Marine iguanas are a threatened species. Of the eleven subspecies, ten are either "critically endangered" or "endangered".
However, the information on location and size of populations is highly imprecise and very out of date, which makes it impossible to know how these subspecies are doing, and whether they need stronger protection. With our latest project - called Iguanas from Above - we are working to replace traditional ground-based surveys with aerial surveys.
This means we can safely reach many more locations on the islands, and we can accurately count the iguanas using computers. For this counting we use online volunteers through the world’s largest citizen Science platform: Zooniverse.org. We are also working to use machine learning for counting iguanas, so that we can focus our human efforts elsewhere.
When the project is complete, we aim to publish full and accurate population size estimates for the whole species as well as for each of the 11 subspecies. This will be the first project ever to manage this, and it will be a great advance for marine iguana conservation efforts.
We are always looking for online volunteers for our work, and we are open to interests from students who are interested in doing their Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis with us. Please see the weblinks below for further information:
Project website:
Iguanas from Above
Zooniverse project (Citizen Science):
Iguanas from Above