Flora of Russia on iNaturalist: Big data on biodiversity of a big country

The "Flora of Russia" project on iNaturalist brought together professional scientists and amateur naturalists from all over the country. Over 3800 people participate in data collection. In one year, the participants collected over 220000 photo observations on 5689 species of the Russian flora. This is the third largest dataset of open distributional data on the country's biodiversity (and the second largest for plants), a leading source of data on the current state of the nation's flora. For most alien species, the resulting maps are the most reliable distribution maps within Russia. For many municipalities, the resulting species lists are the most complete and accurate floristic information. All project data are available under free licenses and can be freely used in scientific, educational and environmental activities.