Up to my shoulders
I have been wading just within my depth for a couple of weeks.
I have been 'put right' by some good and well-meaning people and made some strong friends and I have used some of iNat's facilities to good effect.
I was surprised to learn that "....observations with photos and which have obtained the "research grade" are automatically transmitted to GBIF by iNaturalist." (https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/13900-sharing-your-observations-with-the-community-at-gbif)
This seems a little curious, as many of the organisms cannot, in theory at least, be identified from a photo alone and few are supported by ID text. So one has to hope that at least the one agreement that has promoted the RG setting, is based on good science or extensive knowledge.
Beyond which, I like the way Curators quickly engage when required or when asked.
I have launched a couple of Personal Projects, which I am using mainly to store relevant information. In particular, I have managed to bring together all the information I hold about the gorgeous Blue Rayed Limpet, seen only in very limited marine areas of Western Europe but with one VERY interesting Observation in the USA. One of three posts shown below
I may wade a little out of my depth (have to swim), but not yet.
Observaciones
Fotos / Sonidos
Observ.
dejaymDescripción
My third Blue-ray post in a week - they are my favourites!
Clearly easy to ID but not so easy to find.They are found, mostly, on the underside of Kelp (Laminaria) fronds but may occur on a few other broad fronded algae.
They are not very big in their most numerous stage, in their first few months of life. They can be tiny at 1mm to begin with, (probably in September) but by the following late spring they are 5-7mm.
I took a few home for a couple of hours, so that I could study them closely. They climbed the glass sheet I offered, so I could photograph their little undersides - pictures 5 & 6 & 7. It was here that I noticed their tendency to ALWAYS 'scurry' away from the light - perhaps they are photo-phobic?
They lose their jewelled appearance once they leave the fronds (probably after several months) to descend the stems to settle near the holdfast where they gradually take on a new 'sizeable' identity for a year or two - picture 10 shows both shells. In storms or when they can no longer hold on, they are swept away, to be predated, leaving their shells to collect on beaches. It is there where you are most likely to encounter the shell, which is drab, sometimes with passengers, (picture 8) on the outside but often highly refractive on the inside - picture 9.
This is a European species with an interesting single US (1916) record seen on this distribution map https://www.gbif.org/species/5728509 and recorded here http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27054800.
Edward S Morse was no slouch in that period https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_S._Morse so one might wonder what happened to the specimen.
Almost finally, the blue stripes themselves offer us wonder and science here https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272838353_A_highly_conspicuous_mineralized_composite_photonic_architecture_in_the_translucent_shell_of_the_blue-rayed_limpet
And if you love science (surely you do) then this gives insite http://www.itp.uni-hannover.de/~zawischa/ITP/multibeam.html
Comentarios
Yes: the lack of a reputation system here is one of the hardest things to come to terms with. They have experimented with a reputation system, but it is internal: there is a very strong anti-expert and communistic approach here, and scientific status counts for nothing. Any expert has to prove themselves on iNat or accept being a nobody. Over a year on and they have not implemented their reputation system - it has quietly died after a little fanfare.
So yes: two IDs is enough, or two more IDs than its takes to balance any disagreement. The system is complex to calculate, but the computer has no problem doing it.
But iNat has cool curation tools, and the experts find the site addictive. Those that are put out by not having their IDs make research grade are easily unqualmed with an agreement or two.
Good luck with your projects: I love the project summaries and the ability to use projects in filters to interrogate them further.
The whole Atlantic lies ahead of you waiting for you to take the plunge ...
Edited
Yes, thanks for your watchful presence.
I used to rely on GBIF but am now completely disillusioned. Some records in iNat have lost RG and yet still show in the Portal. Every record now has to be interrogated again. I am very distrustful of iNat RGs.
I have paddled a little on the USA's Atlantic shore but nearly drowned when I challenged someone. I need to learn to challenge in an unchallenging style - tread water a little off-shore perhaps or stay on the beach!
Overall though, these are pleasant waters.
I am not certain the issue is to do with Reputation specifically but the overall ethic (of adding nothing but a picture or agreement, without comment) seems, to me, to be flawed.
Agregar un comentario