Just wanted to share a new paper that Greg Pauly, a herpetologist with the Natural History Museum of LA County, wrote to me about. I got to know Greg a few years ago when I interviewed (see video below) about iNat, and he’s used it a lot in his research.
Greg and his coauthors surveyed an area from which a species of native frog had been extirpated after they came across two observations by @finatic and @jaykeller (who for a long time were the top two observers on iNat). Turns out the frogs in the observations were a non-native species that through rapid morphological change now looked similar to the extirpated species.
Pretty cool, you never know what your observation may spark.
Love this! Thanks so much for sharing @tiwane. It was @gregpauly who introduced me to iNat back in early 2015 and I can’t thank him enough!! Through iNat, I found a new hobby which has evolved into a fantastic many years of volunteerism with Heal the Bay and community science projects/activities with NHMLA’s UNRC. And, looking forward to many more in the future.
Really illustrates the point about the value of Citizen Science in documenting species. Inspired me to go back and post the only times in 40 years of observing I caught on camera slugs breeding. Sometimes it’s just possible that you’re illustrated something important, or at least interesting.