The recent conversation about the new DQA and the issue of “Evidence related to a single subject” has got me thinking about how we deal with observations that have to be split into multiple due to having multiple individuals, species, life stages, etc. within a single photograph or observation event. By default, there is no way to know how much of the information you see in a photo has actually been documented on iNaturalist as separate observations, without manually searching through the uploader’s observations or asking the uploader. I have a habit of using an observation’s description to link directly to other observations in certain situations, so that anyone viewing the observation can easily answer some questions they may have about it. Such situations include (and are not limited to):
- There are multiple species visible in one photo, so I make one observation for each species, and they all link to each other. Especially useful for showcasing ecological interactions. examples: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/194636021
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/144361401
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35291357
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3047943 - The observation is of a host organism, with one or more inhabitants/symbiotes that each have their own observations, which are not necessarily visible in pictures of the overall host. examples: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/141094461
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2772958 - There are multiple individuals of different life stages, sexes, or other annotatable features of one species in one observation event. I generally do not split such observations myself, so I lack actual examples, but the DQA discussion suggests that this may become more encouraged. Would apply to any picture of mating, oviposition, or parental care. Or… seeds and pollen.
A would-be example: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5444122 - I have multiple observations of the same individual at different times. Good for tracking growth or life stages, e.g. collecting eggs or an insect pupa (first observation) and then bringing it home to see what it emerges into. examples: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2549460
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/199050506
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2866549
I think of these (at least those that occur in the same place/time) as single “observation events” that comprise multiple separate Observations. I rarely see other users’ observations linked to each other in their descriptions in this manner. Which, I understand, is a bit of extra work (requires editing descriptions after publishing them), but I feel it makes all the relevant data more accessible. I would encourage folks to link their own related observations to each other if they can. Or perhaps there could be a new feature that shows “related observations” more conveniently. Does anybody else do something like this? Do you think this seems totally unnecessary, or perhaps useful?