How has iNat helped you?

General
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As many of you know, there’s been a very energetic discussion lately from a lot of forum users (including me) about the well‑being of iNat, its future, and plenty of criticism. While I agree with a lot of the points raised, I thought… why not turn the tables a bit? Why not make a topic about how great iNat is. Maybe how it’s helped you, how it’s helped someone you know, or how it’s sparked new interests or passions you didn’t expect.

I don’t know if there’s already a topic specifically for this, so if this needs to be taken down, by all means, do it. But if not, why not take a moment to remember how lucky we are to use iNat (and for free!).

For me, I started with a broad interest in birds and reptiles, mostly focused on the more “photographic” side of things. A relative encouraged me to try iNat, and I decided to join in April. And suddenly, new interests started to spark. I began photographing a lot more, and now iNat has brought me a passion bigger than the others I had: springtails. I mostly photographed them at first, then slowly started identifying the ones near me. And now I’ve identified almost 28,000 observations from around the world — photographed and keyed dozens of species under the microscope — and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
Honestly, iNat and the people here have literally changed my life. I don’t think I could go back to how I saw the world before.

Anyway, that’s just my short story. What about you?

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iNat has been one of the biggest positive life changes for me in the last few years. I had a pretty sedentary lifestyle, and I really don’t think I was appreciative enough of the world around me before joining. It has kept me way more active, taught me so much, and also felt much more fulfilling than any of the hobbies I had before.

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My answer is still the same as in last months topic
Why do you use iNat.

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iNaturalist is an incredible achievement and has helped me appreciate the diversity of life. It is extraordinary in the fact you can basically catalog and create a record of what nature you’ve seen. The only reason I’m sometimes very critical of iNaturalist is because i love it so much and hope it improves and prospers even more.

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Gets me off of social media and doing something productive instead. Also, looking at cute bumblebee photos helps with the existential horrors of the world.

just got my first bumblebee ID guide yesterday!!

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It’s been a great way to both share and learn about the animals and plants we share the planet with.

On a more professional level I’ve been able to use it to add a wealth of knowledge about the biodiversity of the region I’m doing conservation work in.

And I’ve met some really good people through it as well, which in some cases has led to us being able to help each other with research projects.

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I originally started using iNat to find Australian Showy Mistletoes recorded near me, with the aim of collecting seed for propagation and butterfly eggs or caterpillars to raise. This progressed to identifying other people’s mistletoe observations based on a book I owned, using an approach that didn’t go much beyond, “Yeah, it kind of looks like that.” After finding cases where my approach led me into error, I started to look up academic papers for species descriptions and taxon revisions to learn the formal characters used to distinguish species in one genus. It then made sense to offer IDs for all the observations in that genus. Once that was done, I thought I could do the same for all Australian mistletoe species (roughly 100 species and 20,000 observations); I’m in that process now. Next could be sandalwoods and other root parasites. Then I might try African mistletoes, given that Kew has a good book about them.

Quite apart from the learning opportunities, iNat gives me somewhere I can make my butterfly and mistletoe records publicly available rather than just having them be stored on Dropbox to be lost after my death. I’ve also met a number of people in real life through my observations and IDs. I no longer use other social media. If I’m going to be obsessively on my phone, I may as well make the time useful to someone.

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INat is the sole reason why I can function day to day, it has truly changed me. It has brought me closer to acquaintances, family, and friends. Since I began actively using it, I all but ditched short-form content in favor of research papers, and the positive effects on my health have shown. I do sincerely believe that I have been enlightened by the connection to nature that INat fostered within me, and I can never properly thank the platform and those who on-boarded me for the change in my world view.

That being said and in concurrence with zoology123, I must be critical of INat so as to not have it stagnate and wither away but effectively connect users to nature while adhering to the principles of equity and serving the users that make this all possible. It is simply intolerable when something stops short of its true potential, and I believe that organization of the most influential, most prolific identifiers and users is the first step to ensuring this is not the case, to articulate the silenced majority’s desires.

