Have any of you gone on iNatting expeditions with other users? If so, how do you determine who gets to observe which organisms?
11 Likes
I go iNatting with my brother sometimes, we both post the same observations-- if I take a picture of an organism and he sees it too, I just send it to him to add on his own. That way, we both get the chance to add something new to our lifelist!
3 Likes
Depends on the group.
I am usually the most active observer, in which case I choose what I want.
In groups with equals, since I deal with plants whoever spots it first usually observes that individual and there are usually more than one nearby for whomever else. If only one, we both create an observation if we feel like it.
In groups with people of different interest, each person will usually observe what class of organism they are most interested in and others might observe something that someone else points out
9 Likes
As long as all the people are there, you are allowed to each observe the organism. Preferably, each observer will take their own photos.
However, when I’m with friends, we usually just go by who spots it first, or who doesn’t yet have that species. For rare or significant sightings, multiple of us will upload an observation to sort of mark down “I was here when this was spotted”
12 Likes
I am lucky to go iNatting with lots of folks at the same time – especially at bioblitzes! I remind everyone that iNat is not a tool of population assessment but instead of species richness, so lots of us observe the same thing/same species. After all, one way to get the attention of a group of naturalists is to yell “SNAKE!” and everyone comes to look!!! :) At a bioblitz/gathering, the same snake is observed by lots of folks – and that’s a good thing that everyone gets it! :)
16 Likes
Many species are pretty common. Because of this, I recommend people geographically spread out their observations of the more common stuff to show more variation in the species and to show more locations it occurs. Something rare might end up with 10 people posting the exact same organism though, and sometimes that is actually useful as one person’s photo may show something other people’s don’t. If you have the time, it can also be useful to just start collecting all the same species again after going a mile or so. Many observations end up near where things are first seen. It is good to add points where other people haven’t already put them when you can. Make use of those extra people by gathering more data.
10 Likes
I try to follow along behind @sambiology and photograph everything he does. Joking aside, I concur. Document what you observe, regardless of whether anyone else does so also.
10 Likes
We tend to both observe/upload the organisms, but for rare/unusual/“important” records I always link to the other persons observation and add a note saying it is the same individual. E.g. if it is the first observation of that species in the country or a rarely observed species etc.
6 Likes
Oh yes, this should be done as well. It saves time for identifiers
5 Likes
I go iNatting with a friend who is mostly interested in birds. Sometimes, we observe the same individuals so I add a note in the comment section that says “same individual” and the link to his own observation. I think that helps identifiers who maybe are interested in the numbers or other specifics of a species.
4 Likes
I love stirring up the hornet nest, and then just walk away while @pfau_tarleton deals with the angry wasps! ;)
It is funny after a bioblitz how envious I get when folks see crazy cool things that I miss out on! It just gives me extra incentive to return to that park/gathering place to try to find it for myself!
12 Likes
I have had some wonderful hikes and talks with another local iNatter. We started out as walking buddies, but now he’s of my closest friends and we do non-iNat things, often including our partners, too. We’ve always linked to each other’s observations if we see things together and both do an observation. We don’t have identical interests, though, so we will often stop in the same place and focus on different things.
3 Likes
To add to what others have already said, iNat observations record encounters with organisms. So each encounter between an observer and an organism can be an observation. If the whole group encounters a snake on the trail, you can each make your own observation of, preferably with your own photo of it.
8 Likes
This is an interesting thing to think about, especially when it comes to educational events like a bioblitz. i.e. In a bioblitz that took place yesterday, each taxon group recorded an individual once, instead of having every student in the group upload the same organism in a certain time slot. This could prevent an erroneous perception of a certain species being wildly abundant in certain area. (Though, it’s worth noting a subset of educators encourage a gamification aspect that leads to this phenomena anyways)
1 Like
iNaturalist cannot and does not attempt to accurately record population levels.
8 Likes
there are methods that can make use of density of records to proxy abundance (some implementations of maximum-entropy species distribution models do this), but it would require a fair amount of correction even with a more ideal dataset than the enormously spatially biased userbase of iNaturalist generates. I have not seen any studies that use that option and, as you say, it would be a bad idea to use iNaturalist data to infer abundance…
1 Like
Your picture for your obs, but your brother should take his own picture - mostly.
I made a traditional project for my hiking group. 3 of us are active on iNat and it is interesting to see how together we have many more species than each of us alone.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fynbos-rambles-on-the-cape-peninsula
5 Likes
On Sunday, I was out iNatting all day with 6 or 8 people at an iNat get-together. It was amazing what other people saw that I didn’t! Quite humbling, too - I think I’m trying to photograph everything when I’m out, but clearly I just ignore most goldenrods and grasses.
6 Likes
Instead of running away. Yahoo naturalists!
7 Likes
Agreed that it would be a bad idea to use it for abundance but I’ve seen it utilized for that purpose in citizen science projects.
4 Likes