Successes

Here you can find our cooperations and publications.

Thanks to the great cooperation of citizen scientists and scientists, we have succeeded in winning awards: 2023: Honorary Mention within the European Prize for Citizen Science 2023: BOKU Talent Award for Maria Peer's master's thesis, which she carried out as part of the Roadkill project.  2018: Nomination for the Austrian Federal Animal Protection Award.  2017: BOKU Sustainability Award 2017 "Light of the Future" in the category "Exchange with Society" for the Roadkill project. 2016: Listing of the Roadkill project as an exemplary project for environmentally friendly mobility by VCÖ. 2013: Pioneer of the Open Dialogue as part of the Alpbach Technology Talks
Roadkill reports will be analysed once a year, focusing on detailed information on the surrounding landscapes of the five most frequently reported species and the type of road on which the animals were reported. The surrounding landscape and the type of road (e.g. motorway, interurban) on which roadkills were reported contribute to the understanding of the influence of the landscape and various road features on biodiversity. In addition, all citizen scientists in the project can vote once a year on which research topics from the past basic analyses they find most attractive.  The research topic with the most votes will serve as the basis for a new technical article. To do this, the underlying questions and observations in the research topic are first refined into a research question by the research team together with the submitters. This research question will then be worked on and developed into a scientific article. We invite you to participate in the entire process according to your possibilities and time resources. Annual analyses published so far: Annual analysis from 09/2022 - 08/2023: https://zenodo.org/records/10254981 Annual analysis from 09/2021 - 08/2022: https://zenodo.org/record/7549860#.Y8j4li9XZpQ   Published with the support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [PUD 19-B].
Every three months, we publish an overview of the reported animals of the previous months in order to provide quick feedback on what has happened in the project. The basic analyses contain more detailed statistics on how many citizen scientists have reported how many roadkills (and which animal groups) and how many protected species (according to IUCN) have been reported in the last three months. Furthermore, these results are compared with the results of the previous baseline analyses to show seasonal changes. In addition, the basic analyses contain a summary on research topics of the submitted research questions and observations of the past three months. Basic analyses published so far (in German): December 2023 - February 2024: https://zenodo.org/records/10777655 September - November 2023: https://zenodo.org/records/10285148 June - August 2023: https://zenodo.org/record/8318260 March - May 2023: https://zenodo.org/record/8033171 December 2022 - February 2023: https://zenodo.org/record/7703755#.ZAbtTC9XZpQ September - November 2022: https://zenodo.org/record/7408456#.Y5BTkC1XZpQ June - August 2022: https://zenodo.org/record/7050935#.YxYDvS-230o March - May 2022: https://zenodo.org/record/6604087#.Ypetwy-230o   Published with the support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [PUD 19-B].
At the beginning of each week, we give a brief insight into the previous week's reports in our weekly reports (in German). In this way, we show very promptly which animals are currently being reported, where difficulties have arisen and how many citizen scientists have reported roadkills this week. 
The data on roadkills is the heart of the project and was collected through the voluntary work of the participating citizen scientists. Therefore, it is a concern for us in the project team to give back to society as much as possible from the project. Moreover, as part of the listing on the platform Österreich forscht, we have committed ourselves to fulfilling the quality criteria for citizen science projects that apply there, which include, among other things, that results and data from a citizen science project must be made freely available. As soon as a roadkill is reported, it is visible on our interactive map. You can filter by species on this map, create a so-called heatmap where you can see clustering points of reported animals and also create time series. This way you can get a first overview of which animals are reported where and when in the project. Each participant can download and use his/her own reports at any time. Every second day, the data entered into the Roadkill project is validated by members of the project team to correct incorrect or inconsistent entries via the backend of the website or, if the record cannot be corrected, the…