We have some exciting highlights from October to share as we head into November! You can catch up on previous highlights here

Enriching the Lives of Millions of Nature Explorers

iNaturalist empowers anyone with a smartphone to discover the diversity of nature

Over 6 million people used iNaturalist this month to explore nature

iNaturalist supported hundreds of local events this month — like the first bioblitz at Audubon’s Francis Beidler Forest Sanctuary in South Carolina — and continent-wide initiatives, such as the Asia Nature Challenge 2024. Together, these efforts are inspiring millions to explore the outdoors and connect with nature.

Example: getting outside with iNaturalist improves health and quality of life

This month, the New York Times profiled Matt Cohen and Elizabeth Hargrave (@mattandeliz), who have contributed over 6,000 observations to iNaturalist. The article highlights how iNaturalist has enriched their understanding of the natural world, allowing them—and those they engage through their DC walking tours and board game designs—to appreciate the intricate interconnectedness of nature.

Example: iNaturalist is creating community by connecting amateur and expert naturalists

This article describes how iNaturalist connected amateur photographer @philwarb with entomologists @marco_selis, @bdagley, @johnascher and other experts, enabling him to capture the first-ever photographs of 16 insect species and igniting a new passion for science.

Other articles this month highlight how iNaturalist is fostering nature communities that bridge the gap between amateur enthusiasts and expert groups, from moths to mushrooms

Accelerating Global Biodiversity Science

Crowdsourcing the world's most important Global Biodiversity Database

4.5 million observations of 150,000 species were collected this month by participants

By making it easy for people worldwide to document nature, iNaturalist is revolutionizing the pace at which biodiversity data are being created and shared.

This article from India profiles @jimmycarterpolimati who has posted over 8,000 butterfly observations to iNaturalist and led the leaderboard on last month’s Big Butterfly Month 2024.

Example: vetting on iNaturalist by expert naturalists improves accuracy and fuels discoveries

This article describes how observations by @deemopahan and @bhuvanrajk helped @zqtpck describe a new species of Indian Jumping Spider this month. @zqtpck, who is working towards a Ph.D. on the taxonomy of Jumping Spiders at the University of British Columbia has identified over 1,000 jumping spider observations on iNaturalist.

Example: one of thousands of conservation science papers using iNaturalist data

This month, Stanford and U.C. Berkeley researchers @gillespl, @moisesexpositoalonso, and @megaruff combined over 600,000 iNaturalist observations with remote sensing images in AI models to publish the highest resolution maps yet of plant distributions across California.

Protecting Critical Habitats and At-risk Species

Powering On-the-ground Conservation Projects

Over 10,000 grassroots projects on iNaturalist are restoring ecosystems and attracting native species

This month, an article from Australia highlights how a wildlife monitoring project by @triciastewart is assessing the effectiveness of a virtual fence aimed at providing safe passage for wildlife. Shoalhaven City Council shared their appreciation for the project’s data collection, stating:

“The iNaturalist app has been crucial in helping us gather this data and evaluate the impact of our road safety measures.”

This month, Mental Floss, published an inspiring story on the work of @paulkmac, @boinboston and their team, who are using iNaturalist to rewild Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston. So far, they’ve tracked over 700 species on iNaturalist including a reintroduced population of native eastern red-backed salamanders.

The 2024 Less Lawns More Life challenge, which encourages participants to rewild some portion of their yards, wrapped up in October. In the video below, @swampchicken, the chief ambassador for the challenge, shares how he's attracted over 1,500 species by rewilding his backyard in New York state.

Example: governments around the globe rely on iNaturalist as an invasive species early detection network

In a publication this month, @laurenlivo and colleagues from the Oregon Department of Fisheries Wildlife and Conservation used iNaturalist observations to confirm that an introduced whiptail population in the state is not only persisting but also expanding its range.

Montana Natural Heritage Program’s iNaturalist Exotic Species Watch List for Montana. is another example of how agencies rely on iNaturalist to monitor and manage the spread of invasive species.

Example: iNaturalist is driving data-driven advocacy for rare species and informing new protections

When @michelleking spotted an endangered bee nest in her Iowa City backyard, it sparked excitement among bee scientists on iNaturalist. This article describes how this month researcher @kyleprice1 excavated the then-vacant nest to gain valuable insights into these rare bees and inform strategies for their conservation and management.

Our Observation of the Week is this Antarctic Isopod (Glyptonotus antarcticus), seen in Antarctica by @justinhofman13!

Justin Hofman’s early exposure to nature came mostly through books and documentaries, and tells me 

I fell in love with wildlife without ever seeing them and knew very early on that I wanted to study marine biology so I could see the sharks and whales firsthand. So that’s exactly what I did: as soon as I could leave home, I went away and studied marine biology and later scientific illustration as a way to get into the field and avoid becoming a specialist in any one thing.

