Can you filter a project's observations by invasive or threatened species?

[GlenKPeterson]

We’re restoring habitat on a 2-acre wetland and want to prioritize certain species for preservation or removal. I just saw a VU “Vulnerable” tag on one species that grew last year in the middle of where the path goes. Knowing this, we can move the path to protect it. It seems iNaturalist could provide tons of data for us to use to set priorities like this. We’re removing anything alien, so knowing that is also important.

I was able to find a local spreadsheet of plants that has a Coefficient of Conservatism for wetland species in our area which is incredibly helpful for making these decisions, but it’s a pain to cross-reference and I have no source for upland species Coefficients (“CoC’s”) or for fungus, animals, etc. It seems that iNaturalist has much of the same data this list was built on (the list is also based on the consensus of 10 local botanists). Being able to sort or search by CoC or even a proxy like Alien Invasive vs. Threatened Native would be incredibly helpful. Is there a way to do this already?

[marina_gorbunova]

Open filters on explore page of the project, choose “introduced”, but taxon should be labeled as so to be shown in a search (you can do it via place list if you find one without that status).

[bouteloua]

Hi Glen! welcome to the iNat forum. Naturalist doesn’t store data about invasive species, only introduced vs. native. (Introduced isn’t a great proxy for identifying species to remove, since many are benign and some removal processes can be more harmful than letting it be.) That’s unfortunate that they limited their C values to assessing wetland plants. I’m not familiar with what nearby options might be available or somewhat applicable for your area for upland plants, but you might check the list of databases at universalfqa.org if you haven’t already. (iNat itself doesn’t store C values)

To sort for these kinds of things through iNat, here are a few options:

• Use the Explore page, or on your project under Observations, click Search, then select “Threatened” or “Introduced” in the filters. The data on introduced vs. native and conservation statuses being entered aren’t fully complete on iNaturalist, but it can be a good first pass. Example: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&project_id=fox-creek-park-species-survey&threatened&verifiable=any or https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?introduced&place_id=any&project_id=fox-creek-park-species-survey&verifiable=any
• Create a list of the species of interest (such as C=8, 9, and 10 wetland plants) and compare it to your project with list_id= parameter in the URL. You can create lists here https://www.inaturalist.org/lists/glenkpeterson. More info on search URLs here.
• Export the observations and compare them to your lists about highly conservative plants, or NC threatened/endangered species, in a spreadsheet on your computer

[jasonhernandez74]

@bouteloua

That’s unfortunate that they limited their C values to assessing wetland plants.

It’s because it is a tool for wetland delineation in proposed development. Anything not delineated as wetland is by default upland.