We are preparing ourselves for a Bioblitz week that will take place in mid November 2020. The project entitled ‘REGUA Bioblitz 17-24 November 2020’ is part of the Inaturalist citizen science initiative. INaturalist is a platform where you can record what you see in nature, meeting other nature lovers and scientists and learning about the natural world around us. You can use it to record your own observations, either uploading your pictures on the website or even using the app. It’s recommendable downloading the app. The platform uses AI (artificial intelligence) for flora and fauna identification in case you need some help.
Everyone can become a naturalist photographing their subject of interest contributing to science. Adhering to citizen science allows us to learn and understand about nature.
There is also a longterm project called ”REGUA Biodiversity Celebration” that already counts with more than 7.000 observations exhibiting more than 1.700 flora and fauna species. This project was conceived by the contribution of many people who posted their photographs, including past records from previous trips and some others who helped to identify species. Adding observations help REGUA acknowledge which species are present within its territory. It’s worth considering the following tips:
Every picture is relevant. You don’t have to be a brilliant photographer (on the contrary, in some cases the system learns more from low resolution images);
You don’t have to be a specialist to post observations. You can upload pictures of ordinary, day to day species. Just inform the system which is the taxonomic group you are referring to;
When posting an observation within REGUA’s territory, it will be automatically included in the project related to REGUA;
It’s a good opportunity to learn about the different taxonomic groups. Bear in mind there are specialists looking at your observations and that they can help you identify them;
It’s fun to go through Inaturalist and you will have good memories of REGUA while uploading your pictures.
REGUA Biodiversity Celebration project (©Inaturalist).
A special thank you to Jean-Paul Boerekamps, Andrew Wilson and Projetomantis for their valuable support!