City Nature Challenge 2024: Garden Route's Journal

1. Clarification of some of the terminology used.
   Organism: An individual living thing that carries on the activities of life.
   Observation: An observation records an encounter with an individual organism at a particular time and location.
   Species: An organism that can reproduce with one another in nature.
   Biotic: A living organism.
   Wild: Something that is in its natural state, untouched by human intervention or domestication.
   Captive: Typically refers to organisms that are held in captivity, such as in zoos, aquariums, or research facilities, where they are under human care and control.
   Cultivated: Refers to plants or organisms that are deliberately grown, managed, or tended by humans for various purposes, such as agriculture, horticulture, or landscaping.

2. What is the City Nature Challenge?
   The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is a citizen science global environmental event where people are encouraged to observe all things natural [biotic elements] during a predefined period.
   The period for 2024 is from 00h01 on 26 April 2024, until 24h00 on 29 April 2024. A total of 96 hours.
   The goal is to take as many observations as possible covering as diverse a representation of species as possible within the predefined boundary.
   The three main categories contended for are the number of Observations, number of Species, and number of Observers.

3. Who can participate?
   Anyone, whether professional or amateur, generalist to specialist, can participate.
   The CNC encourages everyone to get involved in any way possible.
   iNaturalist allows anyone aged 13 or older to register an account and learn more about the environment.

4. Can an organisation create a collective account for their members to upload to?
   NO
   iNaturalist encourages accounts for a person only.

5. What are the boundaries of the Garden Route project?
   The Garden Route project covers the Garden Route District, including the municipalities of Bitou, Knysna, Mossel Bay, Oudtshoorn, Kannaland, George and Hessequa.
   https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/municipalities-of-the-garden-route-district-marine-south-africa
    

6. Must I join my local/relevant project or the umbrella project for my observations to count?
   NO
   As it is a collective project all observations that qualify will be counted. If you have not joined the project, the observation will not get the badge under the projects list.
   Information is posted on the Journal page of the event before and during the event. By joining the project, you will receive notifications on updates and information posted in the journal.
   https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-garden-route

7. What makes up an observation?
   An observation is a record of an organism with proof of it. The proof can either be a photograph or a sound recording.

A photograph/photographs, or a sound recording.
The date of the observation.
The location of the observation.

1. Do sound recordings count as an observation?
   YES
   A recording [sound] of an organism is a valid observation. Make sure the recording is clear. If there are multiple sounds in the recording, add a comment in the description to draw the identifier's attention to a particular sound.
   A handy online free site to use to edit and enhance a sound recording is https://twistedwave.com/online

2. Can I upload a video as an observation?
   NO
   iNaturalist does not allow movies to be uploaded. If you have taken a movie, you can make a snapshot of a frame and upload that as an observation. Upload the movie to a site like YouTube and in the comments add a link to the movie.
    

3. Can I upload a GIF [graphics interchange format] image as an observation?
   YES
   You may have a series of photos highlighting a particular characteristic of an organism which you would like to show.
   A free online site like https://gifmaker.me/ allows you to upload multiple photos and create a GIF image. It can also take a short movie clip and convert it into a GIF which you can upload to iNaturalist.
   Do not make the GIF image too long or bulky. Short and sweet is the rule of thumb. To bulky an image that an identifier must wait to download and open may result in people skipping it. Suggest, adding a photo first, and then the GIF image second.

4. Do dead organisms count as observations?
   YES
   A dead organism shows that something is present in the area. So, while not always pleasant it has scientific value.
   Indicate the reason you think the organism is dead. Maybe roadkill, or electrocution. Various projects collect this information that you can add the observation to.

5. How many observations can I make?
   If every person in the Garden Route District had to make one observation, we would amass over 600,000 observations. Unfortunately, this will not happen, so the more you take the better. Set yourself a personal goal of observations per day. Then plan to achieve that number. And while you are about it, add a few more.

