I’m really excited about iNaturalist’s recent updates to plant phenology annotation capabilities—something I’ve been eagerly awaiting! Thank you to iNaturalist, the NSF, and the collaboration of researchers who worked to enhance these plant phenology annotations. This is a significant boost to Indiana Phenology’s efforts to utilize iNaturalist observations for studying plant phenology in Indiana.
The new annotation capabilities make it easier to track and analyze key phenological events such as leaf color changes, flowering, and fruiting. iNaturalist observations can now be annotated to indicate evidence of leaf buds, leaves, seasonal color change, or no leaves. The flowering and fruiting annotations have also been updated.
Previously, answering questions about the timing and sequence of these events required manually inspecting and tabulating observations in spreadsheets before analysis. But with these updates, we’re moving closer to a future where you can simply filter iNaturalist observations to gain insights into the phenological patterns of plants across Indiana.
You can read more about these updates on iNaturalist’s blog and forum:
For a detailed explanation of all iNaturalist annotations, visit the iNaturalist Annotations Guide.
Get Involved!
If you want to help make this a reality for Indiana, consider joining our upcoming advanced iNaturalist training sessions. We’ll be discussing how to annotate the phenology of iNaturalist observations, giving you the skills to contribute to this growing database of knowledge.
We’re offering two sessions this fall, covering the same material:
September 18, 2024, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM: Register Here
October 29, 2024, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM: Register Here
You can view our full fall event lineup here: Indiana Phenology Events.
Annotating observations is a great way to connect with nature, even when you can’t be outdoors. Personally, I enjoy annotating late at night or during the dreary winter months. And you don’t need to be an expert to contribute—if you can recognize the difference between leaves, flowers, and fruits on at least one type of plant, you can do this!
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