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I started on iNat in 2022. Strangely I can’t remember how I stumbled across it, probably through my work. I was a professional ecologist at the time. My only regret is that I didn’t find it sooner. It has been helpful for my work and now it is my main hobby and where I spend most of my time when I am online. I would miss it sorely if was to disappear,

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My partner is a professional photographer. I met him in 2017 and we would go out to wild places in our area armed with our cameras. As a result I had lots of photos that weren’t the most artistic but which I didn’t want to delete. Not everything is appreciated on Instagram and FB. Then I discovered iNat and I realised I could add my photos to benefit science as well as improve my photography. First I got better at birds and mammals as my camera equipment improved. The odd plant and insect would creep in and iNat was that go-to place where you could potentially find someone to ID things. I was amazed when some teeny tiny flowers turned out to be carnivorous. I had never thought about them existing in my area. And then @lelehind identified one of my observations of Poecilometis mimicus and it was at the time the first photo of it on iNat. That created a monster because I live in a biodiversity hotspot and we are at the stage of our lives where we have the time to take really cool vacations. Our COVID project was bulldozing the old house and rebuilding from scratch so as the garden has developed ( lots of natives) it has been interesting seeing what lives here.

So now most of my photos are of things that can go on iNaturalist. It gets me out. I now check out tree trunks for insects and I am much more observant. My love of languages helps with taxonomy and I frequently answer with the scientific name when somebody asks what something is. I take pictures of not just the obvious things in an area but also the other things. I have had quite a few first photos on iNat and it is quite a buzz when someone makes the ID. And you tend to find that once there is one photo then other iNatters in the area keep an eye out as well.

The citizen science contribution to other databases such as ALA is important to me as it often is one of the few things that is documenting what is happening to biodiversity. A place I hold dear has been threatened by a housing development for the last 3 years. Trying to use federal environment laws to stop it can only work with evidence. Photos are damn good evidence.

It is only in the last 6 months or so that I have started to get into IDing. My approach is to identify things that only occur in my city and then as I learn about the species I broaden out. I never thought I’d ever start to get interested in spiders or shield bugs or scartrees. But I am due to iNat. There is nothing super logical about my favourite taxons.

So iNat broadens my horizons in a positive way that reduces my exposure to the crap in the rest of the world that is constantly threatening to overwhelm. INat is meaningful to me and we all need to feel meaningful.

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Try Thesium ? We have 2 active identifiers, the second I only found recently. Two make better progress than @natashalombard alone.

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Nearly everything, in every area of life, stops short of its true potential. This is particularly clear in the area of biodiversity conservation. I would be delighted if the people complaining about what they see as a lack of democracy by the iNat leadership (who promise no such thing) made the same demands of their real-world governments.

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Pretty much this. (Though I prefer megachilids over bumbles for my bee cuteness fix.)

Identifying satisfies a need I have to sort and organize while doing something useful.

Going out and photographing insects is an antidote to despair and a way of bearing witness to all the amazing organisms we share this planet with. I wrote about this in a bit more detail here.

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Being a very knowledge-oriented person, I’ve learned so much. And especially with more common species, I’ve started to focus on going through local “unknown” observations and classifying them to the best of my ability to just get them into the algorithm better, and asking for information that could help someone more knowing. While I usually get to class- or max family-level, I know it is usually more beneficial for being noticed than just “unknown” even if it’s wrong. This keeps me learning more while also scratching my itch for spreading knowledge.

And that I learn more, also trickles down to my kids, which is great.

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I love how it connects me with nature and with other people who love nature. And i love the feeling of satisfaction from knowing that I am contributing to science, even if I am not a professional scientist.

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I agree, nature has helped me stay away from the artificial world. Thanks for sharing!

