iNaturalist August News Highlights

We hope everyone had a great August! Here are monthly news highlights. If you’d like to catch up on highlights from the previous month you can do so here.

Invasive Species Management

A. In Minnesota, @gonodactylus's observation of the first invasive Elm Zigzag Sawfly caught the attention of the state’s Department of Agriculture. In the following weeks, @wildcarrot and others found more records bringing the tally to 5.

B. In New York, this Smithsonian Magazine article recounts @samanthakennett, @robrdunn, and @clintpenick’s discovery of the mysterious “ManhattAnt” invading the city and the role of their iNaturalist Project ManhattAnt collecting observations like this one by @janewaters.

C. In Missouri, Italian Wall Lizards rapidly spreading around the city of Joplin were just added to the state’s prohibited species list. To manage the invasion, Missouri Department of Conservation and Texas A&M researchers including @brichey set up the Italian Wall Lizards in America project on iNaturalist to compile observations like this one by @madelineshowers.

D. In New Zealand, @kate_mcalpine and @chowell’s new List of environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 is an excellent example of how iNaturalist can help researchers assess and update country level exotic plant inventories.

Species Discoveries

E. In Mexico, this Science Friday story recounts how @patrick60 and @xanergo’s investigation into an observation by @pinedaperez may represent the rediscovery of an enigmatic Mexican beebalm and the future work they've planned to resolve the mystery.

F. In Arizona, meet Aphonopelma jacobii a new species of tarantula discovered by and named after @michael_jacobi with the help of observations like this one by @sunny1az

G. Browsing iNaturalist observations from Central America, @fauna_mirifica found 7 observations of a wasp known only from a single specimen collected in the 1850s in West Africa. The study concludes that the specimen was likely mislabeled as being from Africa and is in fact a lost native Central American species.

H. In Arizona, @mantodeology described the Sonoran Tiger Mantis as a new species with the help of iNaturalist observations like this one by @biologandoconmiguel.

Range Extensions

I. In the UK, @cdjshepherd’s observation of an Ichneumonid Wasp was noticed by @malcolmstorey as a species new to Britain. @lennartbendixen and cdjshepherd published the discovery here.

J. In California, the island endemic San Clemente Digger Bee had first shown up on the mainland in 2020 but was absent the last 3 seasons. This article tells how thanks to observations like this one by @patsimpson2000, the San Clemente Digger Bee's reappearance in 2024 was documented.

K. In Mexico, @pedro_nahuat and colleagues used iNaturalist observations to help document Mourning Gecko’s arrival in southern Mexico.

Species Conservation

L. In Australia, @jpacker and coauthor’s article on how citizen scientists can help save threatened species highlights the Fungimap Australia project which helped assess the conservation status of at least 13 species of fungus.

M. In Oklahoma, this article by @heather_del_moral from the state Department of Wildlife Conservation highlights her colleague’s @shelligray’s adventures with iNaturalist including finding this dragonfly county record.

N. In Wisconsin, @jnross4 from the Department of Natural Resources explained in a Wisconsin National Public Radio interview how iNaturalist is helping citizens document rare plants like this threatened Pitcher’s Thistle observed by @ehjalmarson.

Speaking of rare species, the lost bird paper leveraging iNaturalist that we previously highlighted (B in the June Highlights) was featured this month in both the New York Times and the Smithsonian Magazine.

Climate Change

O. In California, this Smithsonian Magazine article describes a unique fluorescent color morph of Sunburst sea anemone that is more resilient to climate change. The recent PNAS paper by researchers including @pearse that made this discovery used iNaturalist observations like this one by @allisonjgong to understand how this morph is spreading along the coast.

iEcology

P. In Southeast Asia, @rodyt and colleagues used photos of hunting Golden Treesnakes from iNaturalist such as this one by @natalie to understand the diversity of lizard prey.

Q. In Alaska, photos of whale behavior like this one by @fratercula640 are helping advance research on whales and dolphins according to @shemunger in this study.

AI Naturalist

R. In the Red Sea, researchers used observations of coral reef fishes like this one by @anita363 to train models to autonomously track fish interactions and behavior as described in this article.

Meanwhile, @macaodha’s lab at the University of Edinburgh published new techniques that may help improve the iNaturalist Geomodel.

Bioblitzes and Events

S. In Australia, the Sunshine Coast Marine Bioblitz logged 500 species including this Dusky Butterflyfish by @melinakeane.

T. In Belize, the University of Belize Environmental Research Institute hosted a bioblitz that logged over 1,000 observations including this horse lubber seen by @kamillemendez.

U. In Japan, the ongoing Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections Biodiversity Information Standards Conference is hosting an accompanying bioblitz - thank you @vijaybarve for organizing!

V. In Tennessee, we love how @murfreesborotn-nr is incorporating restoration into their Mufree Spring Wetland project.

iNatters in the News

W. In Texas, iNaturalist superhero @sambiology makes an appearance in this great story about nocturnal urban wildlife.

X. In Acadia, the National Park Service published an article by @ninafoster on how iNaturalist is informing park managers on ecological threats.

Y. In California, we enjoyed @matthew_bettelheim’s article in Bay Nature on how to identify California local turtles.

Z. Also in California. @dutchbill’s encounter with an invading barred owl is recounted here.

Thank you to everyone who participated on iNaturalist this August! You can become an iNaturalist supporter by clicking the link below:

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Publicado el 03 de septiembre de 2024 por loarie