Marie and Brett Smith have dedicated the past decade of their lives to documenting the diverse native ecosystem they now call home.
Hiding in South Australia's Murray Mallee region near the township of Swan Reach, there lies a wide expanse of old-growth mallee scrub and native pine forests.
The 76-hectare habitat is swarming with flora and fauna, from the common Australian wood duck to the rare native liquorice plant.
And even after 10 years of scouring each step of the property for creepy crawlies and towering trees, the couple is still discovering new species to share with the wide world of citizen science.
Going green and off-grid
Marie and Brett have been married for 40 years, raising a family in the Adelaide Hills town of Lobethal.
In 1996 the pair began volunteer conservation work with the Natural History Society at the Moorunde wildlife reserve.
It was a contrast from Brett's qualification in applied physics and Marie's expertise as a registered nurse, but they've always had a passion for the environment.
"It's literally the air that we breathe," Brett said.
"We try to educate whoever we speak to and lead by example," Marie said.
When faced with an opportunity to purchase and care for a mass of bushland of their very own, the Smiths accepted with glee, naming the habitat sanctuary "Ellura" for its alluring qualities.
"It's a paradise and we love it," Marie said.
"We've always said 'Ellura's our little baby'," Brett said.
It only took seven years before Ellura enchanted the couple to pack their things, sell the family home and move off-grid to live on the land full time.
A fundamental balance of nature
Marie and Brett embarked on a mission to return Ellura Sanctuary to its former glory — to a time before introduced species ran wild across the delicate ecosystem.
"We're habitat carers, we believe in a fundamental balance of nature, so if we can get rid of introduced species that balance can return," Brett said.
But in order to restore the habitat, they first had to distinguish introduced species from native ones.
It kickstarted their detailed, itemised, online catalogue of thousands of species and organisms, from birds and bugs, to algae and fungi, to plants and vines.
The couple works together; Marie is a fanatic weeder and has eyes like a hawk to spot a new species from miles away, while Brett is dedicated to photographing and detailing items for the database.
"It's a team effort," Brett said.
Each species is logged on their website and through online citizen science databases, identified with the help of a like-minded network of scientists..
By naming and taming the diverse ecosystem that exists at Ellura Sanctuary, the Smiths have successfully eradicated introduced pests including onion weed, horehound and saffron thistle, resulting in the return of thousands of native plants.
"With climate change, species are disappearing, and with insects at the bottom of the food chain you've got to protect the ground with the weeds especially," Marie said.
"By eradicating the weeds we allow those native insects to thrive, and birds feed on insects so it follows from the ground up.
"It's all the circle of life."
'Anybody can do it'
Through their devotion to species identification, the Smiths are contributing to conservation and environment protection efforts around the globe.
The pair has been recognised for their efforts with three awards this year, including taking out the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board citizen science award for 2022.
Senior project officer Dr Sylvia Clarke said the award recognised the "tremendous effort" of people collecting environmental data in the region.
"Documenting natural biodiversity helps to raise awareness, monitor ecological changes over time, plan conservation and land management actions, identify unnamed species and helps to locate threatened species," she said.
"Brett and Marie Smith have certainly made a significant contribution in this way."
And Brett wants to encourage all budding citizen scientists to explore their backyards and contribute to the growing online global databases.
"Anybody can set up a website, share what they've got and post some observations," he said.
