iNaturalist February News Highlights

Usually we talk about species discoveries by mentioning a few examples from the news. But this month, we wanted to highlight some of the great work partners in the iNaturalist Network are doing to better find and surface iNaturalist observations that represent important discoveries.

• iNaturalist Canada coordinators at the Canadian Wildlife Federation have set up this project to track and highlight Canada’s most groundbreaking observations.
• iNaturalist Uruguay site admin ​​@flo_grattarola describes on her blog efforts to surface novel observations posted from Uruguay.
• This great article by Naturalista Colombia site admin @carolinasoto in the oldest newspaper in Colombia describes all the work she and colleagues at the Humboldt Institute are doing to leverage iNaturalist for conservation impact in Colombia.
• Similarly, this article highlights @paul_luap’s efforts to lead citizen scientists as site admin for iNaturalist Luxembourg.

Wolverines haven’t been spotted on iNaturalist in the Cascade mountains south of Mount Rainier in Washington State. This article describes how the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating rare range extensions south into Oregon and turning to iNaturalist for help.

There were many articles this month demonstrating how iNaturalist is being used to better understand the distributions and biogeography of species including:

• Buprestid beetles in Italy
• Snakes in Chile
• Weevils in Colombia
• Broom plants in Eastern Europe
• and Leaf mining fruit flies in Canada

Some of the complexities around invasive species are captured in this article about a new study by @christiaan18. Oaks are introduced in South Africa and some are becoming invasive. On the other hand, a spreading invasive beetle is devastating the iconic oaks planted throughout cities like Cape Town.

Meanwhile, Australia’s iconic native Eucalypts (which just received a huge boost on iNaturalist thanks to contributions from Eucalypt expert @dnicolle) are being devastated by the spread of invasive myrtle rust. This article describes @myrtle_rust_martino’s efforts to prevent the spread in Australia with the help of citizen scientists through the Gum Tree Guardians project.

Speaking of myrtle rust, an increasing number of natural resource agencies are turning to iNaturalist to help monitor invasive species, as this myrtle rush announcement form the New Zealand Department of Conservation demonstrates. This article describes how iNaturalist is being used to monitor invasive Stinknet in Saguaro National Park as the National Park Service kicks off Invasive Species Awareness Week with both place-based activities and species-focused resources leveraging iNaturalist.

Monitoring

This April, Periodical cicadas should emerge in northern Louisiana on their 13-cycle, but scientists fear the brood may be extinct. This article describes how scientists are turning to iNaturalist to help. Other examples of monitoring include:

• In California, iNaturalist is helping scientists monitor drops this year in overwintering populations of Monarch butterflies and sunflower star declines along the coast.
• This Mongabay article about @carolina_pinto and colleagues describes use of iNaturalist for monitoring at the landscape scale on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica.

Restoration

The role iNaturalist plays in conservation isn’t restricted to monitoring; it also extends to land preservation and restoration.

• This article describes @janetpaisley and colleagues work to bring the Atala butterfly back to parts of Florida through restoration efforts involving iNaturalist.
• iNaturalist is helping @mchogan and colleagues create pollinator gardens in Oklahoma to assist Monarchs along their migration.
• This study by @jordan_kue highlights an iNaturalist project aimed at locating and protecting habitat critical for ground nesting bees.
• This article describes how @andyvillarrealr and Viaje al Microcosmos community scientists are using iNaturalist to raise public awareness around and restore an urban river in Mexico.
• Chatanooga Parks is using iNaturalist to coordinate Weed Wrangle events to help restore the park.
• In Thailand, Dow volunteers are using iNaturalist to restore Mangrove ecosystems.

Warmer winters are disrupting the life cycles of insects, and iNaturalist is helping scientists understand this challenge:

• This article describes @fuzzybumblebee’s efforts to understand the consequences of being active in the winter on honey bee populations in Minnesota.
• Similarly, this article shows how iNaturalist data is helping scientists understand why sickly, normally dormant Red-based Jezebel butterflies were spotted this winter across Hong Kong.

If curbing climate change feels overwhelming, this National Geographic article includes iNaturalist as a tool for individual action that can help children feel empowered when confronting climate change.

Last month we highlighted the concept of “secondary data” as all the important data captured in iNaturalist observations beyond the core species occurrence. This month’s examples include this fascinating study by @alexkerr on spider web architecture that resulted from an analysis of over 13,000 iNaturalist observations of Feather-legged Orbweaver.

• This study used iNaturalist images to document ray stranding events to understand what’s causing them.
• This study used iNaturalist images to document the mushroom eating habits of native Chilean snails.

• From India, we loved this article featuring @vivek32’s efforts to engage the public document the biodiversity of Visakhapatnam and this article featuring similar efforts by @farida1 around Hyderabad.
• In Portugal, this study analyzed the impact of bioblitzes orchestrated across the country.
• In the United States, spring is already on the horizon with Bioblitzes popping up from Illinois to California.

We enjoyed this article about Ecoexplore, a Kindergarden through 8th grade environmental science program developed by @jmarchal and colleagues at the North Carolina Arboretum that leverages iNaturalist.

• This Guardian article features the iNaturalist Observation of the Day by @chofungi that “went viral on social media” in their celebration of tiny creatures.
• We loved this profile on “wildlife ecologist/naturalist/educator”; extraordinaire @ken_j_allison!
• Congratulations to @pcapper for their 300th Trail Talk column and for sharing the role iNaturalist plays in their work.
• This study describes how @tclenche and @logybayer continue to build the naturalist community in Newfoundland and Labrador and the role iNat plays.
• This article profiles @bridgetvt activities around the upcoming April eclipse and her plans to use iNaturalist.
• @jonahevans’ North American Animal Tracks Database was featured in this article.
• Lastly, beautiful photographs by @annikaspiridis, @wa_botanist and @petercomber were featured in this CSIRO piece celebrating 2024 as the Year of the Dragon (as in Agamidae).