Biodiversity of Alabama's Journal

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/the-marble-bowl

In the fall, the return of football is highly anticipated. For most Alabama residents, late November showcases the game that they have waited for: the Iron Bowl. This annual clash between Auburn University and the University of Alabama pits football fans of each team against each other to earn bragging rights for the year.

This year, to excite everyone’s inner scientist, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System expert aims to bring the gridiron competition of the Iron Bowl into the realm of citizen science. Dubbed the Marble Bowl, this unique contest allows Auburn and Alabama football fans to compete all season in their local ecosystems.

Citizen Science
In simple terms, citizen science is the public’s participation in scientific research. The idea behind the Marble Bowl is to use the rivalry of the Iron Bowl to help collect some much-needed data for Alabama’s ecosystems.

“Alabama is blessed with incredible biodiversity and is among the highest in the nation,” said Wesley Anderson, an Alabama Extension forestry, wildlife and natural resources specialist and mastermind behind the Marble Bowl. “With these facts in mind, the increased need for documenting biodiversity around the state becomes clear.”

With citizen science, not possessing an advanced educational degree is not a barrier to documenting findings. According to Anderson, the reality is that nearly anyone can contribute to science if they wish.

“Our world is changing rapidly, and we need to develop a baseline of what biodiversity in our state looks like now so down the road we can assess how it differs and what we should do about it,” Anderson said. “This means observations made around where you live, work and play have value too.”

The Marble Bowl
In creating the Marble Bowl, Anderson coordinated his efforts with the Alabama Museum of Natural History, Auburn University Museum of Natural History and Auburn University College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment.

From September 3 through the weekend of the Iron Bowl, everyone can participate in the Marble Bowl by submitting observations of wild plants, animals and fungi to one of two projects on the iNaturalist platform. This online site stores crowdsourced, public observations of biological organisms. Listed below are the necessary steps to participate.

Visit inaturalist.org and sign up for a free account. There is also a mobile application for smart devices. Follow the “The Marble Bowl” project to keep up with the current score. Be sure to join either the “Marble Bowl 2022 – Auburn University” or “Marble Bowl 2022 – University of Alabama” project to ensure your observations count and you’re contributing to the appropriate team. Only join one of the two projects or your observations will cancel each other out. To document an observation, you may shoot photos of wild organisms with your cell phone or camera. Because cell phone photographs are automatically timestamped and geotagged, all of the necessary information is already with the photograph when you upload it. If you prefer to take photos with a digital camera, be sure to note the location and include it with your observation if the camera doesn’t geotag it for you. Observations may be uploaded to iNaturalist through a web browser or the app. As you submit observations, the platform’s artificial intelligence will suggest an identification based off what is in the photo along with similar species that have already been observed nearby. You are allowed to suggest a different identification if you’re confident about what you saw. Select your species, and then submit your citizen science observation.

Some Ground Rules
To make sure that the contest is fair and remains competitive, there are a list of rules to follow.

Winner – The winner of this competition will be the project that has the highest score out of 100 points. This total will be calculated from a combination of unique observers (40 percent of total score), unique observations (30 percent), and unique species (30 percent), as determined by the iNaturalist platform. For example, if the Alabama project has 1,000 unique observers and the Auburn project has 900, Alabama gets the full 40 points while Auburn earns 36.

Location – Observations must occur within the state of Alabama.

Date and time – Observations must occur between kickoff weekend (Midnight Saturday, September 3) and the end of Iron Bowl weekend (11:59 p.m. Sunday, November 27). No photographs taken before this time can be used.

No captive/cultivated observations – As much as people may love their pets, they aren’t suitable subjects for iNaturalist observations. The goal of this project is to record observations of wild plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms across the state. Pets–along with other domesticated animals like horses, chickens, and goats–should not be added to the project. Observations of cultivated plants are not allowed either.

Quality grade – To be counted in the competition, observations must meet the criteria for Research Grade or Needs ID. Read about those classifications more on the iNaturalist website.

It’s Almost Time
Get a kick start on your team’s success this football season by expressing your inner scientist. The Marble Bowl is the perfect opportunity to carry some extra bragging rights during this exciting season in Alabama. For more information on the Marble Bowl and other research initiatives, visit the Alabama Extension website at www.aces.edu.

