In particular, I’m wondering about is an observation of Zebra Mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in California, on a boat that had been transported from out-of-state. The mussels were noticed before the boat was launched, and the boat was kept out of the lake.
The definition of wild and clarifying examples do not appear to be much on point. The closest example given is “living organisms dispersed by the wind, water, and other forces apart from humans” are wild. I’ve searched through the board discussions but did not find anything similar. (Please let me know if I missed something.)
I’ve marked the observation as “not wild” as they were transported to the location, not living there, and they were prevented from being released into the wild.
Others have disagreed and suggested that the observation was not the best place to discuss it, so I’ve brought it here.
The counter-argument is that the definition of “captive/cultivated” is that it “exists in the … place it was observed because humans intended it to be then and there”, and it is “wild/naturalized” if it was there for “other reasons (e.g. members of native or established non-native populations or released/escaped pets, hitchhikers, or vagrants)”, and that these are wild as the were not intended to be there.
I found that unpersuasive and have tried to think of some examples that illustrate my thinking:
If my clothes pick up seeds from Bidens when I’m out in the woods, but I don’t remove them until I am home, I do not believe I can count them as “wild” at my home if I remove them an throw them in the garbage, even though I didn’t intend to bring them home.
If a Brown Tree Snake is found in a container shipped to an island that has not been invaded, and that snake is destroyed immediately, I don’t believe it is wild.
If these Zebra Mussels were photographed while the boat was parked in the desert en route to California, I don’t believe they would be wild then. (Or if they had been scraped off there and left in the parking lot?)
This sounds a lot like the case “finding an animal in a vehicle/storage container/etc (e.g. driving to California from Pennsylvania and finding a living spotted lanternfly in your car)” from this discussion: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/wild-vs-captive-cultivated-gray-areas/39882
There were competing opinions, but wild seemed to be the more common conclusion on that thread. The reasons were twofold:
-the organism was in the place it was in due to inadvertent human action, not deliberate, and iNat’s definition of wild does not require the organism to “have had some effect on local ecosystems”, only to be present at that geographic location without a human deliberately moving it
-the fact that the organism made it that far before being destroyed is itself noteworthy- if we’re tracking zebra mussels, and the mussels made it into the state and all the way to the edge of the lake before being noticed and destroyed, that’s still relevant data.
I believe this case, as well as the Bidens seed or container ship snake examples, are precisely what is meant by “hitchhikers” in this definition.
I would mark every example as wild. Organisms don’t have to be introduced, “invaders” or even alive to be wild. Only NOT “humans intended them to be then and there”.
Mussels and other organisms can attach themselves to boats/birds/floating wood/fur/clothes/whatever to travel very long distances, this is a very interesting phenomenon, which can result in a wild, not cultivated, mussel landing in the desert.
I think they should be wild. The Bidens seed was made to travel, and it doesn’t care if it sticks to a deer, a bear, a rabbit, or a human. If you didn’t deliberately stick them to yourself, it is wild. The same goes for the mussels.
Some rambling thoughts I have as I think this is much deeper than most are giving credit to.
Maybe it is not entirely related, but if I cut wild flowers to bring home in a bouquet and take a photo at home and upload to inat, I do not think it would be fair to mark the photo location as wild as it was intentionally brought home. If I knew exactly where the flowers were taken from, could I then mark the photo as wild if I set its location as where they were taken from? What about in the case of bringing a specimen home for further observation/microscope work - which is often done - and the location is marked as the wild spot it was taken from, is that correct?
In a much more philosophical sense, in this thinking, I feel the intention of walking though a field and going home is just that, intentional. I also feel boating around, transporting the boat, and not checking for hitchhikers is also intentional; is being lazy or willfully ignorant not intentional?
We have an endless amount of people and organizations determining what is native and what is not. Native is wild, non native is often introduced through direct human intervention.
If a field is cleared and a seed from a neighboring area blows in the wind and settles in the soil to germinate - that is entirely different from ship ballast containing seed and contaminating and area; but still nonetheless due to human intervention.
Does a bird intentionally disperse seed after eating? I think many would argue most likely not.
So again, does a human transporting an invasive species from a recreation/food source vehicle count as intentional - especially if we as a society are aware of the need to check for hitch hikers?
What about prior to the time we as a society were aware of impacts as such, is there a time period that determines if an action is intentional or not - how would we then figure out the time of introduction to determine if it was intentional or not?
Regarding the cut wild flowers and wild specimen taken home for study, my understanding is that the wild/captive decision is based on the choice of location.
If the location chosen is where the specimen is found, and the organism is thought to be wild in that location, then to me the correct choice for the observation is to mark it as wild.
If it were my observation, I would ensure something is indicated in the notes about location chosen being that where the organism was found wild, as cut flowers on a table can appear cultivated/captive when glanced quickly. Especially if the identifiers don’t pay attention to map coordinates!
I don’t see the Zebra mussel attached to a boat as fundamentally different from a gecko that was carried to a new location in luggage or cargo (as they often are). Neither might establish at the new location but they got there unintentionally through human intervention. You could argue that the mussel has no chance of surviving at the new location if the boat was prevented from launching, which is true. But I would still call it a wild observation in part because it provides important documentation of a “near miss” introduction. To me the mussel is in a wild state at the time of observation even though human action was involved in its dispersal and the prevention of its introduction.
I’ve got three observations of Bidens. I photographed them at home, when I removed them. I tagged them to the location and approximate time where I must have picked them up. Can I duplicate these observations, tagging them to my home that evening when I removed them, having them still be “wild” at my home?
As others have noted, these are definitely “wild” - they are fundamentally the same as any other organism transported by humans unintentionally to a new location.
Yes they are wild…humans did not intend for them to be there. Pretty clear per iNat’s own definition. Location can either be from where the boat is from (if known), or where it was observed.
Individual knowledge ≠ Society’s Collective Knowledge. As a “society”, yes we are aware of a need check for invasive hitchhikers. But not every individual knows this, and you can’t assume otherwise. This is where Inat is valuable- it can kinda bridge the gap and help more people be aware of invasives…
I would consider those wild at your home where you photographed them. That’s their method of dispersal and is a natural part of their biology. You didn’t intend for them to be there but it’s a natural occurrence. If some fell off in your yard and started growing they would be considered wild at that location, so seeds that stuck to your pants and came inside are no different.
Mussels on the bottom of the boat that attached naturally would be wild regardless of where they were discovered. Mussels put into a container on board, intentionally by humans, would be captive like a cow in a field. A planted tree was purposefully planted, a mussel finding the boat and attaching itself is not.