300,000 Verifiable Observations!
On the 8th of March 2022, we reached 300,000 verifiable observations uploaded in South Australia!
Congratulations to all who have contributed to this milestone. The first observations in SA were uploaded around mid-2011 and had only reached 4,500 by the end of 2017. Since then however the rate has increase dramatically reaching 23,500 by end of 2018, then 66,800 by end of 2019, on to 162,400 by end of 2020, and 282,700 by end of 2021.
We surpassed 100,000 observations in May 2020. It took 9 years to reach that milestone. It took only 12 months to add the second 100,000, and only 10 months to add the third 100,000! We are currently uploading over 300 new observations per day.
Alas, the exponential increase in observations cannot continue forever, and has been dropping year by year. 2018 saw a 520% increase in observations, 2019 a 280% increase, 2020 a 240% increase, and in 2021 a 170% increase. If we estimate a 140% increase this year, we'll reach 400,000 observations by the end of 2022. And all it would take is 336 observations per day.
Quick Stats:
- 4,242 observers have uploaded records of 8,726 species across the state
- 68.2% of all verifiable observations are Research Grade
- 9,401 observations of 244 Threatened species
- 22,639 observations of 932 Introduced species
- 4,780 identifiers have made 543,600 identifications on observations from SA
- Observations by Taxa: 56,340 Birds, 884 Amphibians, 7,293 Reptiles, 7,016 Mammals, 11,729 Ray-finned Fishes, 10,360 Molluscs, 8,832 Arachnids, 52,725 Insects, 114,858 Plants, 11,376 Fungi, 1,588 Kelp & 155 Protozoans
- Species by Taxa: 362 Birds, 20 Amphibians, 172 Reptiles, 85 Mammals, 278 Ray-finned Fishes, 486 Molluscs, 344 Arachnids, 2,685 Insects, 3020 Plants, 499 Fungi, 71 Kelp & 15 Protozoans
Comments
Do we record birds and insects in large numbers because they are easy to see in urban environments or because we find them aesthetically interesting? Or both?
Birds are such show-offs!. To be respectful toward Insects, we really ought to break the group down by Order, rather than lumping them all together. 850 Bird species in Australia, but an estimated 200,000 Insect species. The sheer number of Insects in the environment seems to be the reason behind the large number of observations. Same principle should be applied to Plants too, but the taxonomy is so messy.
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