By Mark Kinver
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Encouraging people to record everyday sightings of common bird species could help limit future extinctions, an international study suggests.
It concludes that large, long-running records are needed to show how numbers and distribution change over time.
The authors add that the internet could allow people to log their sightings on line, and urge websites to standardise the way data is collated.
The findings have been published in the journal PLoS Biology.
Lead author Elizabeth Boakes said millions of people enjoyed birdwatching, and data collected by the "twitchers" could be vital for professional scientists in the future.
"There is a wealth of untapped data that could be made available for conservationists," explained Dr Boakes, a research associate for the Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc) Centre for Population Biology at Imperial College London.
