Webinar: How Your iNaturalist Data Makes a Difference for Biodiversity

Why do your iNaturalist observations matter, where do they go, and what impact do they have? Join iNaturalist Executive Director Dr. Scott Loarie, Head of Engagement Dr. Carrie Seltzer, and Head of Development Michelle Vryn to learn about the impact of iNaturalist's data and how iNaturalist has grown thanks to the collective efforts of our community. They'll also share tips for making quality observations, how you can help with identifications, and how you can maximize your impact through data sharing.

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00:00 - Webinar introduction
00:54 - Poll: What role best describes you?
02:45 - Speaker introductions
04:17 - How iNaturalist data are used
04:37 - Biodiversity crisis and generating data
06:15 - Growth of iNaturalist data set
07:03 - Comparison with other data sources
10:35 - Detecting invasive species
11:32 - Large scale use of iNaturalist data: joshua tree flowering
12:36 - Types of studies using iNaturalist data
13:19 - Conservation impact: protecting migrating newts
15:20 - Which observations are useful?
16:58 - How do I know if my observations are used in publications?
18:25 - Poll: Who do you iNat with?
20:37 - How to Up your Impact on iNaturalist
22:03 - How to improve your observations
30:13 - How to add identifications for others
34:34 - How to license your data for scientific use
40:02 - Poll: what will you do to up your impact?
41:59 - How can I take better photos with my smartphone?
43:28 - What's the difference between iNaturalist and Seek by iNaturalist?
44:53 - Why should I share my observation to iNaturalist?
46:10 - How can I get ID input for my observations?
49:00 - Are only "Research Grade" observations valuable for research?
51:15 - How can I motivate my friends to join iNaturalist?
52:57 - Can I use the iNaturalist logo to promote my event or initiative?
54:15 - Wrap up

[matheuscarneiroheinzelmann]

iNaturalist has greatly enriched my life since I started using it in 2021. Through it, I have connected with various researchers who have assisted me either directly or indirectly. I have learned about the local biodiversity in my region and gained a heightened level of environmental awareness, further emphasizing the need to conserve the diverse biomes of our incredible planet. I would like to extend my gratitude to the iNaturalist team and all its users. I'm very happy to be part of this beautiful community!

[ForestSchweitzer]

This was excellent to attend live! Thank you for all the important work you all do. iNat is my favorite app ever and has taught me so much about the world around me.

[vanremsen]

Developers of iNaturalist should receive some sort of major international award for creating and implementing this.platform. Of course there is the scientific use of the data that is valuable, but perhaps more important is the interest it has generated in the natural world. Wouldn't it be nice to know how many people have developed an interest in natural history in general, or of a particular group or a particular site just because of the availability of iNaturalist? Congrats to those who had the vision, skills, drive, and perseverance to create iNaturalist. This is an historic contribution to natural history and conservation.

[rosscoupland]

I wasnt able to wstch live as i am in Australia. At around 47:00 you discuss how 'experts' and identifiers are outweighed by observers. When considering more obscure orders such as insects and arachnids, this is hardly surprising, given there is little funding for taxonomists, globally-speaking.
It would be worth mentioning that such experts that in fact can reliably identify observations, are absolutely critical to the accuracy and integrity of iNat. It is essential to have an accurate identification of a species at some point, so that at the very least, the algorithm has something to go off. Otherwise, every subsequent identification of that species could be inaccurate and skewed. Ultimately, this would create a scenario where an expert would have to 'wade-in' and go through every observation of that species to correct them. A daunting task for many. I feel there could maybe be incentives for experts, to encourage them to weigh-in on identifications, although I suspect that few professionals would be willing to commit to a species-level identification, given the relative low quality of most images, that rarely show important features. Most insects require microscopy or dissection to accurately identify, for example. Just some thoughts, but overall very appreciative that iNat exists and provides a valuable tool for global diversity.

[RHINOTUFF]

inaturalist recently became one of my favorite hobbies. Certainly has enriched my life!
Keep up the great work!!!

Brian Fogel, Selkirk, Ontario, Canada

[marianabravoart]

INaturalist is my absolute favorite app! I'm a naturalist and it's my go-to tool for ID'ing and just learning about the species that surround me. It's also my collection and it's become somewhat of a travel journal, as I try to record at least one observation everywhere I go because I love to see my map growing. It's great to learn about the big picture and how my data is potentially useful for science! I'll check out my license to make it open if it's not already. Thank you for sharing this! It's great to see the faces behind the project. Love you guys!

[scaber]

Thank you for recording this and making it available to those of us who found a 4am (in New Zealand) viewing time a little too challenging!

[JustTheDude]

Thank you for making the recording and slides available. I found the presentation very useful. Been using iNat since 2014.

[ambergeorge]

Michael Skvarla, Ph.D. was kind enough to direct me to this app, as I had a question regarding the Giant Lacewing. Great people and a wealth of information on your app!

(Michael Skvarla, Ph.D. Assistant Research Professor of Arthropod Identification
Department of Entomology
Penn State University)

[razzmatazz]

I studied Physics as a career but i have always loved nature in general, specially insects which have fascinated me since i was a child. I started recording observations in my garden using INat and during the pandemic became what it kept me sane during isolation. I discovered that my garden is very biodiverse with more than 300 species! After the pandemic i got involved with naturalists and conservation projects. This year i went back to University to train as field naturalist and conservator. In 15 days i will go camping in the Rainforest for a project. So in many ways INat changed my life and reconnected me with insects, my childhood passion ❤

[regnierda]

Hooray for Mom for updating her licensing choices and further contributing to biodiversity data!

[diegoa]

Sad I didnt attend, but glad to see this record! thank you staff for all your effort behind iNaturalist! Im happy to be part of this community!

[highanddryful]

I have a passion for sound recordings, so I try to upload calls to iNaturalist regularly 😊

[ChristopherJohnston]

I want to know how he got that iNaturalist recent observations feed on his TV. I'd love 💗that as a screensaver on my TV or computer!

[highanddryful]

Question: I upload to INaturalist, eBird and Xeno-canto, should I upload the same observation to all three platforms?

[JoNight-yfsh]

I am in New Zealand, it was at 4 in the morning for me, I was going to watch but I completely forgot to set my alarm.

[shoggmommy]

Thank you for the recording, it's much appreciated. I wasn't able to watch live.

[Gladiator]

Thank you all from iNat Luxembourg 🇱🇺.
I’ll now put my observations in open licensing, thanks for the info!
Great graphs btw Scott 📈

[moarteavietii]

Thanks for sharing the recording. I wanted to attend live, but failed to do so.
Now I know a lot more about iNaturalist and I'll definitely use it more 😁.
I also found out about seek (installed it already). Maybe you could make it easier to identify species directly from iNaturalist (so I don't have to use different apps).
I use yet another app to identify plants. I'll probably replace (parts of that) with seek (for now).
Thanks again for being awesome!

[snailboy]

Love the app, and this was an interesting and informative guide that gave me confidence to upload and participate more. The licensing tip was good too.
I like Seek too and use both. Seek gives more instant results and also has the ability the ability to adjust your observation on the fly to get best answer as to what your looking at.