Eaton Canyon Biodiversity Project's Journal

Journal archives for September 2020

September 3, 2020

A Request of Observers (Sept. 2, 2020)

A big thanks to the over 1000 Observers who have entered their sightings for Eaton Canyon. The project is greatly improved by the diversity of species demonstrating Eaton Canyon Biodiversity.
We'd like your help to improve all sightings with identifications that meet "Research Grade" and can be used by specialists and others for real science value.

Observers should try to respond in a timely manner to their messages that their observation has been reviewed, identified, especially when the observation needs a second agreement, if you agree, to become Research Grade. Check back on your earlier sightings to see if they've been reviewed.

There's no question that photo quality has been improving so that observations can be identified. However some of them will remain unusable as being too far away, out of focus or failing to show needed parts. If you're photographing a plant, for instance try to include the whole plant, fairly close, then a closeup of the leaves, and the flower, if it's flowering.

>We like people to have the freedom to add any species to their own list and we don't want to discourage anyone from adding their sightings to iNaturalist, but ask that you think of the purpose and value of the whole project. Rather than submitting more coast live oaks or western fence lizards or planted Agaves, try to focus your submissions on something uncommon or rare, maybe not even in the list yet! Insects and many other arthropods (esp. bees, wasps, flies . . .) are grossly underrepresented, compared to plants and big, easily-seen things.

When entering any observation please also click on the "Life Stage" (Adult, Egg, Larva, Juvenile) entries or the Phenology (No Flowering, Flowering, Fruiting, etc.), if you can determine it, as this adds a lot of information. Phenology in particular can help researchers track early or later flowering periods with climate change. It only takes a few seconds.

Remember, if you're photographing a plant in the landscaped garden around the Nature Center, please add to the comments something like "planted in landscape" or "cultivated."

All this will really help to improve the usefulness and accuracy of this Eaton Canyon Project.

If you have any questions, please contact Susan Hopkins, at user name squirrelbait
or Mickey Long, at user name mickeylong

Posted on September 3, 2020 05:33 AM by mickeylong mickeylong | 2 comments | Leave a comment