By ETHAN HATCHETT
Want to help Georgia DNR with research? Sign up for an iNaturalist account and take photos of the invertebrates you see each day, from spiders and worms to butterflies and snails.
Those reports can be fed into DNR’s Georgia Invertebrates project, a first-ever agency effort which centers on collecting observation data from the iNaturalist community. The goal is to better understand and conserve rare native species and map their movements.
Anna Yellin, an entomologist with the DNR Wildlife Conservation Section, said that data like this wasn’t attainable before iNaturalist, an easy-to-use, online network recording biodiversity around the world. And considering the extreme diversity involved with terrestrial invertebrates, no researcher can become familiar with every taxonomic group.
“That makes networking and sharing information necessary,” Yellin said. “iNaturalist is a way to crowdsource the surveys and network with the specialists to help identify more species.”
Sweet pitcherplant (Sarracenia rubra) (Alan Cressler)
BEYOND INVERTEBRATES
Invertebrates not your thing? DNR has also started using iNaturalist to track all species of conservation concern, such as wood storks, trispot darters and sweet pitcherplants, in its Georgia Tracked Species project.
Meanwhile, small mammals like the eastern spotted skunk and southeastern pocket gopher are being mapped in the Georgia Small Mammals project.
The growing reservoir of iNaturalist data is another source DNR can use to help inform conservation decisions and overall management.
HOW TO TAKE PART
- Log into your iNaturalist account or create an account.
- Using your computer (the following action is not available through the app), go to Georgia Invertebrates, Georgia Tracked Species or Georgia Small Mammals.
- In your member settings, “trust” the project and, depending on the project, select either “Yes, for any of my observations” or “Yes, no matter who adds the observation to the project.” This allows biologists to access the data created by your observations, whether reported by computer or mobile device.
Top: Monarch butterfly (Denise Shepherd/DNR)