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I can’t stay involved in iNaturalist ‘forever.’ Time is of the essence to me (as one individual) and for the care for the ecological domain on this planet. The positive ‘thing’ is participation - doing something - caring - legacy - or posterity and what E. Erickson identified as ‘generativity.’

iNaturalist will survive way beyond me (or you) if it keeps the eyes on the prize in thinking of people who help to keep the interest in nature and the dedication sustained … from one group to the next.

One generation to the next. We can do what we can - even if the interest was one week, or a requirement for one course, or involvement for years - and years. I keep in mind the notion of education within iNaturalist - helping with identifications - not just the quantification, but the learning process so that others will pick up the baton and be the next wave of energy and participation. When I submit an observation - this one or the next - it is a ‘dot’ in a larger set of dots and the contribution is a part of larger picture about Life…recognized, identified, appreciated, and something larger than me (or you). My time is limited…what I am doing with it? I would rather be here - and also in Nature. Walking - observing - and being connected to it, and an understanding of biological diversity.

If I have helped in someway - to elevate the interest in nature…
and so it goes on…
And the next question would be: How has iNat helped all of us - and how will it help “us” and nature 10 years or 25 years from now?

I started with the first observation and the first identification … in the time that I have…who is next?
Exactly…provide help in that direction…

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This platform is incredibly useful in many aspects of engaging with nature, organismal biology, and applied taxonomy. It’s a crucial platform for popularizing personal biological observations and providing a place for people with similar interests to connect. It’s a vital place for professionals, scientists, and biology enthusiasts alike. As a biologist by training, I consider it one of the most wonderful places on the internet today!

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Three and a half years ago, on a day in May, I suddenly became severely ill. I had caught COVID-19 and was lying in bed with a high fever, but this pain was different. It was in my heart. I went to the emergency room; they thought I was having a heart attack. I underwent angiography. My troponin level was 5,400 ng/L, while the upper reference limit was around 30.

After angiography, CT scans, and further tests, it became clear that I was suffering from severe myocarditis. A cytokine storm had hit my heart. I stayed in intensive care. In the IC room, i was thinking i am going to die, and never see my wife and daughter again. My ejection fraction was 50%, then slowly increased to 57%, then 59%. I was healing physcially, but mentally; falling.

I collapsed completely. I developed severe depression and health anxiety.

At that point, the idea of returning to nature observation — something I had been doing since 2007, but which had always remained in the background of my life — helped bring me back to myself. I started going outside again with very small steps. Then more. Then birding entered my life.

Soon, every morning I would wake up and check whether I had any notifications on iNaturalist. Every night, I would spend hours in bed looking at what others had observed.

Now, tonight; my backpack is packed and waiting by the door. Tomorrow morning i am going for birding. My heart is still — in my opinion — not quite the same as before. But spiritually, I feel newer than ever. Because there are still so many things in this world left for me to discover. Life, is discover.

So how did iNaturalist help me?

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I started iNat in March 2025 (Wow almost a year!) after extreme changes and loss led me to a depressive mindset. I’ve loved nature since…as long as I have been alive, and photography was my favorite hobby, so I decided to give it a try. I had some trouble figuring out the functions, misID’ed or gave very course IDs like “insects”, and didn’t do almost any IDing myself, feeling so uncomfortable. Slowly, I learned more about the animal life around me, augmenting my already-present knowledge and deep love and fascination of insects, and going from being nearly (And I mean nearly) completely unknowing about birds, to being able to sex woodpeckers and make improving IDs for many others. I started following people, first those around my area who spent so much time IDing for me, and then others, too, those whose stories spoke to me, and had interesting observations I could learn from. Now I follow over ninety people, have over 5,000 observations and 1,000 species, over 15,000 IDs (With excellent recognition of birds around my area, and I am working on their song), and 25 (Quarter of a hundred) followers!! Now I think that as long as I have a camera, iNat, and organisms around me, I will be fine, no matter what happens. INat has literally reformed my entire way of thinking, it has made me more positive, more excited about things, more generous and helpful, more knowledgable and overall a better person.
Almost a year later, I think it is safe to say iNat has helped me grow as a person, and I look forward to what we will do next!

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