Los Angeles, CA (April 14, 2026)—April is all about celebrating and taking care of the Earth. With two new projects complementing the planet-wide City Nature Challenge this year, the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County’s Community Science team invites Southern Californians to make a difference for conservation science this Earth Month by recording their own wildlife observations.
The global wildlife observation event City Nature Challenge runs April 24–27. This year it is joined by two new projects led by NHM Entomology Curators, which are ongoing collections of observations of the ants and spiders crawling in local neighborhoods: Ant Quest and SoCal Webs. Participants can share photos to iNaturalist where they will be automatically added to the projects.
“Community Science projects such as the global City Nature Challenge, SoCal Webs, and Ant Quest empower people to document the biodiversity in their own neighborhoods,” says Dr. Christine Wilkinson, NHM’s new Assistant Curator of Community Science. “These efforts don't just raise awareness—they generate locally relevant data that scientists, land managers, and communities can use to better understand and care for the ecosystems we all share.”
AntQuest
Ants are crucial members of ecosystems across the world, playing important roles such as moving seeds around, helping to build soils, and acting as predators and herbivores. The question at the heart of AntQuest is: What factors help determine where particular kinds of ants are found in Southern California?
"Ants are incredibly interesting animals, with complex social lives and important roles in Southern California's ecosystems," says NHM Entomology Assistant Curator and AntQuest founder Dr. Megan Barkdull. "Often they are underappreciated, but under our feet and beneath the ground, ants are busy working together to gather seeds, farm other insects, and defend against predators. Alongside the critical role local ants can play in our ecosystems, introduced ants can also have significant impacts on both nature and the economy as pests."
Scientists do not entirely understand where ants are found and why, but with every new observation from the community, researchers like Barkdull will get closer to the answers to these ant questions.
View the most recent Ant Quest data on the iNaturalist project page and learn more about NHM’s Ant Quest.
SoCal Webs
Building on the L.A. Spider Survey, SoCal Webs aims to better understand the biodiversity of spiders in Los Angeles County and Southern California, monitor their distribution and changes in species composition, record any new records, and stay informed about the presence of non-native species.
"Most spiders have eight legs and eight eyes, but to me they hold endless stories," says Dr. Rogrigo Monjaraz-Ruedas, Associate Curator of Entomology at NHM and founder of SoCal Webs. "In every web out there lies a wonder to be discovered. That's why searching for spiders is always a new adventure."
Spiders' interactions with other species and plants are crucial for understanding aspects of their biology and for imaging their webs and habitats. Photo observations let researchers like Monjaraz-Ruedas extract additional data, including web shape, habitat, and other species’ interactions with spiders, as both prey and predators. Having many strands of evidence helps entomologists better understand the impacts of introduced species, urbanization, and climate change on these critical but too often misunderstood creatures.
View the most recent SoCal Webs data on the iNaturalist project page and learn more about NHM’s SoCal Webs.
City Nature Challenge 2026
One of the largest global community science events returns for its 11th year of connecting communities with their local wildlife. From 12:01 am local time on April 24 through 11:59 pm on April 27, City Nature Challenge encourages community scientists of all levels to explore their local environment—all while contributing to biodiversity science and conservation using free mobile apps like iNaturalist. Participants can join organized biodiversity surveys across the globe or simply record wildlife in their own neighborhoods to build a planet-wide snapshot of biodiversity that will inform conservation science and inspire nature lovers of all stripes.
“Over the last 11 years, we’ve seen City Nature Challenge grow into the world’s largest annual biodiversity census,” says NHM’s Associate Manager of Community Science and coordinator of City Nature Challenge, Amy Jaecker-Jones. “The extraordinary reach of this project rests on the power of community science and the fact that people all around the world collaborate to make observations of nature where they live, all during the same four-day period each year. The photos and sounds that participants upload to iNaturalist or their city’s preferred platform create a valuable record of biodiversity, and because the event takes place annually, researchers have access to data spanning multiple years, which is crucial in our rapidly changing world.”
For both budding and veteran community scientists, participation is easy: upload photos of wild plants, animals, or fungi taken during the Challenge to iNaturalist, where an online community of naturalists confirms species identifications. Wildlife can be photographed or recorded in the participants’ homes, neighborhoods, backyards, or anywhere else, and can be any wild plant, animal, fungi, slime mold, or other evidence of life (scat, fur, tracks, shells, etc.). Experts around the world then identify those observations from April 28 to May 10.
Results will be announced on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. More info on NHM’s City Nature Challenge Events can be found here.
Earth Day Festival 2026
On Sunday, April 19, NHM will celebrate Earth Day with a free, all-ages festival. Visitors will be able to enjoy outdoor performances and activities, participate in hands-on art and science activities (including LEGO® Build the Change), connect with scientists, educators, and environmental organizations, shop nature-inspired merchandise, and much more.
Additionally, this year’s Earth Day Festival will feature screenings from NHM’s returning series, Green Screen: Our Planet on Film in the Commons Theater. With a dozen featured exhibitors and a full day of activities, the festival will provide something for everyone looking to celebrate Earth Day with family and friends.
Climate Dance Party
Before La Brea Tar Pits closes its doors for a bit to remodel (beginning in July), it’ll be the host of a Climate Dance Party on April 25, celebrating the paperback release of What If We Get It Right? with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. The evening event will feature opening remarks, a book signing of the New York Times bestseller, DJ sets, meet and greets with climate action groups, a “Climate Solutions” costume contest, and the usual food trucks and bar. It’s the perfect opportunity to dress up and dance the night away while showing off your eco-creativity.
About the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County
The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) include the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park and La Brea Tar Pits in Hancock Park. Welcoming more than 1.2 million visitors annually — including more than 140,000 schoolchildren — the museums and the 35 million objects in their collections offer extensive and comprehensive libraries of natural and cultural history for guests, as well as groundbreaking scientific and historical research. NHMLAC also leads the natural and cultural exploration of Los Angeles County, offering a slate of community science and cultural programs both onsite and around the area. The museums help foster revolutionary community partnerships, innovative STEAM pathways, transformative community science programs, and cutting-edge research on climate and global change.
Media Contacts
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