One of the biggest frustrations of a field biologist or naturalist is that you just can’t be everywhere you need to be, when you need to be there, to discover everything you need to discover. There just aren’t enough hours in the day, days in the year, or years in the career. This frustration hangs especially heavy over those responsible for gathering information on the rare species of the state so that conservation action can be prioritized and applied where it is most needed – whether that’s deciding which tracts of land are most important to purchase and protect, or which sites are most in need of restoration or management work, like invasive species control or prescribed fire. If only there was a way to deploy a vast corps of volunteers who love the outdoors and get a kick out of finding and documenting species . . .
Well, it turns out there is! I first heard about iNaturalist several years ago when a friend of mine, somewhat of a visionary thinker, as well as one of the top botanists in the Southeast, called me and said, “Hey, have you checked out this iNaturalist app? Man, it’s gonna revolutionize biodiversity inventory and we can really put it to work for conservation.” I was headed to the field the next day, so I downloaded the app and gave it a test drive. Woah! He was right.
Other posts on our blog will get into detail on how iNaturalist works, but the basic idea is that it pairs digital photos, videos, or audio files documenting observations of species with a location, date, observer, and any other information the observer chooses to provide. At its most basic, it provides a verifiable observation of what, where, and when someone saw something. On a practical level for the field biologist, it’s like being a bunch of places at once. It also provides a forum for interacting with other people interested in natural history – from beginners to professional scientists with decades of experience. Experts can view your observations, help make identifications, and users can engage in discussions about species, habitats, and more.
Most exciting of all, at least for researchers, is the scientific data being assembled and made available. The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission (ANHC) has been using iNaturalist more and more over the last couple of years to gather information about the biodiversity of the state, including on lands in the System of Natural Areas. Here are a few examples of ways that YOU can get outside and explore nature while helping scientists and others working for conservation in Arkansas:
Records of plant species distribution are traditionally kept at the county level, with the first documentation of a species from a county referred to as a “county record.” Some of our staff were involved in the publication of the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas book in 2013, which is the latest official accounting of the county-level distribution of the state’s flora, and each county dot is based on an herbarium specimen record. The distribution records in this book are incomplete, and part of the reason it was compiled was to encourage people to get outside and “fill in the blanks” on the maps with new collections, or as is increasingly becoming accepted, high-quality georeferenced photo observations.
You can download a free copy of the Atlas and compare what you see in the field with what has been documented for the county. Any new county records are a high priority to document with photo observations. iNaturalist users have found several county records and even a few state records, like citronella horse balm (Collinsonia canadensis), a native mint, that was first documented in Arkansas when Jonathan Hurd posted a photo on iNaturalist from Crowley’s Ridge. This primarily northeastern species was only known west of the Mississippi in southern Missouri.
As part of ongoing County Natural Heritage Inventories (NHIs) of Benton and Washington counties, the ANHC set up two county-level iNaturalist projects: Biodiversity of Benton County and Biodiversity of Washington County. Any observation made in the counties is captured in these projects and becomes accessible to scientists working on this effort. To date, more than 2,000 people have contributed nearly 32,000 observations of more than 3,700 species to the Benton County project, and more than 2,800 people have contributed more than 43,600 observations of more than 4,000 species to the Washington County project. Among these observations are many important new discoveries of things not previously known from the counties, or in some cases the region. Examples include the discovery of the first known occurrence of Scott’s spleenwort fern (Asplenium × ebenoides) in the region by Karen Willard, and the discovery of the first populations of Wood’s bunchflower, or false hellebore (Veratrum woodii), from northern Benton County by Cheryl Hall. These iNaturalist projects have been important in the larger county inventories, so much so that ANHC Botanist Diana Soteropoulos and colleagues wrote and published a paper on the importance of the iNaturalist data and other volunteer contributions to the NHI projects.
Photos:
Photo 1 and Main Photo — ANHC Chief of Research, Theo Witsell, getting low to photograph a composite on a river gravel bar to post to iNaturalist. Photo by Dwayne Estes.
Photo 2 — Cover image of the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas.
Photo 3 — The first population of Wood’s bunchflower, or false hellebore (Veratrum woodii) from northern Benton County documented on iNaturalist by Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalist and ANHC Herbarium volunteer, Cheryl Hall.
Well, it turns out there is! I first heard about iNaturalist several years ago when a friend of mine, somewhat of a visionary thinker, as well as one of the top botanists in the Southeast, called me and said, “Hey, have you checked out this iNaturalist app? Man, it’s gonna revolutionize biodiversity inventory and we can really put it to work for conservation.” I was headed to the field the next day, so I downloaded the app and gave it a test drive. Woah! He was right.Other posts on our blog will get into detail on how iNaturalist works, but the basic idea is that it pairs digital photos, videos, or audio files documenting observations of species with a location, date, observer, and any other information the observer chooses to provide. At its most basic, it provides a verifiable observation of what, where, and when someone saw something. On a practical level for the field biologist, it’s like being a bunch of places at once. It also provides a forum for interacting with other people interested in natural history – from beginners to professional scientists with decades of experience. Experts can view your observations, help make identifications, and users can engage in discussions about species, habitats, and more.