6. Can I create an observation of something with no evidence [photo or recording]?
   NO
   iNaturalist does allow observations without evidence. However, for the project and event, an observation MUST have a photo or a recording to be valid.
   All observations that do not have proof are automatically excluded and do not count.

7. What if my photo has multiple species in it? Do I upload one photo, or duplicate it?
   An observation is for one species only. If you have a photo with multiple species in it, you can upload the same photo, or simply duplicate it and in the description specify which organism is the intended one.
   So, you take a photo of a flower with a fly and beetle on it. The same photo gets duplicated, making two observations. In the description specify, “This observation for the fly on the left”, and the second observation will be something like “This observation for the beetle on the right”. Now any person doing identifications will know it is not an error in a duplicate upload, but an intended second observation.
    

8. How many photos can I upload to a single observation?
   Before this is answered, let us clarify that an observation is for a single organism.
   You want to observe a plant. You can take many individual photos. Flowers, leaves, seeds, stems, thorns, or any other identifying characteristics you may see on the plant. These get grouped and added to one observation. Do not upload them as separate observations. So, the one observation could have multiple photos attached. This is perfect.

To clarify, again, an observation is for one single organism. So, if you have taken multiple observations of different organisms, they must each be uploaded as a separate observation.
Rule of thumb. All the photos in one observation must reflect one organism from that one location. A different organism from the same location is a new observation.

1. What observations may I upload?
   The goal of the iNaturalist site and the event is to focus on wild organisms. Observations of humans are rejected by default. Avoid the 3P’s (People, Potted plants, Pets).
   All observations which include:
   Amphibians, Arachnids, Birds, Fish & marine organisms, Fungi and Lichens, Insects, Mammals, Mollusks, Plants, Protozoans, and Reptiles are acceptable.

2. If I take photos before the event but upload them during the event, will they count?
   NO
   All observations must have been taken during the 96-hour window period. Anything before or after this period will be excluded from the event.

3. Must I upload during the 96-hour window period to count?
   NO
   After the 96 hours ending at midnight on 29 April 2024, you will have an added 129 hours to do uploads and identifications.
   By 05 May 2024 @ 09h00 local time, all uploading, and identifications must have been done to qualify.
   Do not leave uploading for the last minute. While the observation will count, you may have a species that is not identified in time and thus does not count for the species list.

4. What if I do not know what it is? Must I exclude it from my uploads?
   NO Do not exclude anything (except the 3P’s).
   All uploads count. Irrespective of whether they have been identified or not. You may not know what it is, but there is a strong possibility that someone else recognizes it and will identify it for you.
    

5. Must it only be wild observations?
   Preferably yes. While observations of garden plants are permitted, keep it down to the bare minimum and generally in conjunction with an insect or something to show interaction with it.
   Keep to the 3P rule. No people, potted plants and pets.
   Anything that is not wild must be shown as Captive/Cultivated by ticking the required checkbox.

6. Must I give my observation a name?
   NO, but...
   Not everyone knows everything. The fact is you are trying to learn, and by uploading observations that you do not know, you will gain valuable information.
   You do not need to add a name to the observation. However, leaving it unknown will make it harder for people identifying to find it.
   Some identifiers may troll the unknowns looking for something they know, this takes time and time is limited.
   Try to at least place it into a category (Amphibians, Arachnids, Birds, Fish & marine organisms, Fungi and Lichens, Insects, Mammals, Mollusks, Plants, Protozoans, and Reptiles). This will narrow it down allowing identifiers specializing in a category to find it easier.
   Allow the Computer Vision/Artificial Intelligence (AI) to suggest an identification.
   Do not fear placing an incorrect identification. Only through trying do we learn.

7. How will my observations be identified?
   There are a few ways that you can do or get identifications.
   Firstly, allow the Computer Vision/Artificial Intelligence (AI) to suggest a name. This matches your picture to the database of similar species and tries to narrow it down. Remember the AI only looks at the first picture of the observation batch. Make sure the first picture is the clearest and most representative.
   Secondly, narrow down your identification as closely as you feel comfortable. You take a photo of a butterfly, so identify it as a butterfly. This will assist in placing it into the correct category and help identifiers specializing in butterflies to find it.
   Finally, volunteers will scan the observations and where they can identify them or narrow them down further, they will. As time goes by more identifiers refine it until a final correct identification is made.
    

