Hello, I’m Eduard López-Guillén and I’m writing a review about iNaturalist and its applications in Botany. I’ve seen there is a new item indicating if a taxon is introduced. I would like to know which source is based on.
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Any user can add an establishment means to a taxon in a place and there isn’t a place to record the source used. I think when iNat first started they used some sources to populate establishment means but I don’t know what they were and it’s possible/likely they’ve been changed by users since then.
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HI, @edulg. Welcome to the Forum! Do you use iNaturalist? How does one review iNaturalist and its applications otherwise?
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He does.
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I’ve been curious myself about the sources used for designating a taxon as introduced. Most of the time they appear to be accurate – and in most cases it’s probably not controversial, just requires someone to provide that designation. Rarely I’ve seen the designation either absent or used when I had some doubts about it; perhaps in those cases the status is really not clear and open to different interpretations. Quiscalus mexicanus in the U.S. is one that is designated as Introduced (I believe incorrectly) in some places but not others.
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I can fix that. What locales is it considered “Introduced”. To my knowledge Great-tailed Grackle has not been introduced anywhere. Natural range expansion is not an introduction.
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I think there is a curation flag for that. They are designated Introduced in a bunch of areas of the Southwest U.S. and Native in others, some right next to each other. Apparently a bit of a mess to correct.
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Could I get a few examples? Maybe 5 to 10?
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If you go to Status on the species page – https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/9607-Quiscalus-mexicanus – you can see them all.
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I think iNaturalist’s botany stuff is based on Plants of the World Online. There is data on whether a plant is native or introduced. However, I’m not sure of the internal workings of iNaturalist since I’m just a regular user. It is likely more complex than simply based on POWO.
This bird is so maligned. There are areas they’re native to on that list but they’re being called introduced, as if to slander them. Afaik the species spread on its own as a consequence of human land use.
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