Thank you for highlighting the very real research applications that involve cultivated plants. For all the reasons you described, cultivated plants are part of the urban ecosystem.They interact with wild organisms. In addition to the negative ecosystem effects they may cause, they can also provide ecosystem services. They can provide food and shelter for wildlife, temperature regulation, erosion control, stormwater filtration, etc.
I am a scientist that researches urban landscapes and ornamental plants, specifically the interactions between humans, plants, and the environment. I am working on a project where volunteers are trained to monitor plant phenology in public gardens and greenspaces. This will generate a wealth of data that will be useful for urban ecology, urban planning, horticultural outreach, and botanical tourism.
Part of my project is a controlled experiment that compares the data quality and user experience across multiple mobile apps used to collect this data. From a researcher’s perspective, iNaturalist is head and shoulders above similar platforms that are more “welcoming” to cultivated plant observations. The feature to even distinguish between cultivated and wild plants is one that is often excluded, yet is invaluable (urban landscapes often contain both). However, the way cultivated plant observations are treated by iNaturalist is limiting. I am interested to see how the study participants navigate this. I am tasked with convincing them that their observations are important research, while the platform and community will be convincing them otherwise.
I understand, but disagree with, the sentiment that since iNaturalist is focused on wild organisms, cultivated/captive organisms should not be considered verifiable or research grade. This is but one example of cultivated plant research using iNaturalist.
I hope that sharing this will help facilitate further discussion of cultivated vs. wild and research grade vs. casual. I agree these should be separate distinctions. Perhaps only date, location, and photo or sound are required to make an observation verifiable.