View source for Biology:City Nature Challenge

[[File:INaturalist Introduction & BioBlitz at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park - Sarah Stierch 07.jpg|thumb|People gathering for the 2023 City Nature Challenge at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, United States]]
The '''City Nature Challenge''' is an annual, global, community science competition to document [[Engineering:Urban ecology|urban]] [[Biology:Biodiversity|biodiversity]]. The challenge is a bioblitz that engages residents and visitors to find and document plants, animals, and other organisms living in urban areas.<ref name=cncabout/><ref name=cnchome/> The goals are to engage the public in the collection of biodiversity data, with three awards each year for the cities that make the most observations, find the most species, and engage the most people.<ref name=cncabout/><ref name=bray2017/><ref name=roth2019/>

Participants primarily use the [[Biology:INaturalist|iNaturalist]] app and website to document their observations, though some areas use other platforms, such as Natusfera in Spain.<ref name=natusfera20180511/>   The observation period is followed by several days of identification and the final announcement of winners.<ref name=cncabout/><ref name=crall2018/> Participants need not know how to identify the species; help is provided through iNaturalist's [[Biology:Automated species identification|automated species identification]] feature as well as the community of users on iNaturalist, including professional scientists and expert naturalists.<ref name=led2017/>

==History==
The City Nature Challenge was founded by Alison Young and Rebecca Johnson of the California Academy of Sciences and Lila Higgins of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.<ref name=marin2017/> The first challenge was in the spring of 2016 between Los Angeles and San Francisco.<ref name=netburn2016/><ref name=lewis2016/> Participants documented over 20,000 observations with the [[Biology:INaturalist|iNaturalist]] platform.<ref name=cnc2016/> In 2017, the challenge expanded to 16 cities across the United States and participants collected over 125,000 observations of wildlife in 5 days.<ref name=cnc2017/> In 2018, the challenge expanded to 68 cities across the world.<ref name=bray2017/><ref name=cnc2017/> In four days, over 441,000 observations of more than 18,000 species were observed, and over 17,000 people participated.<ref name=higgins2018/><ref name=cncabout/><ref name=cnc20180504/> The 2019 challenge more than doubled in scale, with almost a million observations of over 31,000 species observed by around 35,000 people.<ref name=cnc2019cities/><ref name=2019resultsarein/>

Taking the competition beyond its US roots, the 2019 event was a much more international affair, with the winning city for observations and species coming from Africa ([[Place:Cape Town|Cape Town]]), and three South American ([[Place:La Paz|La Paz]], [[Place:Tena, Ecuador|Tena]] and [[Place:Quito|Quito]]) and two Asian areas ([[Place:Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] and Klang Valley) ranking in the top ten for number of observations.{{r|cnc2019}}

In 2020, the organizers removed the competition aspect due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stating, "To ensure the safety and health of all participants, this year’s CNC is no longer a competition. Instead, we want to embrace the collaborative aspect of sharing observations online with a digital community, and celebrate the healing power of nature as people document their local biodiversity to the best of their ability."{{r|cnccovid}} Fewer observations were documented in 2020 than the prior year, though more species were found, and more cities and people participated.{{r|cnc2020results}}

2021 and 2022 each saw successive records in every category, but as in 2020, no winning cities were announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name=cnchome/><ref name=2022cnc>{{Cite web |title=City Nature Challenge 2022 |url=https://citynaturechallenge.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/CNC-2022-results-infographic-with-fixed-links.pdf |website=citynaturechallenge.org}}</ref>

