Saving wildlife, one snap at a time

The loss of biodiversity around the world is harrowing to consider. Many of you will know the disturbing highlights like 2/3 of old growth forests are gone or that livestock outweighs wild mammals and birds by a factor of ten. Securing a healthy biosphere is essential for humanity’s future, not to mention the moral imperative of protecting other life. But unlike many of the complex issues of our times, the greatest lever for making a difference is clear and doable. We must change how we eat. The production of meat and diary is by far the greatest destroyer of wild habitats and biodiversity, accounting for 78% of farmland, or about 40% of all habitable land on the planet.

But in addition to eating a more plant based diet, there is a much more fun way to help preserve natural ecosystems and all the lovely things that live there. Observations made with the iNaturalist app are making massive contributions to conservation efforts. And it is both fun and easy to use. When you take a photo of a plant, animal, or fungi with iNaturalist (aka iNat) and you are online, the app quickly returns an automated identification based on visual characteristics. Snap. We naturalists get our fix. And, so long as you haven’t turned off sharing, your observations will be posted and other users can agree or disagree with an identification, or even open a discussion about an observation. You can still make observations if you are offline, then upload your observations and run the auto-ident when reconnected. Universally available observations are how iNaturalist has become a substantial force for good works.

For land managers, scientists, and conservationists wanting to promote healthy ecosystems, knowledge of “what is out there” is priceless. More data help us to better understand critical ecosystem dynamics such as what corridors are essential for migration, the impact of roads, or where a disease may expand. iNat data has been used to map the spread of many invasive species such as sea figs in Uruguay, crayfish in Canada, and invasive beetles in Africa. iNaturalist observations are also used to explore climate change impacts, such as monitoring shifts in Monarch migrations, and the spread of seastar wasting disease on the Pacific Coast. New species have been identified, lost species rediscovered, and distribution maps of species improved with iNaturalist data. As of January 2022, over 2,000 research studies cited iNaturalist as a source of data. 

Some of these projects use iNaturalist “research grade” observations. These are observations whose identification has been agreed upon by at least two humans. Research grade observations are estimated to be 95% accurate. Thus far, the 7 million users of iNaturalist have provided over 117 million research grade observations.  While this “two humans plus” vetting is considered good enough by many projects, others independently verify each piece of iNat data by consulting human experts before incorporating the observation into their database. For instance, the Maryland Biodiversity Project has two levels of human expert verification. Some projects have a pool of experts, and when one of these experts provide an identification the observation is included in their project. To increase the likelihood that your observation will be used in conservation projects, include a close up as well as a whole being photo, maybe even a picture of the environment.

When we are out in the wild, we’ll most likely use the iNaturalist app on our phones. But we can also play around on the iNaturalist website, to look at other folks’ observations, or do some kind of analysis. One way to analyze data is to group observations into an iNaturalist project, which can be done “one-by-one” or automatically based on some inclusion criteria. There are loads of iNaturalist projects to dig into, for instance “UV florescent animals” or “Flowers and Fauna along the Appalachian Trail Corridor”. Other fun ways to use iNaturalist include playing with the “Explore” tab, where you can check if bluebells or lady slippers are blooming. Finally, iNaturalist is helpful to gardeners trying to decide if they want to remove or nurture an unknown plant.

iNaturalist’s contributions to science, conservation, learning, and community building will only continue to grow.  You can be part of all that, simply by using a free app to learn about the beings around you. 

Two of my favorite people started hiking the Appaliachian Trial this weekend.  I’m filled with envy and awe at their bravery, strength, and commitment. This newsletter has been inspired by them as I ponder all the wilderness they will see. Here’s to them having a fabulous time!