I have just had two of my “lichens” identified as (1) a mineral and (2) a stain. We need a classification for “non living”. Both these observations are easily mis-interpreted as living and should be retained as examples of " non-fungi" But there is no ID that satisfies this criterion. An upper…

Can you link to the observations in question? Would the “no” vote for “Evidence of organism?” in the Data Quality Assessment not work for these situations?

If it is non-living, does it need a category on iNaturalist? Should it remain on iNat?

I ID non-living things as human, because they are a sign of human presence. This gets fuzzy around things like rocks, because rocks aren’t made by humans, but they also aren’t alive.

Classic naturalists also identified rocks and minerals. As a geologist by training, I would like to see a place where I can post cool minerals or rock structures that I find out in the field, as well as the cool critters that I find living on top of the rocks.

I wish I could find my classic example of this: I had a suspicion, did an web image search (this was before auto-ID), and found that the especially symmetrical crustacean someone had posted was actually a common rubber fishing bait. :blush:

[image] wgmac: As a geologist by training, I would like to see a place where I can post cool minerals or rock structures that I find out in the field, There’s not a complete geological analog to iNat, but rockd.org is probably the closest. Check out this thread: https://forum.inaturalist.org/…

I have plenty of people who do data collection and Who use road kill data here on INat For all kinds of stuff most important On doing wildlife crossings for new road projects not including those observations Is a seriously bad idea, also I have a few observations I’ve posted of elk carcasses Tha…

@ck2az I think the concern is more about things that were never alive rather than things that were once alive. (Or at least not “recently” alive; see iNat treatment of fossils).

yeah, posting things like animal sign or dead animals (or plants) is totally fine

Identify observation as "non-living"

Feature Requests

tiwane April 22, 2019, 1:03am 9

There’s not a complete geological analog to iNat, but rockd.org is probably the closest. Check out this thread: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/where-to-post-non-life-observations-wiki/2040

Topic		Replies	Views
Observation of a rock or mineral (not life) General	4	845	May 24, 2020
Should I delete this observation (a rock)? General	10	1270	February 1, 2020
Where to post non-life observations - Wiki Tutorials web	18	3614	December 20, 2024
Is there an iNaturalist for rocks? Nature Talk	40	8031	July 10, 2026
Rock / fossil / crystal inat? General	3	1126	June 29, 2021

Identify observation as "non-living"

Related topics