Do these observations have any merit

The majority of scientific data probably seems unimpressive when people are taking it down. Some of the most important information we have today are historical collections of “common” species that are becoming more rare as time goes by and weather data such as daily temperatures that probably seemed completely pointless when people were marking it down two hundred years ago. Keep doing what you are doing so long as you enjoy it. Everything you mark down could be important in the future!

10 Likes

Please keep uploading!!! Your contributions are priceless, especially in your region. I’m actually surprised I’m not following you yet, I love getting tagged by you on cool Sciapodines ;)

5 Likes

Please stay on iNaturalist! Please continue to post your observations! iNaturalist is a community for people of all manners of expertise to learn about wildlife. You have plenty to offer: your observations definitely have merit, they provide temporal and geographical records of various species, whether it be common, overlooked, rare, or invasive. Hopefully you also find joy in the process of finding the critters you find.

5 Likes

@ItsMeLucy

I’m a fairly new user, and not any kind of scientist. (Click ‘summary’ for somewhat relevant digression.)

Summary

(Married to one, specifically a biostatician, but my field is history – and, interestingly, women’s fashions of 1900-1920 and the corresponding social history is my research focus. Shoot me a personal message, and I can maybe recommend books for your son.) :smiley:

Point is, I love taking photos of the world around us. I’m told I’m pretty good at it, and I can tell you that you are quite good as well. You are doing what not many people do – you are adding to the sum total of knowledge in the world. Even if you don’t get a lot of feedback on your observations, what you’re doing is important. Please stick around. :heart_hands:

6 Likes

I have been adding observation field "Interaction-> Visited Flower of, and filling in Tridax procumbens. I was not aware of the different insects which visit Tridax, so I learned something tonight.

4 Likes

To go back to your questions, and for more iNat engagement.
For garden observations there is a project
(my place is my suburb, not my street address)
With my bee patiently blowing nectar bubbles into the wind

Please help ID or annotate wherever and however you can here (you can filter for Yucatan … and when you have cleared that … for Mexico …) Thinking of you when I find Mexican sunflower planted in Africa.
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/useful-inaturalist-tasks-for-non-experts-wiki/35034

3 Likes

How is it possible that a response references nectar bubbles and then I have an observation with maybe the same? https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133760216 I have never seen a bubble before, just found the evidence on leaves.

I have acted on several suggestions and continue to feel heartened that I am not wasting time and resources out taking photos of common little things.

The very first photo in this observation is my screensaver. What may not be obvious in the observation but is known to me is that this bedraggled little wildflower grew out of extremely shallow soil where there’s a break in the pavement in front of the outdoor water tap. I walked by for a few days before bending down and zooming in with the quite old cellphone with which I take my photos. And when I did, it took my breath away because up close it was so, so lovely. And there it was, just growing determinedly and beautifully out of the circumstances in which it found itself. Anyway, I know it’s a weed but I think it’s my spirit plant: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/65540323

I am staying. You are stuck with me.

Be well,
Lucy Cash

14 Likes

Thank you for posting this topic ItsMeLucy! I’ve had the same question, so you helped me.
I often think about Martha, the last passenger pigeon. Passenger pigeons were once so common that they were said to ‘darken the sky’ for hours or days as they migrated in large flocks.
We simply can’t know what our observations could mean in the future.
(Martha is special to me because she lived out her days at my local Cincinnati Zoo. )

7 Likes

As others have said, ‘followers’ doesn’t mean much on iNat as the functionality isn’t very developed and a lot of people just don’t use it. And while you might read no responses as disinterest, it could conversely mean you are observering things in an undersurveyed area on inat, or things no one else knows, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As long as you are taking reasonably diagnostic photos, they can be incredibly valuable. I say stay, unless you don’t like iNat for other reasons.

4 Likes

I wonder if it was possible to photograph any aquatic plants from the cenotes around Yucatan.

1 Like

I am by no means a cenote expert but the only aquatic plants I can think of are the pads atop larger fully outdoor cenotes. For example here is a photo of Xlacah which is the cenote at Dzibilchaltún. There are other plants of course but those grow around cenotes so I do not think are considered aquatic, correct?

I took this photo in March 2020 on the day we all received the notice that the state would begin mandatory quarantine the next day, and so this was my last outing. In other times, the cenote would have been open to swimmers but that day it was not. (I almost did not go with my friends that day. How glad I was that I did.)