Planning has begun for iNaturalist’s City Nature Challenge (CNC) 2020 http://citynaturechallenge.org, an annual event where cities around the world compete to see who can make the most nature observations, find the most species, and engage the most people during the event. The CNC began in 2016 with just two cities (Los Angles & San Francisco), and has grown each year such that more than 150 cities around the globe will be participating in this year’s challenge. This year I am once again organizing the 2020 Birmingham Metro Area iNaturalist Project to compete in the City Nature Challenge https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2020-birmingham-metro-area. This CNC project will include all iNaturalist observations made between April 24 - 27, 2020 from Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Coosa, Culman, Etowah, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Tuscaloosa, and Walker Counties. If successful, I’m hopeful in the future we can encourage other Alabama cites (e.g., Huntsville, Mobile, etc.) to create similar projects for future challenges.

The CNC competition takes place in two parts: first nature observations need to be made between April 24 - 27, and then from April 28 - May 3 there is a period for these observations to be identified by the iNaturalist community as best as possible before the challenge ends, and the final numbers are counted for each competing city project in the event.

I’ve tagged you in this journal post because you’re a top observer and/or identifier for past iNaturalist observations from one of the Alabama counties to be included in our 2020 CNC: Birmingham Metro Project. I'm really hoping you’ll participate in this year’s City Nature Challenge – while I know getting observations from as many people as we can is important, I also know that it’s top iNat observers like you that will really push this project ahead in the number of observations made, and especially the number of species found in the Birmingham Metro Area! Please consider joining the 2020 Birmingham Metro Area iNaturalist Project by clicking on the "Join" button on the top right of the project page https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2020-birmingham-metro-area. Once you join you will receive future posts from this CNC project including announcements of iNaturalist events (e.g., training sessions, bioblitzes, nature walks, ID parties, etc.) in the area that will be taking place as part of this year's competition.

Finally, please feel free to brainstorm about other ideas to increase awareness and public participation in this CNC project, ask questions, etc. in the comments – and definitely add others to this journal post via tagging them in the comments!

Thanks,

John Friel
Alabama Museum of Natural History

@aclark9 @adiamond @aemelton @agchap @aguilita @alabamainsectadventure @alabamaplants @alex_cicindela_guy @alisonnorthup @allenratzlaff @almnh_inaturalists @ameeds @andrewcore @ankandow @annec2016 @apmartin0824 @bk117 @bmathews @bobbyfingers @borisb @brandonthompson @brandonwoo @briangooding @briggsarmstrong @bufface @calebcam @calebtolley @carolinashepherd @casiejo512 @cavemander17 @chasa @choess @ckrato @claggy @colesullivan @cosmiccat @cthawley @cyclopse @cyeager @d_kluza @daniel_folds @daviswj @ddennism @djringer @dmfrings @dovdavis @edanko @ekmattingly @eknuth @else @elspethpierce @ericwilliams @feistyone @fernbee @friel @fsaad @gcsnelling @gcwarbler @ggsharp1 @gilbert_neil @gldearman @granticadubia @greglasley @haczech @howardhorne @hughmcguinness @i_fox @ianswift @jasondombroskie @jbooher @jbroadhead @jbynum517 @jcabbott @jeanfrancoisroch @jefferykarafa @jeremy_hardin @jhdorgan @joannerusso @john8 @johnascher @johnmorgan @johnplischke @johntrent @jonathan142 @joshuagsmith @joshualincoln @juno3899 @jwidness @k8thegr8 @karenandphillip @karliasmith @karmin @katbrun77 @katherineabell @katieburelle @kbakkegard @kelseyholdbrooks @kendrakabbott @kenric @kfunderburk @kim_wildsouth @kmadd @kommissar @krancmm @larry14 @lcm0040 @leighp75 @lepalot @lgsherk @lincolndurey @lisa_bennett @littleforest @loarie @loganfarley92 @loganfenhouse @lucareptile @maractwin @martha14 @marybeth1 @matt34 @maxallen @mdup @medusasmirror @megan_elliott @merav @mfkamowski @mhmwatkins @michaelezell @mjpayne @mkrichar @msclgc @nataliemhowe @nlblock @nomas @omniscient_snail_sam @passiflora @paul_dennehy @peggeesoo @petervanzandt @pgugger @philmartin @pmk00001 @psweet @psyllidhipster @rayquazasaur @rayray @rick16 @robjohn @rogerbirkhead @roopa @ryan_gill @sambiology @samuelarthur @schoenitz @scottwheat @skinnebrew @skitterbug @snookiep @star3 @stottn @susanna_h @tarac2 @tcurtis @texaskingbird @thebals @tigerbb @tom_franzem @treegrow @trobertson1980 @tybird99 @van8 @vannawoods @vcharny @vicfazio3 @westwind78 @wildcarrot @wjneely @wongun @zac3

