The graph doesn’t seem to work on my phone, but I have 16993 observations and 3417 species. So on average 5:1 observations:species. I’ve seen most species here and post the same things every year, so next year it will be 6:1, the year after 7:1, etc.
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This is an intriguing question because, as you suggest, it reflects the way(s) we participate on iNat and interact with the natural world.
My species to observation percentage hovers around 20% (10,115 spp among 50,867 obs). While I routinely look to boost my biodiversity (species count) when traveling locally, country-wide, or internationally, I have a few other activities which collect lots of observations of the same species, especially at home. For instance, for years now, I have typically been uploading one image per species per month from the thousands of images my trail camera collects in the back yard. That naturally documents the “usual suspects” over and over. I also have a long-running, whimsical effort to try to document the flowering of Straggler Daisy in every month of the year and anywhere I travel, so that species is disproportionately represented among my observations.
Here’s another suggested metric: Collectively, How many observations do you have that comprise your top-10 most-observed species? My top 10 constitute only 3% of all my observations, suggesting that I “spread the love” around. That list includes the aforementioned Straggler Daisy (#1), 7 species of moths which are the most abundant species I’ve encountered in my decades-long efforts to learn the moths of Texas, and the most abundant mammal (Rock Squirrel) and bird (Northern Cardinal) documented by the aforementioned trail camera.
And finally, my old Mark Twain-inspired adage, “Travel is taxonomically broadening,” is proven out in my own perambulations: From my travels in Mexico and Central America on vacations, I have thus far documented/uploaded about 1,600 spp in 3,200 observations–a 50% ratio by earlier metrics. In other words, I’m averaging only two observations per species while chasing biodiversity abroad.
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Yeh, @kueda, how were you biding your time back in the year 1008 C.E.? Still languishing as an undergrad at Berkeley? ;-)
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yep, changed title
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Hi in the observation ratio above my observations are 193/123 species.
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950 observations to 744 species, for a ratio of 0.78.
But, if I filter for only those identified to species or finer, it is 694 observations to 604 species, for a ratio of 0.87.
If I further filter those to only RG, it is 487 observations to 425 species, a ratio again of 0.87.
This shows how the lack of identifiers affects us.
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Laughs in mega-obs dropper
Overall Score: 0.05 (45k over 2424 species)
Ratios stay same for species-level only and RG species only.
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3714 species, 15465 observations, ratio = .24.
I used to post a lot of everything I saw, now it’s mostly things I don’t know what they are (and cool bugs + robber flies). I try to apply the “if it brings joy, post it” mentality more now, whereas I used to focus more on the numbers.
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I’m right at about .17. I take a lot of photos of common taxa both cause I find it enjoyable and because I like recording phenology and establishing baselines for common species.
As many have explained to you on the forum, it’s often not possible to ID to species due to lack of diagnostic features in the evidence or just not enough research or knowledge about the taxa/region is in existence.
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919 species over 4,069 observations, with a ratio of 0.23.
My two main purposes for initially joining iNat were to contribute fern observations and learn about plants that are new to me; however, I have also come to enjoy the process of photographing and posting “all” flowering species I encounter on a hike, helping to fill in a little more of the species’ map, which serves as a great online reference for myself.
Because my attention is focused most on ferns, Polypodiopsida is alone responsible for 1,088 observations, with only 91 species. Ratio: 0.08.
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I hit about 0.19. Like @tiwane I’m interested in phenology, especially how it might pertain to climate change, so I have no problem recording at least one observation of each bee or moth species I see per day.
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483 species to 977 observations, for about .49.
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15k observations, 1,500 species.
I tend to photograph…whatever basically. So there’s a lot of species I have a lot of observations os
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I am new to the INat forums - take it easy on me please! I used the graph calculator for my 13,394 observations with 2,471 species - am pretty normal it appears. I try to take photos whereever I am - parking lots, parks, back yards as well as the forests and fields I ride my horses in - but a huge effort the last couple of years has been to try to get a feel for what is in my yard every day (when I am home) so that I can look at it over the years and see what is increasing or decreasing locally - as well as climate effects, etc. at a micro scale (25 acres). It is actually pretty amazing how I have been able to guess when certain species will come out to “play” and I am looking forward as we increase our pollinator habitats even more to having some new species show up. Thank you for listening - excited to be a part of this forum - I didn’t feel “qualified” until now to participate but am realizing that motivation to get involved is really the only requirement. Thanks!
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Going slightly off topic, I am realizing that the way I currently use iNat, my novelty seeking hunt for lifers is not the majority of users. While I do use iNat in many of the ways others have commented I have found it to be a great platform to keep track of what I have observed.
Not to add a new metric to the mix but I calculated that I have 2.06 lifers per day on average since joining.
I know that this usage of iNat is privileged as I have the time and resources to be able to go to new places at different times to find novel things, and I would say my current way is not sustainable but hopefully in my pursuit of a career in field botany and thousands of plants to track ranges and locales, it just might be.
Thanks for everyone’s comments it has been neat to see all the different perspectives.
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1535 observations to 700 species
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That’s precisely why I have 45k observations but only 2424 species. I have two species over 1,000 obs, and I’m getting pretty close to my third but Mule Deer are not nearly as common at new home, so it’s a slow progress.
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and approx 100 unique
https://elias.pschernig.com/wildflower/leastobserved.html?user=squiresk
Travelling obviously helps.
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Here’s another potential metric.
I thought about borrowing the idea of Shannon’s entropy and applying it to the number of observations per species observed. The entropy ranges between 0 (minimum entropy) and 1 (maximum entropy). Applied to our example, a value near 0 would suggest an observer has observed one or a small number of species much more frequently than all others they have observed, whereas a value near 1 suggests that the observer has observed all the species on their list about the same number of times.
Will have to give it a try.
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