UPDATES May 2020: We have added additional observation fields so that our data can also get directly uploaded to the Global Biotic Interactions database (GloBi: https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org/). This includes an "Associated Observation" field which is required; this would be the URL address of the matching observation (so for a pollinator observation, you would enter in the URL of the plant observation that you saw it on in this field). There are also optional fields which capture similar information, and that you can fill in to the best of your knowledge: Interaction -> flower visited by (fill this one out for your plant observation) AND Interaction -> visited flower of (fill this one out for your pollinator observation).
READ FIRST: BE SURE TO SUBMIT TWO OBSERVATIONS FOR EACH INTERACTION YOU OBSERVE, ONE FOR THE PLANT ID AND ONE FOR THE POLLINATOR ID!!!! Exception: If you observe multiple pollinators on the same plant at one time, you may submit just one observation for the plant and then one observation per pollinator, and use the same linking key for all of them.
You have probably heard about how important pollinators are to our ecosystems. Thousands of plant species depend on them to move their pollen and reproduce. Pollinators are also not just bees. Birds, butterflies, moths, and even bats can be pollinators too. Despite their importance, the majority of the interactions between plant and pollinator species remain unknown. This project will document the "who visits who" of California plants and pollinators. To do this, all you have to do is take photos of pollinators while they are visiting flowers, allowing scientists to link that plant species to that pollinator species. This information will be invaluable to conservation efforts of California's unique flora and fauna. You can do this in urban and wild habitats, just specify if the plant you are looking at was planted intentionally ("ornamental") or not.
DIRECTIONS: Currently, iNaturalist only lets you identify one species per observation. For this project, you need to identify two (the plant, and the pollinator). Thus, you will have to submit each observation as two separate observations - one for the plant, and one for the pollinator - and link them using a unique word or phrase, which is called a "linking key". I recommend using your iNaturalist username followed by a number- for example "bugfinder1". You will be prompted to enter this observation link keyword when you submit observations to this project. This keyword just lets users of the data collected by this project know which plant observation and which pollinator observation go together. You can recycle the same keywords so long as the date of the observation is also different. For example, let's say on March 7th you observed three plant-pollinator interactions. For the first interaction, you gave the plant observation and the pollinator observation the linking key "bugfinder1". For the second interaction, you gave the plant observation and the pollinator observation the linking key "bugfinder2". For the third, "bugfinder3". If you also go out to look at flowers on March 8th, the next day, you can start over, and for the first interaction you observe you can use "bugfinder1" as the linking key again for the plant and pollinator observation in the interaction. Feel free to message the administrators with any questions you have about the directions!
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California Pollination Project
