iNaturalist is truly amazing and users helped me identify a rare/rarely seen blue moth that hasn’t been recorded in Sumatra for 130 years. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=606868 I thought that forum members might be interested in the paper I published recently…which would not hav…

Congrats on the paper and thank you for sharing! This is a great story to show the value of iNat to science and conservation research.

Thank you! iNat is a truly amazing resource isnt it!

Thank you! Im not v au fait with how to promote and publicise such things…other than writing a paper on it:grin::joy:

“Species ARE nowadays being identified without voucher specimens and it is recommended that traditional taxonomic scientists engage with this ever expanding network and community (Marshall, 2018; Marshall & Evenhuis, 2015; Wilson et al., 2020).”… I have seen countless “research grade” observations w…

And I have seen countless “research grade” observations that were completely correct. It’s not clear what contrast you are trying to establish. The fact that many species can’t be identified by photo doesn’t devalue iNaturalist as a tool for studying taxonomy. Furthermore, scientists using iNatural…

I have personal experience where iNat observations have lead to (or facilitated) species discovery and increased understanding of known species. It is a tremendously valuable resource. However, I agree with @cgwilson25 ’s point that this publication is attempting to swing the pendulum in one directio…

I don’t have an issue with collecting and I don’t think the authors do either. Voucher specimens and photos are both valuable and both should be used. I read the paper and I don’t see anywhere that they make a blanket statement against collecting. They’re simply demonstrating that iNaturalist facil…

[image] kylealdinger: They encourage traditional taxonomic scientists to use iNat, but they don’t say they should stop collecting. True, I suppose I overinterpreted. The practical problem with the “to collect or not to collect” debate is that before embarking on a field trip, a biologist woul…

[image] pfau_tarleton: The practical problem with the “to collect or not to collect” debate is that before embarking on a field trip, a biologist would need to need to know, in advance, which species must be collected to ID and which species can be photographed. It seems to me that this is tr…

iNat used to id rare blue moth and paper published!

General

deboas June 30, 2023, 11:39am 3

Congratulations! I added the paper to the Publications wiki: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/published-papers-that-use-inaturalist-data-wiki-3-2022-and-2023/

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iNat used to id rare blue moth and paper published!

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