StayiNatHome: what's worth observing?
I'm often asked why people should share their nature observations on iNaturalist NZ–Mātaki Taiao, when we've already got lots of observations. We're approaching the milestones of a million observations, 20,000 species, and 20,000 observers across NZ. Most of those observations have been in NZ's cities and towns where most of us live.
So why bother sharing what's in your garden? There are lots of good reasons.
It's fun!
Humans are built for exploring. Our ancestors were extraordinary explorers. Fine-tuning all your senses to get out in nature and find new things is fun. iNaturalist supercharges that experience by making it quick to identify any species. It also makes it easy to find out what has been, and hasn't been, found in your neighbourhood.What can you find that hasn't been found in your neighbourhood before, or hasn't been found in a long time?
The more species you learn to recognise, the more changes and dramas you'll notice happening around you. Your neighbourhood becomes filled with stories.
@john_early took this photo this week of a South African praying mantis, eating a North American monarch butterfly caterpillar, which was feeding on a South African swan plant, all in an Auckland garden. There's drama and stories in every garden if you look for them.
There are LOTS of new things to find
There are a lot of species in New Zealand, and we know very little about where (and when) most of them live, and about the species they interact with. There's a lot of this basic natural history still to uncover in Aotearoa. In fact, most of it is still waiting to be uncovered. This is not just in remote national parks—it's right at home in your garden.So, while 20,000 species and a million observations might seem like a lot, it's not, at all. The New Zealand Organisms Register, which lists named species in NZ, has over 80,000 species listed (and less than 3,000 of those are bacteria, viruses, and protozoans). There's lots still to find, and new species are being added to iNat NZ all the time. Also, most species on iNaturalist have only been observed a small handful of times, so every new observation of these tells us more about them.
In just the last ten days of #StayiNatHome, nine species have been observed in our neighbourhoods that had never before been recorded in NZ on iNaturalist.
In Auckland, @heymilly found a weevil, @stephen_thorpe found a scale insect, and @marleyii found a lichen. Near Paraparaumu, @mattward made the first iNat NZ record of a native Pimelea herb. In Nelson, @obblue made the first iNat NZ record of a centipede species. In Christchurch, @jabba found a wild anise-scented salvia and @cooperj found a mushroom species. In Dunedin, @johnsteel found a wild succulent creeper. All of these are firsts for iNat NZ that were found in people's neighbourhoods.
That's just the new species for iNat NZ nationally. There are lots of first records for NZ suburbs and towns that have been made in the last ten days.
iNat NZ is your ticket to the age of discovery. Welcome aboard.
Here's iNat NZ's first observation of the introduced weevil, Linogeraeus urbanus, photographed in an Auckland house this week by @heymilly.
What's changing?
There's interest in NZ and around in the world in how nature is responding to this unprecedented global lock down. How will we know how nature is changing? Through lots of your observations from before, during, and after this crisis.Observations of common species, like house sparrows and seagulls, are just as important to make as observations of rare things. It's the common species that are likely to change the most, since they were the ones that thrived in our towns and cities the way they were.
We'll write more in other article about what's likely to be changing. For now, keep in mind that your observations of common wild species are more important now than ever.
What's eating what, and when?
We need more observations of what species are eating what other species. We also need more observations on the timing of things. What is flowering and fruiting when? What's breeding or mating at the moment? Can you find juveniles at the moment or is everything an adult?These details are important for understanding how nature is responding to changes in land use, invading pests, and, especially, to climate change.
You might have two commonly observed species in your garden, but you might be the first person to document one eating the other. Or, you might make a rare observation of a male and female mating (like @agoranomos did this week for mating earwigs in their Christchurch garden).
There are lots of new interactions to discover and document.
Learn what's common so you notice what's new
There's also a big picture here for New Zealand's biosecurity. New pests and weeds continue to slip through the official biosecurity net, despite us having some of the best biosecurity processes and staff in the world. Those pests that slip though are often first detected by members of the public.The earlier these are noticed, the better are the chance that authorities can eradicate them from the country. Eradication means removing them all before they can establish and start damaging our primary industries and natural environment.
