Hooffs Run / Building a Mobile App

A future project is to convince the City of Alexandria to procure a mobile app that can be used to conduct a 'Frog Census' within the Hooffs Run watershed. Melbourne Water in Victoria, Australia, offers an excellent app that can be used by citizen scientist to record the location of frogs within the City of Melbourne. 

A short instructional video on YouTube can be found through this link, and an article highlighting how successful the citizen scientists effort has been can be found through this link. 

In short, members of the public download the app, then use it to document the locations of frogs. The type of frog is detected through the app based on the sounds the frog makes. Melbourne Water then monitors the program and can then manage the urban habitat accordingly. Here are a couple of screen shots from the instructional video.




Undertaking a similar effort within Hooffs Run would be an interesting way to learn more about the local frog population. By some estimates, there are potentially 13 species of native frogs in Northern Virginia. 

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