Ways to use projects

[whitneybrook]

This is inspired by the survey that is now appearing on the website for project owners. I’d be interested in knowing how others are leveraging projects, including projects they don’t own.

Here are some of mine:

• Have a large number of cyanobacteria or other IDed taxa showing up when looking for unknowns? Create a project to use as a filter in searches.
• Someone else is curating a list of taxa globally, but you just want to see which of those species are in your area and use it for ID support? Use your location and the global project as filters and review the species tab. E.g. location specific species lists for Water Plants and Global Aquatic Plants.
• A project for plant disease causing organisms for a specific location to generate a list of commonly observed species for an area. Here is a journal post with information on how to create a similar project.
• Monitoring observation volume and %RG for a location overtime.

What other ways to use projects?

[DianaStuder]

I made this project to record our regular hiking routes. (Not so regular lately between the Tokai / Silvermine fire, and then winter weather) And what we can expect to see blooming in that month next year.

2 projects were made for me by @jeanphilippeb to answer my questions
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/placeholder-backup
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pre-maverick (that question is partly answered by the new Disagreements filter)
3 ways to clear the low-hanging fruit from the ID backlog.

[janetwright]

Interesting ideas! I use “traditional” projects to accumulate observations to answer a question or see how widespread some phenomenon is, especially about Smilax (Greenbriers). I have an umbrella of these projects at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/all-things-smilax. For the most part they are of interest only to me, but from time to time I point them out to people who’ve noticed something similar. The most popular one is https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/smilax-q2-underground, which records observations of big Smilax tubers.

[earthknight]

At present I only manage one project.

I set it up to assist with collecting biodiversity information for our conservation work and to help get IDs for plants and arthropods as there is very little useful information here to facilitate IDs. Having a plant list without a key to help make the ID is not so useful, so the project helps a lot.

It also allows us to sometimes track when people go into areas that are off limits to the public.

I’m a member of a bunch of other projects that I find interesting, are in areas that I’m connected to in some way, deal with issues I’m either working on or am interested in, ones that assist with IDs from scant evidence, etc.

[IDfanatic]

Currently, I’m working with two fairly simple projects.

The first is a collection of audio recordings from my state. I originally created it to compare the number and diversity of aves species recorded by photographers versus audio birders. I also use it as a quick ID module.

The second project focuses on lost and extinct bee species in my state. I occasionally check in to see if any of them have reappeared. So far, the project includes just three observations of three species since it was created—but I believe the day will come! (Sadly, Andrena bees are notoriously difficult to identify, so many of the “lost” species may never make it into the project.)

[dtinner]

I established the use of iNaturalist’s project feature this spring for the conservation NGO where I work. The project “Lebendige Thur” focuses on a channelized river in Switzerland, aiming to raise awareness of both remaining and missing biodiversity. The collected data directly contributes to planning connectivity measures (e.g. amphibian ponds), informs future restoration efforts, and supports political advocacy for better habitat protection.

Feedback from new users has been very positive, some now regularly visit the river to contribute observations. The approach already has proven effective, and there are plans to expand it to other river systems across Switzerland.

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/lebendige-thur

[DianaStuder]

They rewilded the Aarau Stadtbach near our flat when we lived there. 30 years ago. I wonder if it is still as beautiful as it was then?

[sedgequeen]

1. I set up a project for each botany class. Student observations have to be added to the project in order to count toward a grade. This facilitates not only grading but also monitoring the project and confirming student ID’s if they’re right. (Or asking them to remove cultivated plants, if necessary.)

2. Collect a subset of observations that show some trait that isn’t found in all similar observations. For example, Carex observations that show the perigynia (fruit) taken out of the inflorescence and shown in full. Also, rosettes of dicots. (I see other people’s projects for various animal behaviors.) I guess my Dissected Flowers project fits in this category. It is intended to provide material for teachers and it includes both cultivated and wild plants.

3. Collection projects for taxa my colleagues and I are or were researching (by taxon or by taxon + location).

4. Fun. I haven’t set up a purely fun project, but I enjoy those set up by others, such as “Geralds of the World” and “Blue!”.

[whitneybrook]

@janetwright

I use “traditional” projects to accumulate observations to answer a question or see how widespread some phenomenon is

This is a great idea. I’m going to borrow it!

@sedgequeen

Collect a subset of observations that show some trait that isn’t found in all similar observations.

Oooo! I’m going to use this project as a reference. I also like the idea. I’ll keep it in mind as a way to help create a resource to help with identification.

@IDfanatic

I also use it as a quick ID module.

By using the recordings in the project to help with other IDs? Or as a filter in the Identify module. It seems like both could be useful.

@earthknight

I set it up to assist with collecting biodiversity information for our conservation work and to help get IDs for plants and arthropods as there is very little useful information here to facilitate IDs.

&

@dtinner

The collected data directly contributes to planning connectivity measures (e.g. amphibian ponds), informs future restoration efforts, and supports political advocacy for better habitat protection.

I would love to contribute to projects like yours. US National Parks and other agencies (USFWS, some USFS districts) have iNat projects, but I don’t see the projects I belong to being actively leveraged for any specific or educational purpose. I wonder if they are, but there just isn’t communication to the project members.

[jhbratton]

I have two. They are identification aids, collating observations illustrating something which can’t be coded for using annotations. They are beetles with the genitalia dissected out; and European reed beetles showing their feeding marks on the food plant.

[anneclewis]

Like others, I have a range of projects.

• One is a big international effort to inspire and empower people to document the biodiversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates
• I have two different kinds of projects for teaching: one that is filtered by student names to teach students about iNat and the others that are used for data analysis: Comparing Biodiversity of Tropical and Polar Regions, Three Birds of South Dakota to study habitats, and a regional one that I use to study adaptations and food webs.
• As a City Nature Challenge Coordinator, I have all my CNC projects
• I have one for a trip I took to Iceland.
• A few just for fun, like the 2024 Olympics. I had a lot of fun putting this one together.
• In the past, I’ve made a project of all my observations to make it easier to analyze statistics.

I am super curious what the findings from this survey will be. @tiwane when does the survey close? I want to ask what kinds of things project admins thought were working and what changes were suggested. I want to wait till the survey is closed so as not to bias anyone’s answers.