Platform: INaturalist Website
Browser, if a website issue: Google Chrome
Screenshots of what you are seeing:
This is just one example:
The observation (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/278141489) should be shown as Imperiled (S2) with a red flag for the Colorado state conservation status but is instead appearing as Vulnerable (N3) with a tan flag. It is important to mention this would not occur if the national ranking were N4 or N5 with an IUCN equivalency of LC (Green flag)
Description of Problem:
When a taxon has both a national conservation status and a more severe state-level conservation status, the state-level status is not displayed if the national status is considered “threatened” (i.e., has an IUCN equivalent of NT, VU, EN, or CR). In these cases, only the national status appears in the UI, even when the state status indicates a higher level of concern (e.g., S1 or S2).
Steps to reproduce:
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View a taxon that has:
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A national conservation status with IUCN equivalency ≥ NT
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A more severe state-level conservation status (e.g., S1 or S2)
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Observe the conservation status display on the taxon page.
Expected behavior:
The most specific area(state over national) or the most severe status should be displayed, regardless of whether the national status is considered “threatened.”
Actual behavior:
When the national status has an IUCN equivalency of NT, VU, EN, or CR, the state-level status is not shown, even if it indicates a higher conservation concern.
Why this matters:
This behavior hides important subnational conservation information and can make taxa appear less imperiled at the state level than they actually are. Since conservation statuses are used for filtering and interpretation, this may lead to confusion or misinterpretation of conservation risk.