Enduring value of natural history

In 2021, the journal Biotropica began publishing papers in a new category, natural history field notes, as mentioned here at the time by @kweitemier. A commentary by the editor-in-chief of the journal, Jennifer S. Powers, “A place for natural history in the 21st century,” has tabulated the taxa, methods, and findings of these papers, along with hypotheses they have generated. She argues for the enduring value of observing organisms in their natural environments, in terms of both biodiversity and people’s sense of connection to nature. She asserts,

Simply put, it is very hard to interpret big data in ecology in meaningful ways if you do not know anything about who the organisms are and what they do in the environment.

This seems like something iNatters might appreciate.

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It’s about time we natural historians got some respect.

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