City Nature Challenge

Zoom in: I posted a photo of a ladybeetle larva in my garden, then learned from other users that the Asian species has forked bristles; the natives’ bristles are single-tipped.  Now I know what to look for! Zoom out from any observation and you can see the global distribution of that species.

With a few more clicks, you can see how each organism fits into the entire taxonomical tree of life. Likewise, with TNC, I can spend a morning at work monitoring a plant found only in one small patch in Maryland, then in the afternoon share conservation strategies with Conservancy colleagues from Mongolia, China or Indonesia.

iNaturalist and TNC are both constantly learning and evolving.  iNaturalist’s computer vision, added in 2017, becomes smarter as users identify photos of organisms.

When I started working at the Maryland/DC Chapter, one of my first plant monitoring projects was documenting the steady decline of a rare wildflower, Canby's dropwort (Oxypolis canbyi). Now we have learned that it needs fire to thrive. We are burning its habitat and watching it multiply, and we are working with partner organizations to develop regional strategies to develop a more fire-friendly culture for natural area managers.

Friendly Competition

I’m not normally a competitive person, but when this year’s City Nature Challenge began, I was out at midnight helping the DC area make the best possible showing. This year we ranked 5th for both number of observers and number of research grade observations and 11th for number of species.

So, what observations have DC-area iNaturalists submitted in the moments past midnight?  Photos of a flashlight-illuminated ichneumonid wasp, a shield lichen, raccoon tracks on a trash can, a kitchen pantry moth and an audio file of a mockingbird singing its late-night song all have contributed to our picture of the diversity of life in Washington, DC.