Using Inat data for relative abundance?

[jasonhernandez74]

@jbbohan

Do you standardize the number of observations of a species by the number of observers (that increases exponentially with time)?

That wouldn’t necessarily work. You could have several observers who each post one observation of a given species in a given area, and then one observer who posts an observation of every individual of that species that they encounter.

This relates to a disagreement in another thread:

@jasonhernandez74

I’m not sure who is more frustrating: the Student (“30 unlabeled pictures of clearly cultivated garden plants”) or the Nerd (“How many of the same species of lizard does one person need to upload in one outing?”)

@eyekosaeder

I see no problem with #2 if the photos are of good enough quality to actually ID them.

A problem with it (besides being really tedious for an identifier who wants to see some variety while identifying) is that it doesn’t work with what you are proposing.