Planning and organization for next years City Nature Challenge (CNC) is starting now! Once again, John Friel at the Alabama Museum of Natural History will be leading a CNC project for the Birmingham Metro Area. If you are interested in being a co-organizer for that project, or want to organize your own project in Alabama, iNaturalist is having online conferences this week where you can find out what is involved.

If you are a potential NEW CNC organizer, iNaturalist wants to first chat with you and let you know what being an organizer entails, and then give you a little time to think it over, talk to your organization/institution if needed, and then make an informed decision about if you definitely want to be an organizer for the 2020 City Nature Challenge. So iNaturalist is holding three meetings over Zoom that will give an overview of the CNC, what it means to be an organizer, and give you a chance to ask questions. All three online meetings will cover the same information, so you just need to sign up for one! If you absolutely can't make any of them, there's also a sign up to receive the recording of the call.

The online meetings will be:
Monday, September 23 at 1pm Pacific (20:00 UTC)
Tuesday, September 24 at 8am Pacific (15:00 UTC)
Wednesday September 25 at 4pm Pacific (23:00 UTC)

Please sign up for one of the calls (or to receive the recording) here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZN33suEEITsEnt_ePmLz_mGeZfMxpQth8HV6yg2c7DM/edit?usp=sharing

https://almnh.museums.ua.edu/programs/tuscaloosa_nature_challenge/

The Tuscaloosa Nature Challenge will take place at the University of Alabama Arboretum on Saturday, April 27, 2018 from 9 AM to 3 PM. This annual event is part of the iNaturalist’s City Nature Challenge (CNC) event, and all nature observations made will be included in the Birmingham Metro Area CNC Project. See the link above for complete details.

https://www.cahabaec.org/cec-2019-bioblitz.html

Cahaba Environmental Center will be hosting our first ever bioblitz, and we want you to be there.

Who are we?
The Cahaba Environmental Center (CEC) at Living River is an outdoor, experiential education organization. The CEC offers a variety of programming that connects learners of all ages to the ecology and wonder of the Cahaba River Watershed.

What is a bioblitz?
A BioBlitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of volunteer scientists, families, students, teachers, and other community members work together to find and identify as many species of plants, animals, microbes, fungi, and other organisms as possible.

We will offer free onsite camping or $5 to stay in a youth cabin (16 bunk beds and 2 twin size beds), all overnight options are first come, first serve. We will also provide dinner and breakfast for the bioblitzers!

We are also part of the Cahaba Blueway Project, and are proud to have the first Cahaba Blueway sign installation! This is a great project that helps citizens get connected to their watershed. We will be having a dedication ceremony at 3 pm during the event if you would like to join us.

I'm interested! Now what?
Please register at https://forms.gle/GrmgTGvQFA1g2rwa7 in order to receive food and a camping spot.

If you have any questions, please email seasonalstaff@livingriver.org

We hope to see you there!

https://www.ua.edu/events/event/124678

The Alabama Museum of Natural History and the Univeristy of Alabama Press invites you to join us for a reception and book signing event for the release of Lizards and Snakes of Alabama. This long-awaited publication by Craig Guyer, Mark Bailey, and Robert Mount is the latest edition to the Gosse Nature Series.

Lizards and Snakes of Alabama is the most comprehensive taxonomy gathered since Robert H. Mount’s seminal 1975 volume on the reptiles and amphibians of Alabama. This richly illustrated guide provides an up-to-date summary of the taxonomy and life history of lizards and snakes native to, or introduced to, the state.

