Harnessing Citizen Science for Urban Biodiversity: Insights from the Hyderabad Annual Tree Biodiversity Survey

Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 9: e182213 doi: 10.3897/biss.9.182213 Conference Abstract Harnessing Citizen Science for Urban Biodiversity: Insights from the Hyderabad Annual Tree Biodiversity Survey A. Ashwin , Ram Dayal Vaishnav , Lavanya Bhat , Farida Tampal ‡ World Wide Fund for Nature, Hyderabad, India § The Naturalist School, Bengaluru, India Corresponding author: A. Ashwin ([email protected]), Ram Dayal Vaishnav ([email protected]) Received: 11 Dec 2025 | Published: 16 Dec 2025 Citation: Ashwin A, Vaishnav RD, Bhat L, Tampal F (2025) Harnessing Citizen Science for Urban Biodiversity: Insights from the Hyderabad Annual Tree Biodiversity Survey. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 9: e182213. https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.9.182213 Abstract Rapid urban expansion in Hyderabad continues to present significant challenges to sustaining urban biodiversity, particularly the intricate fauna-flora relationships underpinning city ecosystem health. To address these challenges, the Hyderabad Annual Tree Biodiversity Survey—a collaborative citizen science program led by WWF-India’s Hyderabad office—was conducted for the second consecutive year in 2025, building on the model and findings of the 2024 survey. The 2025 survey mobilized over 150 volunteers across 32 teams and 18 locations encompassing all six city zones. Volunteers underwent a structured two-part training series, covering survey protocols, biodiversity identification, and mobile app usage (iNaturalist, Merlin Bird ID, eBird), resulting in improved data collection quality and participant engagement. Tree biodiversity, and the faunal biodiversity found exclusively on the trees, were surveyed extensively for avenue and park trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) greater than 10 cm, employing community-led observations, photographic documentation, and digital citizen science platforms. A total of 837 unique trees were documented, representing 108 species, along with 1,885 faunal observations—primarily ants/termites, birds, and spiders. Notably, avenue trees ‡ § § ‡ © Ashwin A et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. (trees beside broad city or town roads) comprised over 82% of the sample and supported 93% of the observed animals (Fig. 1), highlighting their immense contribution to urban biodiversity. Flora-fauna records increased to 923 entries in 2025, reflecting deepened community involvement and broader spatial coverage compared to 2024, with 23 locations surveyed from 6 city zones and 753 unique trees recorded from 797 entries. The top three tree species covered in the 2024 survey were Peltophorum pterocarpum (Copperpod), Azadirachta indica (Neem), and Milletia pinnata (Pongamia). This result does not vastly differ, with the top three tree species covered in 2025 survey being the same (Fig. 2). Native species findings reaffirmed that trees native to India and Telangana hosted a higher diversity of animal life (Fig. 3). However, overall faunal observations were lower than last year, possibly due to sampling time, Air Quality Index (AQI) variation, and urban noise factors. More than half of surveyed sites exhibited “Poor” AQI, correlating with reduced animal abundance, and 42% of the samples corresponded to high vehicular activity zones—underscoring the dual pressures of pollution and traffic on urban ecological health. Figure 1. Distribution of Trees by Urban Setting: Avenue vs Non-Avenue (A, Vaishnav, Bhat and Tampal CC-BY 4.0). 2Ashwin A et al Figure 2. Species abundance distribution of the Hyderabad Urban Forest (A, Vaishnav, Bhat and Tampal CC-BY 4.0). Figure 3. Composition of Hyderabad's surveyed trees by biogeographic origin (A, Vaishnav, Bhat and Tampal CC-BY 4.0). Harnessing Citizen Science for Urban Biodiversity: Insights from the Hyderabad ... 3 The trees were also compared on the basis of the faunal diversity hosted on them, in order to see the effect of the species, the nativeness, and the location (avenue vs nonavenue), and the top 5 trees were thus sorted on the basis of the absolute value or the total faunal abundance (Fig. 4), and the mean faunal diversity (Fig. 5). Key improvements in the data collection process, learned from previous year's survey, included enhanced digital workflows, publicly available forms for data entry, standardized morphometric measures (DBH), and use of GBIF to make the dataset accessible for wider research and replication. Persistent challenges involved data consistency, incomplete fields, difficulties with citizen sciene app registration, and some mismatch between faunal observations and tree records. Volunteer feedback stressed the need for offline data entry options, more comprehensive training, and expanded urban habitat coverage to further improve reporting accuracy and inclusiveness. The survey’s outcome demonstrates both the vulnerability and resilience of Hyderabad’s urban biodiversity. It advocates for prioritizing native species in urban greening, pollution mitigation efforts, and wider adoption of citizen science approaches. Future recommendations include protocol refinement for insect and individual counts, unbiased sampling across city habitats, and ongoing offline training and support for volunteers. The Figure 4. Top 5 Trees by Total Faunal Abundance (A, Vaishnav, Bhat and Tampal CC-BY 4.0). 4Ashwin A et al survey not only fosters a robust ecological inventory but also strengthens public stewardship essential for sustaining biodiversity in fast-growing urban landscapes. Keywords iNaturalist, community-based monitoring, participatory conservation, ecological baseline data Presenting author A. Ashwin Presented at Living Data 2025 Figure 5. Top 5 Trees by Mean Faunal Abundance (A, Vaishnav, Bhat and Tampal CC-BY 4.0). Harnessing Citizen Science for Urban Biodiversity: Insights from the Hyderabad ... 5 Acknowledgements Collaborators and supporters: • GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) • TGFD (Telangana Forest Department) • HMDA (Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority) • NRSC (National Remote Sensing Centre) Key collaborators not listed as authors: • Anukriti Sharma • Dr. Satya S.N. Conflicts of interest The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. 6Ashwin A et al