We can’t believe it’s already March! Here are our February news highlights. If you missed last month's highlights, you can catch up here.
Usually we talk about species discoveries by mentioning a few examples from the news. But this month, we wanted to highlight some of the great work partners in the iNaturalist Network are doing to better find and surface iNaturalist observations that represent important discoveries.
Wolverines haven’t been spotted on iNaturalist in the Cascade mountains south of Mount Rainier in Washington State. This article describes how the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating rare range extensions south into Oregon and turning to iNaturalist for help.
There were many articles this month demonstrating how iNaturalist is being used to better understand the distributions and biogeography of species including:
Some of the complexities around invasive species are captured in this article about a new study by @christiaan18. Oaks are introduced in South Africa and some are becoming invasive. On the other hand, a spreading invasive beetle is devastating the iconic oaks planted throughout cities like Cape Town.
Meanwhile, Australia’s iconic native Eucalypts (which just received a huge boost on iNaturalist thanks to contributions from Eucalypt expert @dnicolle) are being devastated by the spread of invasive myrtle rust. This article describes @myrtle_rust_martino’s efforts to prevent the spread in Australia with the help of citizen scientists through the Gum Tree Guardians project.
Speaking of myrtle rust, an increasing number of natural resource agencies are turning to iNaturalist to help monitor invasive species, as this myrtle rush announcement form the New Zealand Department of Conservation demonstrates. This article describes how iNaturalist is being used to monitor invasive Stinknet in Saguaro National Park as the National Park Service kicks off Invasive Species Awareness Week with both place-based activities and species-focused resources leveraging iNaturalist.
Monitoring
This April, Periodical cicadas should emerge in northern Louisiana on their 13-cycle, but scientists fear the brood may be extinct. This article describes how scientists are turning to iNaturalist to help. Other examples of monitoring include:
Restoration
The role iNaturalist plays in conservation isn’t restricted to monitoring; it also extends to land preservation and restoration.
Warmer winters are disrupting the life cycles of insects, and iNaturalist is helping scientists understand this challenge:
If curbing climate change feels overwhelming, this National Geographic article includes iNaturalist as a tool for individual action that can help children feel empowered when confronting climate change.
Last month we highlighted the concept of “secondary data” as all the important data captured in iNaturalist observations beyond the core species occurrence. This month’s examples include this fascinating study by @alexkerr on spider web architecture that resulted from an analysis of over 13,000 iNaturalist observations of Feather-legged Orbweaver.
Alongside satellite imagery and environmental DNA (eDNA) data, citizen science data is one of the only scalable sources of environmental data. Many AI projects are now combining multiple sources of data in exciting new ways. For example, this article describes a study that combines iNaturalist data and satellite imagery to map croplands. Likewise, this Popular Science article on advances in eDNA describes how it will complement iNaturalist biodiversity data. This article describes how AI advances are changing birdwatching and the role iNaturalist plays.
Clear air and clean water are important contributors to human health. This article describes how iNaturalist is used to monitor macroinvertebrates as water quality indicators in Colombia. Similarly this article describes how the National Park Service incorporates iNaturalist to help leverage lichens as indicators of air quality.
We enjoyed this article about Ecoexplore, a Kindergarden through 8th grade environmental science program developed by @jmarchal and colleagues at the North Carolina Arboretum that leverages iNaturalist.
Thank you to everyone who participated in iNaturalist this February and we look forward to a busy Northern Hemisphere Spring - your support makes it all possible!
Comments
thanks for the shout-out @loarie
happy to support the gllobal iNaturalist network wherever I can
We're so excited to be included here, @loarie - we hope that by introducing families to iNaturalist via @ecoexplore we're encouraging the next generation of nature observers!
You lucky people .... now we have the winter on our doorstop! Luckily, we do not have hibernating elephant and leopard!
Wonderful, I love hearing about the use of all this data for furthering ecological understanding. One day we'll probably look back at this site as the next major stage in the evolution of the science since evolution itself!
How else could enough data and observations be gathered to understand ecosystems and species interactions globally?
Love reading the highlights every month. It's quite amazing to see the impact of being curious and sharing that curiosity has.
Thank you for the shout-out! iNaturalist has proven to be an incredible tool for engaging our community in the protection of the Santa Catarina River. You can check out our upcoming bioblitz in collaboration with our local Department of Parks and Recreation over here: https://mexico.inaturalist.org/projects/biodiversidad-urbana-en-san-pedro-parques
Thanks for the highlight, Scott!
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