Quick question. Do you count invasive / introduced species on your life list? I’m debating whether I should or not, and would love to hear your thoughts.
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I don’t keep a life list separate from iNat (or eBird for birds). So any invasives observed on iNat count towards my life list (and most count on eBird, but they have more complex qualifiers for what counts towards your life list).
In any case, it is perfectly acceptable to keep a life list of species you’ve seen in their native range. The important thing is, don’t let it stop you from documenting non-native species on iNat.
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Established onces yes, but if it’s an escapee I don’t until I see a “truly” wild one. As said, do as you wish!
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if I draw a list of the wild vascular fllora I use a system in which alien plant species are divided into casual (likely not established), naturalized (established but still not/not able to spread on long distances) and invasive taxa (spreading on long distances).
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When it comes to iNat, anything goes. For my own personal “official” animal life list, only established species. Feral pigeons, European starlings, parakeets in Rome.
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I count everything, but sometimes i filter out the cultivated ones. (I also haven’t diligently added every cultivated species ive observed so that cultivated ‘life list’ isn’t accurate anyhow. And i haven’t added stuff from the zoo. would be kind of fun to be honest, but i know it annoys people)
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It only annoys me if you don’t mark it as captive/cultivated when you upload it. Otherwise, feel free.
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yeah i always do that. i like adding weird plants from arboretums and such though obviously i dont add their entire inventory anyhow. I find it helpful for me to understand the wide world of plant diversity on this planet, both natural and human bred, then look up their taxonomy to see what family they are in, etc.
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I deleted most of my captive animals from iNat, because they count in life list and on default your page shows everything, not just verifiable. If you are the opposite and want to count those species, of course upload them, zoo pics can be very informational, we’re not annoyed.
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So far, I’ve been doing exactly that. Counting the monk parakeets in Barcelona for example, but not poor old Polly in downtown Los Angeles looking for its cracker.
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you can filter your life list, or at least your active “your observations” one, to not show anything marked captive/cultivated. But it probably doesn’t transfer fully to all life list stuff, and so it makes sense some might not want it.
I don’t have a zoo anywhere near me so the zoo thing doesn’t come up much :)
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Yes, but I want the main profile explore page to look like this https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_id=marina_gorbunova, not https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_id=marina_gorbunova&verifiable=any. At least the possibility to make this view sticky.
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My life list of birds (the only one I keep) includes introduced species that have established populations in the wild.
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If it’s invasive, it’s obviously wild, so yes.
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Depends on what you use your life list for.
I wouldn’t bother photographing / submitting feral goats or Nicotiana glauca. There are tons of them around here and we all know it.
But if I saw a feral deer 300km north of the advancing front, I’d certainly want to trumpet that everywhere and in every forum I could.
Or some ‘pet’ that some ‘animal lover’ has released because they couldn’t be bothered killing it.
Or brand new invasive weed that somebody had dumped by the side of the road.
As a spur to action, invasive species are more important than the ones I’m trying to save.
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No, we don’t, every common species deserves to be observed, common species are those that lack data about distribution hostory and fluctuations. One of iNat goals is to make awareness of those species, and feral goats being pests should definitely be observed, to add or not them to life list is a different question though.
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yeah i always record common species too for that same reason, and invasive common species are actually more dynamic than native ones in a lot of ways, so good to keep tabs on. I understand why some people don’t want to do it, and it’s fine, you can observe whatever you want, but it absolutely has value. Sure i draw a line somewhere, i don’t add every purslane along a city road when there are thousands of them. Some people would and it bothers others on here but, hey, i say go for it.
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I observe and include everything in my life list, I deem wild in that moment.
So a cat on a road in Germany? Probably not, as most of them have a home and it is often hard to tell which ones are feral and which ones are not.
A cat on a road in Cairo? I for sure have, as most of them are homeless.
Even more so with introduced or even established wild (not feral) species. Why not? They are part of that ecosystem now an I have seen them – check.
I am not including organisms that are probably “not wild” in the iNat terminology. However, I occasionally observe and upload them if I really want to now what it is (I really suck with plants, so I need help there) or if it is somehow connected to others observations I did (e.g. host planst)
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Absolutely you should count them - (1) It’s still a lifer wherever you saw it (2) It’s a sub-lifer for the area in which you saw it whether it is supposed to be there or not - you can tell I am a birder 
- and (3) recording its presence is scientifically import for conservation and species management if for nothing else.
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