Biota of Marrowstone Island's Journal

I had a beetle ID confirmed by Ian today. I so appreciate the contributions highly qualified people like Ian make to help make the data more accurate and reliable. I often will view the profiles of someone helping me with an ID. Ian's last profile paragraph was of particular significance for what I love most about iNatualist. This is why I am sharing it with my fellow project members.

Ian Swift @ianswift

Joined: Nov 30, 2017 Last Active: Apr 07, 2021 iNaturalist

I am a biologist specializing in the systematics and ecology of beetles, primarily the families Cerambycidae and Pleocomidae.

Soy biólogo especializado en sistemática y ecología de escarabajos, principalmente las familias Cerambycidae y Pleocomidae.

I would like to point out a few things to observers:

-As a taxonomist, I deal primarily with specimens; having a specimen in hand allows one to make a positive identification. A photo of a specimen is less ideal and more difficult to identify, but frequently an ID is possible. All my IDs are tentative since they're based on iNat photos; if you want a 100% ID, then a specimen is necessary.

-Given the tens of thousands of cerambycid pix on iNat (not to mention other sites), my ID strategy is basically triage. I go through them quickly in order to assist the iNat community and further contribute to biodiversity data banking. As a result, I have to spend my time on iNat wisely. If you make a comment on an ID asking "how are you distinguishing species X from species Y?", frequently (not always) you probably won't get a response. There simply isn't enough time to get through the thousands of observations and answer everyone's questions, my apologies up front. There are several helpful guides for 'bycid ID online and books via Amazon, etc. If you really have a question you'd like me to clear up, please message me. Also, I make mistakes in IDs all the time, so please also message me if you think I have.

-Lastly, iNat is becoming a powerful tool for scientists and many casual users don't realize this. As such, I take observations that are designated "Research Grade" very seriously (they are uploaded to many biodiversity data portals which scientists use for their research). Please observe carefully. Make sure the data behind the observation are as accurate as possible; this includes location, date, and any other data you indicate. More data are helpful: host plants, habitat type, etc. are all crucial to know about the species you observe.

Enjoy nature and happy observing

Introducing iNaturalist

Exploring the basic functions of the iNaturalist phone app and an invitation to use the web based iNaturalist.

A device almost everyone carries around with them these days can be a significant tool to scientists the world over. It can also be your personal comprehensive field guide with image recognition capabilities. By loading the iNaturalist app on your phones, you can both add to your own knowledge of the natural world, and contribute to valuable databases beneficial to scientific research.

How it works

Using the phone app is simple, and should be considered a field record you can later visit on the web based version of iNaturalist. The app offers three ways to submit an observation. You have the choice of immediately taking a photo by allowing iNaturalist to use your camera. Or you can submit a file you already have on your camera. This can be a photo file, or it can be an audio file. Once iNaturalist receives your photo, you will be prompted to provide further data. The location will be automatically included with the file you submit if you have allowed your phone/camera to geolocate. You may want to supply a brief description or anything you think notable and helpful. Just scroll down the page and fill in what you want. Then hit submit and you’re done.

iNaturalist has a social networking component you won’t be able to access through the app. You will have to go to the web version, but don’t hesitate using it for a deeper dive into your observation. Naturalists from all over the globe voluntarily share their knowledge and expertise by helping with identification. To reach out, you might look to see who are the leading identifiers, and tag one of them in a comment on your observation.

Tips for Making an Identifiable Observation:

• Trees: Get a close-up of the foliage, both top and bottom. Try to find a cone, flower or fruit to photograph. Get a close-up of the bark. Finally, get a photo of the whole tree to show its growth habit.
• Plants: A close-up of the leaves, stems, flower and fruit are all helpful. A shot to show habitat and growth habit is useful. Sometimes placing a sheet of paper or cloth behind the plant to isolate it will make for a cleaner, more identifiable image.
• Fungus, including lichens: Photograph the caps of mushrooms from above, and below to show gills or spore producing structure. A side view should show the ring and stipe. Removing the fruiting body (mushroom) doesn’t harm the fungus. Take the cap home, get a spore print, and submit a photo of it. Lichens fruiting bodies are also very helpful. Document the host species and habitat.
• Insects and arachnids: Here might be a test of your phone’s macro capability. Try to get a top, bottom, and side view. Most helpful is getting a photo of the mouth parts. Document the host species.
• Birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and fish: Get any shot you can. They don’t sit still for their portraits. Multiple photos are often useful for getting different aspects of the animal.
• Mollusks: If in salt water, document if intertidal (high, mid, low). If there is a shell, photograph all three axes. Snails are shy. Wait for them to emerge for a photo. Get photos of both sides of a bivalve’s hinge.

Another iNat member commented on blank ID's. I really liked how she gently urged people to identify an organism to the highest level they are confident. Here is her comment:

"Hi, welcome to iNaturalist! Even if you don't know the exact species, you can select a higher level identification such as “fungi”, ”plant", or "insect".
Many of the volunteers helping identify observations on iNaturalist filter the observations by the group of species they know how to ID (like plants or insects), so observations with a blank ID like this one will be excluded from those filtered searches. There are many more people posting unidentified observations than there are fellow users volunteering to help identify them. Putting in a general ID such as “Fungi”, “Plant”, or “Insect”, helps funnel your observation to someone who might know what they're looking at so that it can get identified more quickly. Here is a video tutorial for the mobile app: https://vimeo.com/162581545.
If you want to learn more about how identifications progress on iNaturalist, you can read more here: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started#identify" - kathleendobson