Did you know that every plant observation on iNaturalist helps us understand the timing of seasonal cycles?
Phenology is the study of seasonal events in nature such as flowers, fruits, and leaf color change. Each photo of a plant contains critical information about the presence or absence of flowers, fruits, and leaves. We need you to help unlock those insights! Even when you aren’t out making observations, you can make a big difference by adding annotations.
In this webinar, we cover:
- Why phenology is so important
- Examples of phenology research using iNaturalist data
- How you can help by adding flower and leaf annotations on iNaturalist
This webinar is part of a collaboration with Phenobase, a project supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation. We’ll also cover how iNaturalist data flows into Phenobase, and how Phenobase is using your annotations.
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Links
Phenobase: https://phenobase.org/
Methods for broad-scale plant phenology assessments using citizen scientists’ photographs (Barve, et al): https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aps3.11315
Joshua Tree Phenology Projects: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/yucca-moths-and-joshua-trees
Reconstructing 120 years of climate change impacts on Joshua tree flowering (Yoder, et al): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.14478
iNaturalist Annotation Definitions: https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/articles/151000191830
iNaturalist Educator's Guide: https://help.inaturalist.org/en/support/solutions/articles/151000170805
Annoating Prunus: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=research&order_by=random&taxon_id=47351&without_term_id=12
Annotating Acer: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=research&order_by=random&without_term_id=36&taxon_id=47727
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction by Dr. Carrie Seltzer
04:16 Introduction to Phenology with Erin Grady
19:46 Phenology Assessments for Yucca with Dr. Vijay Barve
25:56 Phenology Data and Joshua Trees, including modeling, with Dr. Jeremey Yoder
36:12 Flowering Plant Annotations on iNaturalist with Dr. Carrie Seltzer
42:06 How to Add Annotations on iNaturalist with Dr. Carrie Seltzer