Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

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SlitheringHuman
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Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by SlitheringHuman »

I was thinking about joining iNaturalist.org for the global bioblitz, but I saw that I can find specific locales of posted herps (through maps). Since I know that this is frowned upon in the herping society, is this method of logging animals frowned upon as well? For now, I am only logging my entries on naherp, but was hoping to find a place to enter non-amphibian or reptile finds.

Thanks,
Mariya
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JAMAUGHN
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by JAMAUGHN »

Mariya,

I got on to iNaturalist for the same reason, and now log all my finds, herp and non-herp, there. While specific locations can be logged, you can also obscure the coordinates, or set them to private. (Additionally, all threatened and endangered species are automatically obscured.) All of my herp sightings are obscured or private, and I only list the county. I've also to know one of the creators of the site, known on inaturalist as "kueda." We've hiked together, and I have a very high opinion of him, and his site.

There will be people here who will likely warn you against logging observations of herps onto iNat, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to hold back on reporting really sensitive sightings. For the vast majority of things we see, though, inaturalist can be rewarding. H.E.R.P. will remain my primary place to log my herp observations, though.

Hope that's helpful,
JimM (james3 on iNat)
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by SlitheringHuman »

Well, I'll stick with H. E. R. P. for now as well.
After a pm and this reply, I see that it's not worth the risk.

Speaking of H. E. R. P., I see people logging roadkill there all of the time. If I am able to identify some herp-kill, should I post it, or should I try to keep it live only? I am asking because I found an alligator lizard on a fire road who was, frankly, quite flat. I took a picture of him just in case...

Thanks,
Mariya
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by JAMAUGHN »

Log everything. Taking vouchers of roadkill can provide valuable data, so long as you don't become roadkill yourself. So, I guess I should have said, log everything, within reason.
JimM
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by chris_mcmartin »

iNaturalist is the citizen-science database of record for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (the "Herps of Texas" project on there). I wonder if there's a way to set the default coordinates to "obscured" for certain projects.
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Fundad
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Fundad »

We have set up a DOR count in HERP. Its one of the largest DOR Counts known for herps.

When you find and enter a DOR, and select DOR as the method it gets added to this count.

http://www.naherp.com/reports/dor.php?state=24

naherp.com

One day down the road, I hope to build a relationship with INaturalist and HERP.

Fundad
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by JAMAUGHN »

Fundad,

I'm on board to help with that.

JimM
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by SlitheringHuman »

DOR = Dead on Road?
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by RobertH »

Yes.
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by hellihooks »

At ARC 07 in Ridgecrest... we hung dead snakes we found on the doorknobs of guys who got skunked... they were DOR prizes... :crazyeyes: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by mattg »

hellihooks wrote:At ARC 07 in Ridgecrest... we hung dead snakes we found on the doorknobs of guys who got skunked... they were DOR prizes... :crazyeyes: :lol: :lol: :lol:

:lol: :lol: , very nice, :beer:
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Gluesenkamp »

As other have mentioned, iNaturalist includes three options for privacy settings (open, obscured, and private). Privacy is set by the observer (except in the case of T&E species, in which it is automatically set to "private"). "Open" means that anyone can see it, "Obscured" will generate a random point somewhere within 10km of the actual observation, and "Private" will hide location information from all eyes (except project curators). I advise people to mark all observations on private land as "obscured" except when dealing with very large properties (i.e. >150k acre ranches in W. Texas. Then they should probably just mark it as "private".). Confirmed observations of SGCN (Species of Greatest Conservation Need) contribute to the Texas Natural Diversity Database. This database is used extensively for habitat assessment, species status assessment, and other conservation decision-making. For these reasons, observations with locality information (and error estimates) are much more valuable than those with limited or generalized locality information.
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Fundad »

I hope to partner with Inatualist (at some level) at some point and time in the future.

But in the mean time its been 4 years since our last H.E.R.P. data request for The Texas Natural Diversity Database, are we ready to do any request? If so it would be easy to do, since the one from 2010 is already written up.

Please feel free to let us know we would love to help.

Yours Truly
Brian Hinds
H.E.R.P. Board Member
California Chapter President.
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Gluesenkamp
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Gluesenkamp »

PM sent. Thanks for the offer!
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Fieldnotes »

Stop hording habitat like you own it, :twisted: instead flood the internet with data so poachers cant deplete one spot. "If you can't beat them join them" you know that saying. You can find localities for the rarest of animals its harder to find a locality for the common Desert Iguana than it is for the Arroyo Toad. Don't give up YOUR favorite boardline but come’on relax and surf the net for Elgaria panamintina. :beer:
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Fundad
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Fundad »

:?:
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Gluesenkamp
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Gluesenkamp »

Why would I need to surf the net for E. panamintina localities? Stebbins lists eleven specific localities for this species and Jones and Lovich list two dozen (in addition to tips on how to find them).
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by hellihooks »

inebriated reply??... it happens... :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Fundad
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Fundad »

I think these latest comments went south with sarcasm.. I am pretty sure no malicious intended.

Fundad
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by hellihooks »

Panamint AL is a lifer I'm really looking forward to finding, someday... :D
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Fieldnotes »

Mariya: When adding animal records using iNaturalist your able to control whether you want to give a precise location or general location. Thus, if you fear someone will find your favorite Fence Lizard spot, you can make it as vague as you'd like. Granted vague animal sightings are basically useless when it comes to understanding distribution.
Gluesenkamp wrote:Why would I need to surf the net for E. panamintina localities? Stebbins lists eleven specific localities for this species and Jones and Lovich list two dozen (in addition to tips on how to find them).
:lol: my point, you just defined it better
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Gluesenkamp »

I'd just like to add that, although the observer can obscure their observations or even make them private, the project curators can still see the detailed location.
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Fundad »

:thumb: I have records in iNatualist and some that show exact locations to the public.. :beer:

iNatualist is a great project, especially for the general public at large.

Fundad
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by Gluesenkamp »

My personal policy is that I "obscure" any observations on private land and leave all observations on public land as "open". All observations of T&E species are automatically obscured. Of course, the ratio of public to private land in TX is the inverse of that in CA. Nonetheless, some folks continue to obscure observations from roadways. As if any roadcut in W Texas is "secret"...
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by JAMAUGHN »

I tend to obscure all herp sightings, and only publicly list the counties...mainly so that I don't run afoul of the NAFHA folks... :lol: :lol: :lol:

JimM
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Re: Thoughts on iNaturalist.org

Post by gbp »

Gluesenkamp and I both curate projects on iNaturalist, and I know we both spend a lot of time thinking about 'geoprivacy.' What is different about iNaturalist than say databases of museum records is that the observation is oftentimes very recent. So if someone posts a Mtn King they just observed, a collector could learn both the locality and the knowledge that the animal is currently there. This probably doesn't matter for critters that are on the crawl, but certainly could be an issue for critters photographed at AC sites, where the animal is very likely to still be there hours later. As mentioned previously, all T&E species get their locations automatically obscured, but that doesn't cover all species targeted by collectors. So for things like Rosy Boas and Mtn Kings, I message contributors and ask them to obscure the locality if it is from an uncommon site or looks like it could be from AC. But if someone gets a boa while night driving a known boa road, I don't bother because collectors already know the locality.
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