the toad , makes notes on its behavior -LRB- Is a mate stuck to its back ? Is it headed toward a pond ? -RRB- and uploads the information so scientists can use it . Oh , and she moves the toad out of traffic 's way , too . While her nighttime hobby may sound a bit strange , Jirachareonkul is far from alone in her efforts to collect amateur scientific data . At a time when climate change and urbanization are poised to set off a new wave of extinction , some members of the scientific community are turning toward backyard biologists for the data they need to monitor ecosystems and protect struggling species . This `` citizen science '' movement is not exactly new , but it has grown fresh legs as the Internet and social-networking sites help people with uber-specified and often bizarre interests gang up for a cause . Amateur-produced Web sites now serve as data hubs for squirrel sightings , bird photos , ant anthologies , snapshots of leaves , flowers and trees , water quality info , beetle hunts and firefly tracking , among others . Find links at CNN 's SciTech blog
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- As a hobby , Suzie Jirachareonkul , a teacher and mother of two , spends many of her nights searching for endangered toads on the country roads near her home outside Cape Town , South Africa . Volunteers in South Africa are collecting data on the Western Leopard Toad , which is endangered . She often finds them flattened on the street . `` They 're so beautiful and it 's just really hard to live with , especially when you 're living on the road right here , '' the 33-year-old said of the toad deaths . `` So we started doing something about it . We started saving them off the road in the middle of the rain . '' When a scientist caught onto her efforts , Jirachareonkul and a friend assembled about 20 volunteers -- a group she calls the `` Toad NUTS '' -- to collect data on the endangered Western Leopard Toad . The information they collect is being used in scientific research . Each time Jirachareonkul comes upon one of the spotted , faintly iridescent creatures , she springs into action . She marks down GPS coordinates , measures