Maybe cenotes where the openings are more shaded or more underground or in caverns have more aquatic plants? The one in the parking lot at Costco like most cenotes is just crystal clear water with the clear fish. (I do not think that one even has pads but the plants around the Costco cenote are all planted I think, so while the cenote is real, it feels a bit… not.)

5 Likes

Hear, hear!

3 Likes

Like a website from the 90s?

Usually all the good people start like this. I am fairly sure you are important to many people. And after this thread you are important to many more.

I won’t repeat what all the others, especially those who are more knowledgeable about that region.

I have only read and heard of the Yucatán peninsula. And if it gives you joy your observations have made their way to a remote part of the Himalaya.

I am an unabashed repeat poster of same species, same individuals. Partly for posterity and partly because on many days I don’t venture far from home.

I don’t want to get political or anything but if more people spend time on inaturalist and share their appreciation for life that is everywhere maybe we will be a better society that those who post images and videos only of themselves trying to choose which aircraft to fly in.

@ItsMeLucy Chug on, you have made many friends here and I cannot think of a better place for you to spend your time, or a better place to share the treasures of Yucatán.

5 Likes

Aside,0

I believe I recently saw a project for bubble blowing bees?

2 Likes

That was such a magical experience - don’t think I will catch that right place right time again.

1 Like

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/bees-concentrating-nectar

1 Like

That Nothylaeus (bubbling bee) only needs 2 more obs to hit the 100 target for CV next round.

2 Likes

Please keep going - I do the same thing with my forest backyard and have photographed some unnamed species from time to time, so it is really worthwhile. And your photos will provide a record of changes over time which is probably valuable in itself. I’m so sorry you and your husband and children had to spend so much time apart…the world today is so different now.

2 Likes

Others have written plenty about the real value that your observations can have even if they don’t seem very significant to you. I would also emphasize that iNat’s mission is help people learn more about nature in whatever way works for them. The citizen science data is a fantastic byproduct, but not the sole purpose.

Of course, a rewarding experience on iNat can depend in part on several types of interaction, and these can sometimes be harder to come by when you live in a place that fewer other users are knowledgable about and when the things you observe have a smaller number of knowledgable identifiers.

If you’re especially curious about, say, treehoppers, or ferns, or frogs or flycatchers, there will generally be someone on iNat that knows them well and is happy to help you build your local knowledge. And as you start to build up that knowledge it can be rewarding to use it to help ID other people’s observations in your region.

If your interest stays general, that’s great too. You may find that you have more fragmentary interactions but with a wider range of other users.

Recording backyard nature in the Yucatan definitely has scientific value. It’s not clear to me whether you’re able to get out much into the country around Merida, but if you can then any observations you make of the native flora and fauna can really flesh out researchers’ understanding of what lives where. Here are a few local examples from the plant families that I focus on (as an amateur):

  • Echeandia luteola grows in Yucatan, Campeche and Quintana Roo. It has a rosette of narrow, spiky leaves 35–65 cm long and a thin flowering stem about 0.6–1.8 m tall. The cream colored or pale yellow flowers are about 2 cm across and hang downwards with the tepals curved backwards. The anthers are fused into a cone and the stigma pokes out through the middle of it. There are only 4 observations of this species on iNat, all about 35–50 km south of Merida (although there are several dozen other records in GBIF). It would be great to better understand where this plant occurs.
  • Echeandia campechiana is almost indistinguishable from E. luteola except that the flowers are yellow or yellow–orange with free anthers (not fused). It was originally described from sites slightly east of Campeche, but has also been collected once in Yucatan state, in 1984, 4 km west of Sayil archeological site. There are no observations of this plant on iNat and it would be great to know anything at all about where this grows.
  • Cipura campanulata, Eleutherine latifolia and Alophia silvestris are three fairly common, but still pretty, species in the Tigridieae tribe within the Iris family. Even though they’re not very rare, it’s still helpful to have more observations on iNat. Taxonomy is still quite fluid for many species (all these have similar sister species) and having photos available can really help researchers as they work to accurately define species boundaries. Accurate locations can also be really helpful with environmental protection.

Of course, you may see none of these plants, or not be at all interested in them, but the observations you make can help researchers in similar ways. Happy observing!

7 Likes