The more common species you recognise in your neighbourhood, the more likely you'll notice a new species when it first arrives. If you know about iNat NZ, you're also likely to whip out our iNat app and share a photo. Our experts will then promptly realise that its new and a potential threat. Biosecurity NZ and local council biosecurity staff will get alerted, alarm bells will ring, and another potential pest will get stopped in its tracks.
It all starts with you, and your human neighbours, getting to know more of your other neighbours (the other animals, plants, and fungi you live with).
If you do think you've found a new pest, photograph it, catch it if it's safe to do so, and call Biosecurity NZ on their free hotline at 0800 80 99 66.
Northland has lots of weeds that are still spreading, including this Abyssinian banana. @tutukiwi observed one this week in his garden near Whangarei. There are two very similar wild Ensete banana species in Northland and French banana expert @chris971 popped onto @tutukiwi's observation to correct the ID and explain what features to look for. NZ ecologist @mark_smale popped on to make a recommendation on how to kill it.
All observations are useful
As long as your photos are good enough for iNat NZ users to identify the species, and as long as you let your smart phone share the date, time, and location of the photo, then you've made a useful observation. While some observations will be more important than others, they're all good. And, the more you observe, the more likely you'll make a super-exciting or super-important discovery.iNat NZ does geoprivacy
Wait a tick, you might say. What if I don't want to tell the world exactly where I live? We've got you covered there too. Just select to obscure your observation, and you'll only show the world what town or city you're in, not exactly where you live. (When you set the geoprivacy to Obscured on the iNat app or iNat NZ website, you're fuzzing your coordinates to the size of a 10 mile square grid.)So, what's in your garden?
There you have it. There are lots of reasons why it's useful to use iNaturalist NZ to observe the species in your garden, and inside your house. The more observations people make about New Zealand, and more we understand about New Zealand nature. And, the more fun we have!So, stop reading this, grab the iNat app, and get yourself outside.
Here's a cool find to finish with. @ulitmate_fraiser found and photographed this amazing stick insect in a garden near Takaka this week. That makes 119 observations of this species now on iNat NZ. We'll learn more from more observations so be sure to upload one of these if you're lucky enough to find one.
Comments
A very compelling list of reasons to make observations Jon. Great work!
Thanks @john_barkla. It wasn't hard to come up with plenty of good reasons. There are so many ways that an iNat observation can end up being useful.
Well said, Jon. So often only the rare and uncommon species get the limelight, but it's just as important to record common everyday species we take for granted - who knows, one day they could become a threatened species. Documenting them now provides a baseline.
Absolutely. Well put, @jacqui-nz.
Jon: That's great and thanks for spelling out these things. So often it would help make an identification if there was some context provided to accompany a photo - what's the habitat? what plant is the insect on? what's it doing? how abundant are they? All these sorts of observations will elevate it from just a time and place occurrence observation to one that's information rich. Keep up the good work.
This may be a good time Jon to thank all of you experts out there for your help and tolerance with us amateurs, poor photographhs and inane questions. I think I will speak for a lot of us when I say thanks for your time, trouble and sharing your expertise.
@john_early Those are excellent points. I see this as part of the journey people take as they become more keen users of iNat NZ. It starts with curiousity and making accurate what-where-when observations. Later people can get keen on particularly things and join projects, and add others' observations to projects, that focus in on particular species or interactions or places.
Projects are a helpful way to guide people on what observation fields are most useful to add to observations. For example, our Invertebrates eating plants in NZ project has been collecting standardised observations on what inverts are eating what plants. You can now use the results of all that activity to do searches on iNat NZ, like, for example, what insects have been recorded feeding on Eucalyptus (and that's currently 107 observations of 22 insect species, which is a great start).
@johnsteel you're most welcome and thank you. iNat NZ is very much a mutualism. We're all learning a lot from each other.
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