A plant thought to have disappeared decades ago has been rediscovered in a remote part of northern Australia thanks to a chance observation uploaded to citizen science platform iNaturalist. Scientists say the surprising discovery highlights how everyday people are becoming increasingly important to modern biodiversity research and conservation.
The discovery began when professional gardener Aaron Bean, who was helping raise banded birds on a vast outback property in Queensland, noticed an unusual plant growing in the landscape. He photographed it and uploaded the image to iNaturalist after phone service was restored.
This simple upload set off a surprising chain of events.
Among the millions of observations shared on the platform, the photo eventually caught the attention of botanist Anthony Bean from the Queensland Herbarium. He immediately recognized the species as Ptylotus senariusa rare plant that had not been recorded since 1967 and was widely thought to be extinct in the wild.
Anthony Bean actually described the species himself ten years ago.
“It was very serendipitous,” said Thomas Messario from UNSW’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, who documented the rediscovery. Australian Journal of Botany.
“Aaron Bean is an avid iNaturalist user and happened to be taking photos of some of the interesting plants on the property.”
Rediscovering Australia’s rare plants
Ptylotus senarius It is a delicate shrub with purple-pink flowers that resemble tiny feather fireworks. This species grows only in the rugged terrain near the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia.
Until this rediscovery, there had been no confirmed sightings for nearly 60 years. Scientists believe the plant may have joined the approximately 900 species that have disappeared from the wild around the world since the 1750s.
With Aaron Bean’s photography, Anthony Bean’s expertise, and the property owner’s help in collecting specimens, researchers were finally able to confirm that the species was still alive. Rather than being classified as extinct, the plant has now been moved to the endangered species list, allowing scientists and conservation groups to focus on its protection.
“This was one of those situations where everything had to fall into place, and there was some luck involved,” Messario said.
How citizen science is changing research
Rediscovery is part of the growth pattern of science. Increasingly, members of the public are taking photos of the plants and animals they come across and uploading them to online databases such as iNaturalist. In some cases, these observations can reveal species that were thought to be lost. In other cases, it helps scientists identify organisms that are completely new to science.
For researchers like Messario, citizen science platforms have become essential tools.
Australia’s vast landmass and biodiversity make it impossible for scientists to explore every region themselves. About a third of the continent is privately owned, so access can be even more difficult.
“If you’re a property owner or someone who has permission from the owner to be there, all of a sudden a whole new world opens up,” Mesario said.
Scientists want better biodiversity data
Researchers are now encouraging more people, especially landowners, to participate in citizen science projects and collect high-quality observations.
In New South Wales, the Land Library Project, run by the state government’s Biodiversity Conservation Trust, provides training and equipment to enable landowners to record wildlife and plant species on their properties and upload this information to citizen science platforms.
Messario supports expanding these types of programs because they improve scientific access to remote and private lands and help increase public interest in conservation.
“By involving landowners themselves in science and the natural world and increasing their passion for diversity, landowners are much more likely to care and invest in protecting diversity,” Messario said.
Tips for using iNaturalist
Messario says the detailed observations are especially valuable to scientists.
For example, if many related plants have similar flowers, a single close-up image of a flower may not be enough to identify the species. Taking more photos of leaves, bark, stems, or the entire plant may provide important clues.
It also encourages users to include information that may not be visible in the photo, such as soil conditions, nearby vegetation, and whether pollinators were present.
Details such as a plant’s odor can also help researchers determine what species it is.
“The more information and context you can provide, the more uses that record can have in the future.”
In a separate study, Mesaglio found that iNaturalist has already been cited in scientific papers on thousands of species in 128 countries, highlighting the platform’s growing role in global science.
As millions of observations continue to pour in, scientists believe there are many more discoveries waiting to be discovered.
