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Social networking is coming to the rescue of our amphibian amigos out there who are on the brink of extinction.

As part of the 'Global Amphibian Blitz' scheme,  a new social networking site, iNaturalist.org, has been created. It provides a platform where the public can upload the photographs of frogs that they have taken in their local parks or gardens along with the time and location that they were taken.

Scientists involved with the project will then identify the species, and post information on the species, including how many of that individual population remain.

Not only will this be of interest for the public, it will provide the scientists with much more data which will improve the accuracy in terms of numbers and whereabouts of each species. Scott Loarie, director of iNaturalist, said: 'By being in the right place at the right time and armed with a camera, amateurs can provide information that scientists could never dream of collecting on their own.'

In a news release from the 'UC Berkley news center', research scientist Michelle Koo praised the strength of social media platforms, and how they could be used to improve data and aid conservation. Koo said: 'The distributions of many amphibian species are so poorly known that every observation helps. Museums can't be everywhere we need to be at once to get the data sets we need.'

Of the 6,814 recorded species of amphibians known to scientists, more than 2,000 are on the brink of extinction. More than 160 species have been wiped out in the last decade. The iNaturalist site has said that it will strive to not let any species vanish from its radar, to ensure the continued existence of as many species as possible.

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