter temperatures by becoming brighter over time to prevent overheating.
By studying spiders, their colours, and webs, scientists get not only valuable information on how animals adapt to climate change but also how fast climate change is progressing. Also, with a little bit of luck, they may provide us with some answers on how to cool our cities in the future better.