To what level do observations have to be identified

Using iNaturalist with the City Nature Challenge
21

I may be wrong, but I thought the discussion above about counting “Leaves” (between kestrel and tiwane) addresses your question.

22

Just to clarify, the term “leaves” refers to tips of the “taxon tree” branches for the CNC count, so a family level ID would count as a “leaf”, but not as an identified species. This just confirms my point that the important things is not the absolute number (which can never be known anyway), but consistency across all uploaders.

23

He’s asking how species are counted for the CNC. There must be an answer to his question.

24

I see you have withdrawn your comment, yet I think you were correct, but it can be difficult to work out exactly what other people are asking, especially when, as you noted, that issue had already been answered higher up in the thread. Perhaps it still needs to be made clearer though, if the primary official CNC species counts include “leaves” or just identified species. I’m all for clarity!

25

I un-withdrew it, since you responded to it. I had withdrawn it because I felt like I was confusing myself.

26

LOL! Yes, communication can be a very problematic area generally in life!

Can we answer this question once and for all:
Do the primary official CNC species counts include “leaves” or just identified species?

(“Leaves” is an unfortunate bit of jargon, as looking quickly initially even I thought they were talking botany, so didn’t take much notice!)

27

part of the problem is that iNat counts the taxa differently in various parts of the site, so users see these differing numbers and get confused. Also, and shows up greatly at high load times like CNC, background indexing can be slow to update as it is a lower priority to many of the interface aspects of the site.

28

We use the numbers in each city’s project, so I kind of think of it as branch tips (or what Tony calls leaves) - if there are observations identified to a genus but nothing in that genus is IDed to species, then the genus itself will count as a “species.” If there are observations identified to a family but no observations IDed to a genus or species in that family, then the family counts as a “species.” This is how “species” are counted in collection projects.

If you look at the umbrella project for the CNC, the species count for each city is lower, because the umbrella project is only counting actual species.

But for the CNC itself, we will use the “species” number from each city’s project.

Hope that helps!

4 Likes
29

That seems clear enough. It means that it is worth doing IDs above species (if you want to win the species count, that is!)

1 Like
30

I just got back to looking at the forum. kestrel actually answered the question very well as it was specific, to me and several others the explanations lead to more questions than answers.

This question came out more from working through the over 2000 unknowns in the Houston CNC. We worked through them and had only a few left as unknown. We wanted to increase the species number a much as possible and we wanted new iNatters to get feed back on what they had observed. We had to triage them and give broad IDs like plants, butterflies and moths, and etc, so that people that could do more detailed ID would know to look closer.

For example, in the Houston area and much of Texas we can see both Common Checkered-skipper and White Checkered-skipper which can not be identified in the field and we used Pyrgus sp, for those observations, but we also have Tropical Checkered-skipper which can be identified in the field. So in this case only Tropical Checkered -skipper counts as a species and the other Pyrgus species would not count.

I do agree that the species count is likely unimportant biologically, but for those of us that do outreach and working to get people more aware of the nature around them, the species count is important for the CNC and generally talking about nature in the area,

4 Likes
31

I’m wondering if this would be fair game for a “species complex” taxon or if it doesn’t fit what that’s meant to be used for. Otherwise the best you can do is add a “holding bin” field entry, which doesn’t contribute to the species count.

1 Like
32

I think it’s pretty cool that you got a group together to do this. Like a knitting bee, only with IDs :-)

33

We encourage the CNC organizers to do this if they can, and a handful of CNC cities have “ID parties” during the identification period of the event, which is great. We’ve held them the past three years in my city… with pizza and beer and field guides and laptops, they’re pretty fun. @carrieseltzer did a pre-CNC ID party this year, to work on getting lots of last year’s CNC observations IDed that still hadn’t, and we’ve done one here before a bioblitz of a park that we had bioblitzed a few years prior - getting those observations IDed so we’d have a better “before” picture to compare to.

I think they could be fun to do even more generally, not necessarily associated with an event - get a bunch of folks together to work on IDing observations from a particular place. It’s amazing how much more fun pushing through a bunch of “unknowns” can be when you’re doing it with other people!

7 Likes
34

It was definitely interesting to get together with others and work through IDs. I learned a few things and taught a few things. I just wish the WIFI was better at the location.

I worked on a lot of coarse IDs of unknowns before the ID party and the party was definitely much less lonely.

1 Like
35

In case it’s helpful for anyone else, here’s the list of suggested elements for planning an “ID party”.

Planning your ID event

For best results, your event should have:

  • Someone who can be a lead presenter and/or people who can be “floating” tutors/assistance
  • Wireless internet access
  • Projector
  • Tables or desks for laptops
  • Accessible power outlets
  • Extra laptops (especially important for communities where laptop ownership may be less likely)
  • Bonus: Snacks
  • Bonus: field guides
7 Likes
36

Bonus: beer! :grin:

5 Likes
37

we should do the blind ID accuracy test but as we do it, give the identifiers several beers, and track how the IDs get worse (or better?)

5 Likes
38

I was just about to reply, I definitely ID more, faster and better after a beer. Even more so after a rum… :grinning:

3 Likes
39

Or at least you think you do! :)

2 Likes
40

Welcome to the forum! Thank you for participating! :-)

1 Like