Identifier Profile: @galanhsnu

This is the thirteenth in an ongoing monthly (or almost monthly!) series profiling the amazing identifiers of iNaturalist. With the recent addition of iNaturalist Taiwan to the iNat Network, we thought we'd profile the top identifier there.

Although he grew up in Taipei, an enormous city, Chia-Lun Hsieh (@galanhsnu)was able to explore nature quite often, thanks to his parents taking him hiking on weekends. He loved looking for bugs at a young age, but in junior high he found the first edition of “蕨類入門 (Guide to Ferns)”, written by Dr. Chen-Meng Kuo and illustrated by Mr. Kun-Mou Huang (see the revised version here). “I was totally surprised and immersed by the intricate leaf patterns of various ferns (and also lycophytes) illustrated in that book. Starting with this book, my interest gradually expanded to all kinds of plants, not only ferns but also flowering plants...I believe people can always find a new world if they look carefully into a specific group of plants.”

That interest in plants lead him to his current position as a research assistant in Dr. Kuo-Fang Chung’s lab at the Biodiversity Research Center of Academia Sinica (Taiwan). Current projects include researching the systematics of Berberidaceae, tracing the migration of Austronesian people through paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), the plastome evolution of Primulina (Gesneriaceae), Begonia, and Gentiana, and more. 

In 2018, Chia-Lun came across iNaturalist after returning from a trip to South Africa. “The diverse flora of South Africa is so fascinating but also bewildering for a newcomer like me,” he explains, and he found iNat when searching for information about Cape flora. 

After looking around the website, I soon realized that iNat is not only for South Africa or other western countries, but a worldwide platform for everyone to share observations of all kinds of organisms from any corner of the world. Meanwhile, I was very excited to find that there have also been some records and users from Taiwan on it, and my friend, Dr. Cheng-Tao Lin (@mutolisp), is the main promoter and curator for iNaturalist in Taiwan.

Now I frequently use iNaturalist for learning about the plants I don’t know through the taxon pages, which are very informative as I can get taxonomy, distribution, phenology, and image info there. With the continuous contributions from people all over the world and more carefully curated observation data, I believe iNat can be one of the most powerful and informative biodiversity databases that is universal to all countries and all categories of organisms. It is also an invaluable public science data source for all kinds of biodiversity research. I’m happy I found such a thrilling place!

In the nearly four and a half years since he joined iNaturalist, Chia-Lun has added IDs to over 222k verifiable plant observations in Taiwan alone, making him the top identifier of observations made there. He‘s constantly looking at newly uploaded observations from Taiwan (of plants and those without any IDs), and also goes through older Needs ID observations by family. He’ll also sometimes check out Research Grade observations to see if any need to be corrected, but doesn’t add agreeing IDs to existing Research Grade observations. “Additionally,” he says, “I force myself to always enter scientific names when I am making IDs for others. By doing this, I could gradually memorize more scientific names which are not frequently used in my daily life. It's very good botanical training.” 

When I asked him why he’s so keen on identifying observations on iNat, Chia-Lun, explained

I have a strong curiosity about any (Taiwanese) plant that I don’t know or I have never seen before. If I couldn’t call the name of the plant at first glance, I will try very hard to figure it out. When I reach the answer, I can get a huge sense of accomplishment. So I enjoy spending time on identification or searching and reading information about how to ID various plants… 

I [also] really appreciate iNaturalist as a platform for biodiversity data accumulation and for nature lovers all over the world to communicate and share knowledge with each other. Therefore, I am willing to contribute to iNat by improving the quality of its records. I could also benefit from this as I sometimes need to retrieve data from iNat, and I need to make sure those records are correct and ready for subsequent analyses.

iNat is a wonderful place for me to continuously practice and absorb new knowledge about various taxa. Since the beginning of my usage of iNat in 2018, I have learned so much and my plant ID skill has improved a lot as well during the process of IDing for others and communicating with other users or experts. For instance, I have acquired many updated taxonomic knowledge and identification tips of Peperomia from @guido_mathieu, Chamaesyce-type Euphorbia from @nathantaylor, Senna from @jeanphilippeb, Musa from @chris971, various Taiwanese plants from many Taiwanese users and experts, and more to be listed…

It is a delightful task when reviewing and identifying plants - as if I am meeting many old and new friends.

- You can check out Chia-Lun’s research on ORCiD.

- Some of Chia-Luns favorite references for identifying are 植物觀察資料庫 (Plant Observations Database), Plants of Taiwan, Flora of China, and various field guides to ferns and lycophytes of Taiwan.

- The photo at the top shows Chia-Lun next to a giant Chamaecyparis formosensis tree in Cinsbu, Taiwan.

Posted on October 3, 2022 10:16 PM by tiwane