Alabama possesses one of the most species-rich biotas in north temperate areas and this richness is reflected in some groups of lizards, such as skinks, and especially in snakes. The authors examine all known species within the state and describe important regional variations in each species, including changes in species across the many habitats that comprise the state. Significant field studies, especially of Alabama’s threatened and endangered species, have been performed and are used to inform discussion of each account.

The life-history entry for each species is comprised of scientific and common names, full-color photographs, a morphological description, discussion of habits and life cycle, and a distribution map depicting the species range throughout the state, as well as notes on conservation and management practices. The illustrated taxonomic keys provided for families, genera, species, and subspecies are of particular value to herpetologists.

This extensive guide will serve as a single resource for understanding the rich natural history of Alabama by shedding light on an important component of that biodiversity. Accessible to all, this volume is valuable to both the professional herpetologist and the general reader interested in snakes and lizards.

Hi Everyone!

For the past several years I have been promoting the use of iNaturalist, and trying to increase the number of nature observations being submitted from Alabama for the Biodiversity of Alabama project and other iNaturalist projects within the state. The Biodiversity of Alabama project https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/biodiversity-of-alabama has taken off since it launched, and now includes >142,500 observations from >4,200 iNaturalist users.

Building on this success, one of my goals this year is to have Alabama start competing in iNaturalist’s City Nature Challenge (CNC) http://citynaturechallenge.org, an annual event where cities around the world compete to see who can make the most nature observations, find the most species, and engage the most people during the event. The CNC began in 2016 with just two cities (Los Angles & San Francisco), and has grown each year such that more than 150 cities around the globe will be participating in this year’s challenge. This year I am organizing the 2019 Birmingham Metro Area iNaturalist Project which will be the first project from Alabama to compete in a City Nature Challenge https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019-birmingham-metro-area. This CNC project will include all iNaturalist observations made between April 26 - 29, 2019 from Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Coosa, Culman, Etowah, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Tuscaloosa, and Walker Counties. If successful, I’m hopeful in the future we can encourage other Alabama cites (e.g., Huntsville, Mobile, etc.) to create similar projects for future challenges.

The CNC competition takes place in two parts: first nature observations need to be made between April 26 - 29, and then from April 30 - May 5 there is a period for these observations to be identified by the iNaturalist community as best as possible before the challenge ends, and the final numbers are counted for each competing city project in the event.

Please consider joining the 2019 Birmingham Metro Area iNaturalist Project by clicking on the "Join" button on the top right of the project page https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019-birmingham-metro-area. Once you join you will receive future posts from this CNC project including announcements of iNaturalist events (e.g., training sessions, bioblitzes, nature walks, ID parties, etc.) in the area that will be taking place as part of this year's competition.

Finally, please feel free to brainstorm about other ideas to increase awareness and public participation in this CNC project, ask questions, etc. in the comments – and definitely add others to this journal post via tagging them in the comments!

Thanks,

John Friel
Alabama Museum of Natural History

No Alabama cities have previously participated in iNaturalist's annual City Nature Challenge, but I'm hopeful that will change next year. If any of our members are interested in organizing participation for their city please see the link below about an on-boarding process that iNaturalist is having next week. We hope to at least organize a Metro Birmingham project, but it would be great to also get Montgomery, Huntsville and Mobile projects organized as well. All we need are members that are willing to help organize participation in their local areas.

https://www.inaturalist.org/blog/18404-want-your-area-to-be-in-the-2019-city-nature-challenge-read-on

Users may notice that the project page format looks different that it did previously. This is because we have converted our project from iNaturalist's tradition format to their new collection format to take advantage of some new features.

Here is a link to the iNaturalist blog about some of change for collection type projects. https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/18375-updates-to-collection-and-umbrella-projects

If you have any questions or concerns resulting from this change leave a comment.

Our iNaturalist project is mentioned today in a WBHM produced segment on the possible decline of insects, and how local citizen scientists are helping to gather data on insects. Click on the link below to hear the segment and read the transcript.

https://news.wbhm.org/feature/2018/dont-swat-alabamas-bugs-may-disappearing/