FCTUC releases Portuguese version of the FITCount app to monitor plant-pollinator interactions

The Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) has released the Portuguese version of the FITCount (Flower-Insect Timed Count) app. This app is an innovative tool, that allows the citizens to monitor plant-pollinator interactions easily.

Initially developed in the scope of the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (UK PoMS), the FITCount app is now available in Portuguese as an integrating part of the PolinizAÇÂO project (from the Portuguese acronym Plano de Ação para a Conservação e Sustentabilidade dos Polinizadores), which is coordinated by Sílvia Castro and João Loureiro, both professors and researchers at the Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE) from the Department of Life Sciences (DCV) of the FCTUC.

Data relative to the wild pollinators in Portugal is lacking and it is crucial to gather a larger volume of data to monitor the abundance and diversity of these insects in the entire country, as well as the pollination services that these organisms provide to plants. The FITCount app emerges as a tool to aid in the acquirement of knowledge in this field, involving the citizens in the process.

This app allows every interested citizen, both in rural and urban areas, to contribute to the collection of data about the number and diversity of pollinator insects that visit flowers.

“The participants can select a plant or flower, delimit a 50x50 cm area that includes the respective target flower, and count every pollinator that interacts with that plant’s flowers for 10 minutes”, explains Sílvia Castro, adding that the counts can be made throughout the entire year, at any moment of the day, as long as the weather is warm and dry.

“The participants don't need to identify the insects’ species, it is only needed that the insects are characterized in ample groups, such as bees, flower flies, butterflies, wasps, scarabs, among other insect groups, using the identification guide available in the app, which is completely adapted to Portugal by our team”, says João Loureiro.

Besides, complements the researcher, “additional information is solicited, such as the type of habitat, the number and type of target flower, the weather conditions, and the number of flowers in the chosen square. This information is crucial to aid scientists in the interpretation of the data collected by the participants”, he believes.

Citizen science is a growing concept, and FITCount allows for a unique opportunity to involve citizens in the scientific process. “To have data collected by all of Portugal, during an entire year, is something extremely valuable and that we, scientists, alone, would not have the ability to do in a timely manner. The help of the citizens is crucial”, concluded the researchers.

The FITCount app is already available to download for free at the Google Play Store for Android devices and at the App Store for iOS devices (iPhone/iPad).

For more information about how to participate and use the app, please visit https://www.pollinet.pt/fitcount.