18 de julio de 2023

identifications

In recent months I have been doing more identifications in iNaturalist, in part as a way of giving back to the iNaturalist community. I really appreciate the many identifications of my observations by experts, particularly for taxa where I have little expertise (e.g. moths, leafminers, galls, mushrooms, etc.).

I have mostly been identifying graminoids (grasses, sledges, rushes), plants I have had a long interest in and groups that many naturalists have difficulty identifying. I often don't provide a rationale for my identifications but feel free to tag me if you want an explanation. I make mistakes and hope to learn from them, so please question any identification you don't agree with.

Graminoids can be difficult to identify and to maximize the possibility of an accurate identification, post multiple photos, close-ups of inflorescence, seeds, leaves, and stems as well as more distant photos of the whole plant and it's habitat. Good focus can be critical. Photographing the inflorescence and/or seeds in your hand will often allow the camera to focus more sharply. Graminoids in vegetative or immature condition can often be impossible to identify so try to select plants in reproductive condition and with mature seeds.

Publicado el 18 de julio de 2023 a las 06:36 PM por michael_oldham michael_oldham | 4 comentarios | Deja un comentario

13 de abril de 2023

Uploading natural history observations

For more than 40 years I’ve been maintaining a database of my natural history observations and I have recently began uploading these data to iNaturalist. I am doing this year by year, starting with the most recent years, since more recent records are generally in better shape, having digital Latitude and Longitude co-ordinates, accuracy values, habitat, and other information available.

Using the iNaturalist upload tool I have concatenated fields in my personal records database (called MJOALL), which is maintained in MS Access, and uploaded the records to iNaturalist, with the databased information added to the Notes field. Once uploaded these records are iNaturalist “casual” grade observations since they are not supported by photo or audio recording documentation. More than 100,000 of my natural history observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist.

I am also dispersing my personal herbarium of 20,000+ vascular plant specimens as well as other natural history collections (Odonata, Unionidae, terrestrial Gastropoda, and other taxa) to a variety of museums and herbaria (most to the Canadian Museum of Nature). I am photographing some of the collections donated to various collections and uploading the photos to iNaturalist. In addition I have been scanning 35 mm slides and uploading the digital images to help document iNaturalist observations.

My goal is to have as many of my personal natural history observations as possible documented by iNaturalist observations, so the information will be accessible to others who wish to use the data for research and conservation purposes.

Publicado el 13 de abril de 2023 a las 07:40 PM por michael_oldham michael_oldham | 2 comentarios | Deja un comentario

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