How to get started?

We're almost there - Spring Gall Week 2023 will begin tomorrow, 4/15. Please make new observations only from 4/15 until 4/23. You can continue uploading observations later, as long as they were documented between those dates. In order to add an observation to the project, first join the project, and then select the project for each observation uploaded.
New to galls? No worries! Here's some info you might find useful.
Already know some, but looking for more info? Let's share some resources!
During Gall Week we will try to document the incredible diversity of galls. Galls are little structures on plants, induced by a few different groups of organisms, mostly insects. They often have interesting shapes, and many of them are colorful and objectively pretty. They can be found on leaves, stems, buds, and even roots.
For a good background about galls, listen to Nature's Archive's podcast episodes about galls:

• Especially for our Spring Gall Week event, listen to this podcast interview with Adam Kranz from Gallformes - https://podcast.naturesarchive.com/2023/04/10/spring-galls/
• A previous interview with Adam Kranz about galls - https://podcast.naturesarchive.com/2021/09/14/galls/

• And a short episode about Gall Week 2021 - https://podcast.naturesarchive.com/2021/09/29/gallweek2021/
  For Gall Week, we are interested in documenting the galls themselves or the gall inducers (adult wasps for example). If you're lucky, you might be able to document one of their associated species - parasitic or inquiline wasps trying to lay their eggs into the galls. We could add these to the project as well.
  Since all galls are a result of an interaction between the gall inducer (such as a wasp) and the plant host, it is highly important to document the plant species as well. Please add the plant name in the observation's comments, and if possible in the "fields" as well. If you're not sure about the plant ID, you can post it to iNaturalist as well, and link that to the gall observation. Please note, you will have to add each observation to this project manually as stated above. Check the next journal post for suggested resources.

Posted on April 14, 2023 07:25 PM by merav