Biome Co., Ltd. and Hironobu Asari, a specially appointed lecturer at Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, jointly use the creature collection app "Biome *" to collect information on roadkills (accidents between vehicles and wild animals) "National Roadkill Survey". Will be implemented from September 2020, 9.
Roadkill is an accident in which an animal dies due to contact between a vehicle and a wild animal.While the number of cases increases with the development of transportation infrastructure, little is known about roadkills on small animals and small roads such as municipal roads.
In the United Kingdom, it was reported that the number of deer accidents is 42,000 to 74,000 per year, and the economic loss due to roadkill is 2400 to 5000 million pounds per year.In order to explore the coexistence of humans and wild animals, a highly convenient platform that can collect and accumulate roadkill information is needed.
Therefore, BIOME Inc. will carry out a one-year "National Roadkill Survey" from September 2020, 9 to August 1, 2021 with the cooperation and supervision of a specially appointed lecturer, Asari.We aim to build a big data collection system that can be used by citizens to conserve wildlife and reduce traffic accidents.
In this survey, participants are solicited from people who are highly interested in roadkill, such as rangers, researchers, and the general public, and they are asked to post images, location information, situations, etc. of roadkill through the app and collect information.The collected data will be useful not only for research but also for road managers to take measures to prevent accidents, and is expected to be used for the conservation of rare animals.
In addition to collecting data, this survey will also verify the feasibility and convenience of accurate data collection with a view to developing a platform that can collect and store roadkill information.In the future, we will greatly expand the target area of the survey and the target of the participants, and aim to establish a citizen science research project that combines the elements of research and learning.
* The living thing collection app "Biome" is an app that records almost all species (about 80,000 species) of animals and plants in Japan.When you take a picture of the creature you find, AI will show you the name of the creature, and it also has functions such as a picture book, map, and SNS, so anyone can use it for free.