Most exciting of all, at least for researchers, is the scientific data being assembled and made available. The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission (ANHC) has been using iNaturalist more and more over the last couple of years to gather information about the biodiversity of the state, including on lands in the System of Natural Areas. Here are a few examples of ways that YOU can get outside and explore nature while helping scientists and others working for conservation in Arkansas:
Help us build species lists for state natural areas
When I started back in 2000 as the agency’s botanist, one of my job duties was to build plant species lists for the state natural areas. This started by compiling various paper lists in the agency’s files and coding each observation with a source code that listed the observer and date, and a habitat code that listed the habitat(s) where each species had been seen. These lists are a critical tool for land managers because they document what species live in the areas they protect and manage. Of course, with 77 natural areas encompassing more than 72,000 acres, it’s hard for our small science staff to visit each area often enough to build truly comprehensive species lists. However, through area-specific iNaturalist projects, you can help us out while you enjoy time in some of the most unique sites in the state and casually document things of interest to you with your phone or camera. You can also use these projects to learn more about the species at sites you are interested in visiting.Help add new “county records” for plants
Records of plant species distribution are traditionally kept at the county level, with the first documentation of a species from a county referred to as a “county record.” Some of our staff were involved in the publication of the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas book in 2013, which is the latest official accounting of the county-level distribution of the state’s flora, and each county dot is based on an herbarium specimen record. The distribution records in this book are incomplete, and part of the reason it was compiled was to encourage people to get outside and “fill in the blanks” on the maps with new collections, or as is increasingly becoming accepted, high-quality georeferenced photo observations.You can download a free copy of the Atlas and compare what you see in the field with what has been documented for the county. Any new county records are a high priority to document with photo observations. iNaturalist users have found several county records and even a few state records, like citronella horse balm (Collinsonia canadensis), a native mint, that was first documented in Arkansas when Jonathan Hurd posted a photo on iNaturalist from Crowley’s Ridge. This primarily northeastern species was only known west of the Mississippi in southern Missouri.
Help us document occurrences of species of conservation concern
The ANHC keeps records on occurrences of species of conservation concern. These records are compiled from a wide variety of sources and vetted by ANHC staff before being incorporated into official data sets. Historically, museum collections were a major source of these records, but as digital photographic records have eclipsed physical specimen collections as the primary means of documentation, we are adapting and can extract data from iNaturalist. Updated lists of all species of state concern are being compiled for future posting on the ANHC website, and a current list of plants species of concern can be found in the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas. If you find occurrences of any of these species, they are also a high priority for documentation. Observations of some rare species may be obscured in iNaturalist, and you can allow ANHC staff to view these observations through your iNaturalist profile. Please refer to the "How to Unobscure Coordinates in iNaturalist" document on the ANHC website.Help us document biodiversity of entire counties
As part of ongoing County Natural Heritage Inventories (NHIs) of Benton and Washington counties, the ANHC set up two county-level iNaturalist projects: Biodiversity of Benton County and Biodiversity of Washington County. Any observation made in the counties is captured in these projects and becomes accessible to scientists working on this effort. To date, more than 2,000 people have contributed nearly 32,000 observations of more than 3,700 species to the Benton County project, and more than 2,800 people have contributed more than 43,600 observations of more than 4,000 species to the Washington County project. Among these observations are many important new discoveries of things not previously known from the counties, or in some cases the region. Examples include the discovery of the first known occurrence of Scott’s spleenwort fern (Asplenium × ebenoides) in the region by Karen Willard, and the discovery of the first populations of Wood’s bunchflower, or false hellebore (Veratrum woodii), from northern Benton County by Cheryl Hall. These iNaturalist projects have been important in the larger county inventories, so much so that ANHC Botanist Diana Soteropoulos and colleagues wrote and published a paper on the importance of the iNaturalist data and other volunteer contributions to the NHI projects.Photos:
Photo 1 and Main Photo — ANHC Chief of Research, Theo Witsell, getting low to photograph a composite on a river gravel bar to post to iNaturalist. Photo by Dwayne Estes.
Photo 2 — Cover image of the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas.
Photo 3 — The first population of Wood’s bunchflower, or false hellebore (Veratrum woodii) from northern Benton County documented on iNaturalist by Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalist and ANHC Herbarium volunteer, Cheryl Hall.