Schneider Solstice Bioblitz - June 2024's Journal

You may have noticed on the iNaturalist App that there's a Green button appears on some of your observations. This indicates that they are 'Research Grade' meaning that they will contribute to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and contribute to scientific data sets on various species.

In order to become 'Research Grade' observation, they need to be confirmed by 2 or 3 other users. This is the power of collective action and this fantastic network of Naturalist enthusiasts, amateurs and scientists.

We are currently tracking about 33% of observations are making 'Research Grade'. It's great, but it could be better - so request is, if you feel comfortable & confident, to support the BioBlitz by also helping with identifying and confirming / challenging / making more specific the species naming.

If you only feel confident with plants or butterflies or fish... you can use the filter to shortlist.

Day 3 and it's amazing to see the global Schneider team coming together for a common cause, observations are coming in thick and fast. Here's a top tip to support improved observations, supporting more accurate naming and being more useful data for scientists monitoring citizen science update.

The best way to ensure that our observations are easily identifiable using the AI image recognition functionality is to take better photos.

Here are some top tips for taking better photos:

https://vimeo.com/167341998

1. Get close
2. Take it from multiple angles (you can upload more than 1 image per observation)
3. Take photos that are sharp & in focus

You never know what you might find when you participate in iNaturalist BioBlitz.

Check out this fantastic story from Ecuador and the critical role of citizen sciences in our understanding of Biodiversity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBknt_99w5U

Both the 'every-day' and unique observations are important for getting a full picture of what's happening all around us.

I have a request for anyone that feels confident in identifying species. For observations to contribute to science, they need to be what's called 'Research Grade' and for this to happen the species name needs to be validated by 2 or more people. Because this is a voluntary platform, it can take on average 3 weeks to get validations (sometimes never - depending on how active the local community is).

On average, our last Bioblitz just under 40% of our observations were classified as 'Research Grade'. If you have time and interest in supporting the team, your contribution would be very welcomed and it's a great way to further your understanding of species types. A short video on they the Identifier role is so important: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM8D63h35LM

More information is available here:

https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help#identification

Day 1 of our second BioBlitz is officially open!

A reminder of the rules:

1. Photos must be your own
2. Photos must be taken in the duration of the challenge 24th June 2024 - 30th June 2024
3. No licking or picking - whilst biodiversity is beautiful, it can also be dangerous resulting in bites, stings and allergies
4. Have fun & use this to explore more on the big and very very small biodiversity all around us

The 'Research Grade' results of this challenge will contribute to global biodiversity datasets, used by scientists around the world. Please make sure, as far as possible your images are good quality, location specified and complete as much data inputs as possible.