==Results==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! Event !! Cities !! Observations !! Species !! Participants !! Ref.
|-
| 14–21 April 2016 || 2 || '''Total''': 19,742  <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|USA}} Los Angeles (10,353) || '''Total''': 3,152 <br>'''Most''': {{Flag_icon|USA}} Los Angeles (1,601) || '''Total''': 1,018 <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|USA}} Los Angeles (574) || <ref name=cncabout/>
|-
| 14–18 April 2017 || 16 || '''Total''': >125,000 <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|USA}} Dallas/Fort Worth (23,957) || '''Total''': 8,600 <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|USA}} Houston (2,419) || '''Total''': >4,000 <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|USA}} Los Angeles (1,034) || <ref name=cncabout/>
|-
| 27–30 April 2018 || 68 || '''Total''': 442,518 <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|USA}} San Francisco (41,737) || '''Total''': >18,000 <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|USA}} San Francisco (3,211) || '''Total''': 17,329 <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|USA}} San Francisco (1,532) || <ref name=2018lead/>
|-
| 26–29 April 2019 || 159 || '''Total''': 963,773 <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|South Africa}} Cape Town (53,763) || '''Total''': >31,000 <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|South Africa}} Cape Town (4,588) || '''Total''': 35,126 <br> '''Most''': {{Flag_icon|USA}} San Francisco (1,947) || <ref name=2019lead/>
|-
| 24–27 April 2020 || 244 || '''Total''': 815,258 <br> '''Most''': NA{{refn|No winning city announced due to COVID-19 pandemic.|name=COVID-19|group=note}} || '''Total''': >32,500 <br> '''Most''': NA{{refn|No winning city announced due to COVID-19 pandemic.|name=COVID-19|group=note}} || '''Total''': 41,165 <br> '''Most''': NA{{refn|No winning city announced due to COVID-19 pandemic.|name=COVID-19|group=note}} || {{r|cnc2020results}}
|-
| 30 April–3 May 2021 || 419 || '''Total''': 1,270,767 <br> '''Most''': NA{{refn|No winning city announced due to COVID-19 pandemic.|name=COVID-19|group=note}} || '''Total''': >45,300 <br> '''Most''': NA{{refn|No winning city announced due to COVID-19 pandemic.|name=COVID-19|group=note}} || '''Total''': 52,777 <br> '''Most''': NA{{refn|No winning city announced due to COVID-19 pandemic.|name=COVID-19|group=note}} || {{r|cnchome}}
|-
| 29 April–2 May 2022 || 445 || '''Total''': 1,694,877 <br> '''Most''': NA{{refn|No winning city announced due to COVID-19 pandemic.|name=COVID-19|group=note}} || '''Total''': >50,176 <br> '''Most''': NA{{refn|No winning city announced due to COVID-19 pandemic.|name=COVID-19|group=note}} || '''Total''': 67,220 <br> '''Most''': NA{{refn|No winning city announced due to COVID-19 pandemic.|name=COVID-19|group=note}} || <ref name=2022cnc/>
|-
| 28 April–1 May 2023 || 486 || '''Total''': 1,870,763 || '''Total''': >57,227 || '''Total''': 66,394 || <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/current-results |access-date=2023-08-09 |website=www.citynaturechallenge.org}}</ref>
|}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=2018lead>{{cite web |title=2018 Leaderboard |url=http://citynaturechallenge.org/2018-leaderboard/ |publisher=City Nature Challenge |accessdate=16 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117070314/http://citynaturechallenge.org/2018-leaderboard/ |archive-date=17 January 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name=2019lead>{{cite web |title=Leaderboard 2019 |url=http://citynaturechallenge.org/leaderboard-2019/ |publisher=City Nature Challenge |accessdate=8 June 2019 |archive-date=8 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608055558/http://citynaturechallenge.org/leaderboard-2019/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name=2019resultsarein>{{cite web |last1=Young |first1=Alison |last2=Higgins |first2=Lila |title=Results are in! |url=https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019/journal/24652 |publisher=City Nature Challenge |date=6 May 2019 |accessdate=8 June 2019}}</ref>
<ref name=bray2017>{{cite news |last1=Bray |first1=Marianne |title=Conservation in Hong Kong: citizen scientists work to protect nature |url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2123950/conservation-hong-kong-citizen-scientists-enlisted-record-and-safeguard |accessdate=16 January 2019 |work=South China Morning Post |date=12 December 2017 |language=en}}</ref>
<ref name=cnchome>{{cite web |title=City Nature Challenge |url=http://citynaturechallenge.org/ |publisher=City Nature Challenge |accessdate=20 September 2020}}</ref>
<ref name=cncabout>{{cite web |title=About the City Nature Challenge |url=http://citynaturechallenge.org/about/ |publisher=City Nature Challenge |accessdate=16 January 2019}}</ref>
