SVIMS iNaturalist Workshop
Help document biodiversity in BC’s parks with the BC Parks iNaturalist Project
Date: Sunday March 8th, 2020
Time: 3:15pm – 5:30 pm
Place: Swan Lake Nature House
Cost: by donation
iNaturalist is used worldwide to crowdsource and share biodiversity observations: users take photos of flora, fauna, and fungi using their mobile phones or cameras and upload those images to inaturalist.ca, and iNaturalist’s image recognition software and user community can help identify the organism. Kelly Fretwell and Naomi Salie from the BC Parks Foundation will guide you through the process of using iNaturalist to make great citizen science observations of the fascinating fungi, lichens, and slime moulds you come across while out exploring, and to share your own species identification expertise.
Learn about how SVIMS members can get involved in citizen science through the BC Parks iNaturalist Project. This project now has more than 116,000 observations of 5,000 species, thanks to the photo and identification contributions of over 2,700 citizen scientists. By contributing to this project you can create an interactive record of your outdoor explorations while also generating data that helps researchers develop a deeper understanding of what our parks are protecting.
Those with expertise can also share their knowledge and help others identify what they found: the skills and knowledge of SVIMS members would be particularly valuable in determining the often more elusive identities of fungi, lichens, and slime moulds found by other observers.
The afternoon will include a guided stroll in Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary to find and photograph species, so be sure to bring a smart phone or camera to take photos.
Recommendations & optional equipment to prepare for this event:
- Create an iNaturalist account at inaturalist.ca
- Download the iNaturalist app on your mobile phone.
- Bring a laptop computer if you would prefer to use iNaturalist’s desktop website platform rather than the app (not required, but you might find it helpful)
- Bring a hand lens (loupe) to learn how to turn your phone into a handheld macro lens