8. Can I do identifications for other people's observations?
   YES
   If you are confident that you know what the species name is, you are more than welcome to do identifications. It does not matter how limited your knowledge is. Every little bit will help.
   Just, please, do not be a rubber stamp and just agree for the sake of agreeing. You may inadvertently agree to a wrong identification thus adding species which do not occur in the area and skewing the data.
   Do not just agree with the top suggestion. If there are multiple agreements, look lower to make sure you select the correct one.

9. What quality of photo(s) should I take?
   Basic rule of thumb. If you cannot make out what is in the photo, then neither can others who want to assist with identification.
   While it is not a competition for the best photo, the pictures must be clear and depict the intended organism.
   The clearer the photo, the more detail shown, and the more likely it is you will get a speedy and correct identification.

10. Must I crop and edit my photos?
    NO, But...
    There is no need to crop and edit a photo to make the perfect shot. However, if the organism in the photo is small, cropping the photo makes it clearer and easier to identify. Sometimes you may want to lighten the photo to make it clearer.

11. Do landscape photos count?
    NO
    The focus is on individual organisms. A landscape photo shows a general view and does not focus on an individual organism.
    You can include a landscape photo in the observation to show the habitat that the organism lives in, but make sure you also have close-ups of the specific organism in question that needs to be identified.
    Also note, that while the organism you may want an identification for is in the landscape photo, iNaturalist reduces the image quality when uploading. When someone who wants to identify something enlarges the photo the quality may not be good enough to accurately make out the details and identify it.
     

12. A photo with more than one individual of the same species. Do I upload each individually?
    You may take a photo of a flock of birds. While iNaturalist is great at creating distribution maps and recording location and time, it does nothing for counts. A flock of birds could be ten individuals. Uploading the same photo ten times to cover each individual will do wonders for your number of observations, it will do nothing for science. So, besides wasting your time and data, if you have a photo with more than one individual of the same species, upload it once only.

13. A photo of the same species in a different location. Do I upload only once and group, or all individual instances?
    You upload all individual instances. It may be the same species, but it is in a different location. This assists in creating distribution maps.

14. May I use photos taken by other people, or from other sources?
    NO
    There is a simple word called plagiarism and is strongly frowned upon. Do not take pictures off other websites, platforms, or books as an observation. If you expose yourself to plagiarism someone may, and probably will report it and you may get banned from the site.
    That said, if someone gives you a photo taken during the event with permission to use it, you may upload it. Make sure that the photographer is credited in the description of the observation and a short write-up of why you are uploading someone else’s observation. Keep these to a minimum. iNaturalist promotes the practice of uploading observations that you noted, rather than collecting photos from other people.
    Encourage them to start an account to highlight their travels and discoveries.

15. What if I find an insect in my car, but I have travelled a distance away from my starting point?
    One of the main culprits of moving organisms around is vehicles. If you find something in your vehicle or stuck to it, feel free to upload it as an observation.
    Record it where you found it, not where you think you may have picked it up. In the description section, you can specify that you found the organism in your car but may have originated from another location. Briefly describe the route you drove.

16. How can I get more information?
    CNC website: https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/
    Follow the Garden Route iNaturalist Facebook page:
    https://www.facebook.com/GardenRouteINaturalist/Follow the WhatsApp Garden Route INaturalist channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaBHNZFCcW4qrRahF82H (barcode to scan: https://www.facebook.com/GardenRouteINaturalist/posts/pfbid02FupBeFsYSaUaMdfTbKkvAjVtTeij9PivgHCJ3osSb6nddtSzJ2YHgJujVCYHkQLRl)
    Email us at: grd.cnc@gmail.com
    You can read more on the iNaturalist help page https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help