<ref name=cnc2019cities>{{cite web |title=2019 City List |url=http://citynaturechallenge.org/city-list-2019/ |publisher=City Nature Challenge |accessdate=16 January 2019 |archive-date=14 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414183515/http://citynaturechallenge.org/city-list-2019/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name=cnc2016>{{cite web|title=City Nature Challenge 2016 iNaturalist Project|url=https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2016|date=2018|accessdate=8 May 2018}}</ref>
<ref name=cnc2017>{{cite web|title=City Nature Challenge 2017 iNaturalist Project|url=https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2017-umbrella|date=2018|accessdate=8 May 2018}}</ref>
<ref name=cnc20180504>{{cite web|title=City Nature Challenge 2018 Results!!
|url=https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2018/journal/16268-city-nature-challenge-2018-results
|date=5 May 2018|accessdate=16 January 2019}}</ref>
<ref name=cnc2019>{{Cite web|url=http://citynaturechallenge.org/leaderboard-2019/|title=Leaderboard 2019 – City Nature Challenge|language=en-US|access-date=12 December 2019|archive-date=8 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608055558/http://citynaturechallenge.org/leaderboard-2019/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name=cnccovid>{{cite web |title=COVID19 – City Nature Challenge |url=https://citynaturechallenge.org/covid19/ |accessdate=22 April 2020 |archive-date=11 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511115029/https://citynaturechallenge.org/covid19/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name=cnc2020results>{{Cite web|url=https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2020/journal/34792|title=City Nature Challenge RESULTS|last=|first=|date=4 May 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029032724/https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2020/journal/34792 |archive-date=2020-10-29 |access-date=4 May 2020}}</ref>
<ref name=crall2018>{{cite news |last1=Crall |first1=Alycia |title=Competition Meets Collaboration: The City Nature Challenge |url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/citizen-science-salon/2018/04/19/competition-meets-collaboration-the-city-nature-challenge/#.XD-yo1xKhPY |accessdate=16 January 2019 |work=Citizen Science Salon |date=19 April 2018 |archive-date=17 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117070219/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/citizen-science-salon/2018/04/19/competition-meets-collaboration-the-city-nature-challenge/#.XD-yo1xKhPY |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name=higgins2018>{{cite web|last=Higgins|first=Lila|title=City Nature Challenge 2018: A Win For Urban Nature Around the World|website=Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County|date=4 May 2018|url=https://nhm.org/nature/blog/city-nature-challenge-2018-win-urban-nature-around-world}}</ref>
<ref name=led2017>{{cite news |last1=Ledbetter |first1=Rhesa |date=25 April 2017 |title=Nature Is Calling: Satisfy Your Curiosity And Contribute To Scientific Research Using iNaturalist |url=https://www.upr.org/post/nature-calling-satisfy-your-curiosity-and-contribute-scientific-research-using-inaturalist |accessdate=16 January 2019 |work=www.upr.org |language=en}}</ref>
<ref name=lewis2016>{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Danny |title=Scientists Catalog Creatures in Every Corner of Los Angeles |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-catalog-creatures-every-corner-los-angeles-180958798/ |date=18 April 2016 |accessdate=16 January 2019 |work=Smithsonian |language=en}}</ref>
<ref name=marin2017>{{cite news |title=City Nature Challenge a fun way to become a naturalist |url=https://www.marinij.com/2017/03/24/city-nature-challenge-a-fun-way-to-become-a-naturalist/ |accessdate=20 September 2019 |work=Marin Independent Journal |date=24 March 2017}}</ref>
<ref name=natusfera20180511>{{cite web |last1=Guzmán |first1=Pau |date=11 May 2018 |title=City Nature Challenge 2018 |url=http://natusferablog.creaf.cat/category/city-nature-challenge-2018/ |website=Natusfera - el Blog |accessdate=16 January 2019 |language=es-ES |archive-date=17 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117174147/http://natusferablog.creaf.cat/category/city-nature-challenge-2018/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name=netburn2016>{{cite news |last1=Netburn |first1=Deborah |title=L.A. takes on San Francisco in the first City Nature Challenge |url=https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-la-nature-challenge-20160414-story.html |date=14 April 2016 |work=Los Angeles Times |accessdate=16 January 2019}}</ref>
<ref name=roth2019>{{cite news |last1=Roth |first1=Katherine |date=15 January 2019 |title=Apps tap growing global pursuit of insect tracking |url=https://www.detroitnews.com/story/tech/science/2019/01/15/insect-watching-app-inaturalist-tracking-citizen-scientists/38903823/ |accessdate=16 January 2019 |work=Detroit News |language=en}}</ref>
}}

==External links==


[[Category:Biodiversity]]

{{Sourceattribution|City Nature Challenge}}