Using his background in the sciences, he now works on various expedition ships and private yachts as a guide, and has traveled all around the world. Currently he’s heading to the Antarctic Peninsula and will be there for around four months. “It’s really satisfying to show people a really remote part of the planet,” he says.

Justin was diving in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea about nine years ago when he saw the incredible crustacean you see pictured above. 

The fast ice was still intact and we were able to dive right along the edge of the ice. The water was crystal clear and below freezing. There were some really interesting animals on that dive that are unique to the Southern Ocean, one of them being an unimaginably large isopod that tends to creep people out. This one was swimming when I first spotted it, which I had only seen when they inadvertently get disturbed by our fins. Most of the time they are just crawling around on the bottom, but this one was using its pleuropods to scull through the water, which was very neat to see.

Quite common in the Southern Ocean and around Antarctica, Antarctic isopods average around 9 cm (3.5 in) in length, but are known to reach lengths of 20 cm (8 in)! Scavengers and carnivores, they spend much their time on the sea bottom from intertidal areas to a depth of about 600 m. They do also turn upside-down when swimming.

“Since I get to dive and work in very remote places that are difficult to get to, I feel it’s my duty to share our observations with the greater community,” says Justin (above). 

I have a backlog of decades of diving footage in places that no one has ever been underwater, so I am slowly working through them. It’s very interesting to see range maps extended or have a scientist reach out because of an observation that I would have otherwise totally ignored. I have learned so much through iNaturalist and have made some great connections with world experts. Our world is changing rapidly, and I feel like I am cataloging things for the future. I don’t want the baseline to shift too much and hope that my images help keep us on a path towards conservation.

- check out some footage of Antarctic isopods!

- several past Observations of the Week have featured marine isopods, one by @oryzias, another by @vasilis_stergios, and the last by @penel1!

Our (belated) Observation of the Week for October 15th is this Horse-Chestnut Powdery Mildew (Erysiphe flexuosa), seen in the United States by @grace_stark!

Currently a 6th year PhD candidate in Microbiology at UC-Berkeley, Grace Stark has taught the Fungal Biology class there twice, 

and when we teach about the Erysiphaceae (aka powdery mildews) we search for samples to show students different life cycles of this family of fungi. In 2021, I had a student (Shout out, Jonah) that found this horse chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) on campus with the Erysiphe flexulosa infecting it, both of which are introduced to the USA. 

The microscopic pictures on my observation are the sexual stage of this fungus - where the ascospores are contained by a structure referred to as a chasmothecium and the chasmothecium have these beautiful, spiral appendages to grab onto the surface of leaves.  Each year, when the chasmothecium ripen in the fall on this specific tree, I try to show the fungal biology class. What makes this picture so beautiful is that I stain the chasmothecium with lactophenol cotton blue.

Next time, when you see a white powder on a plant look closer and see if you see many tiny black dots- it could be the chasmothecium of a powdery mildew and they are so fun to look at under the scope (especially if you have lactophenol cotton blue).

Powdery mildews generally grow on leaves and stems, and pull nutrients from their host plant. The chasmothecia that appear in the fall will remain dormant throughout the winter and burst in the spring, releasing spores.  

“The complexities of how life functioned drew me to biology very early on,” recalls Grace, who’s originally from Austin, Texas. She was surrounded by caves and springs in the area, where she found fossils in addition to extant organisms. “I rationalized the existence of life through trying to understand how it functioned: within individuals and ecologically. That beautiful mystery of life is a driving force of my interest in biology and nature today.” Her current research focuses on “non-self recognition systems Fungi use to recognize bacteria, which have conserved homology to innate immune systems in plants and animals.”

When not studying she travels around California and uses iNaturalist to help her identify and understand what she comes across.

iNaturalist is instrumental to my understanding of the organisms I encounter. For so long I was just trying to remember the names and locations of the organisms I saw. Eventually, my naturalist friends in California forced me to get an account and I love having it as a digital journal of everywhere I’ve been and everything I see. We teach students how to use it in class! It’s really amazing to see how communities and individuals are using it to gain a deeper relationship with the Earth.

(Photo of Grace by Madelyn Sobel.)

- follow Grace on X!

- check out the most-faved powdery mildew observations on iNat! There are some other pretty sweet microscope photos there.

Our Observation of the Week is this Golden-rumped Sengi (Rhynchocyon chrysopygus), seen in Kenya by @desiredarling!

“The chase of the golden-rumped Sengi started in December 2023 when we stayed in Zanzibar and found the exquisite black and rufous Sengi on the hotel grounds where we stayed,” recalls Desiré Darling, who lives with her husband Gregg in St Francis Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa. “We started researching sengis in Africa and found that Arabuko-Sokoke Forest would be the best place to see the golden-rumped Sengi.”

With some help from their daughter they booked an accommodation in Watamu, Kenya, so they could visit the forest multiple times, and headed north. 

After securing our guide, Rafiki, we were off at 5:30 am to the forest. We saw and photographed many special birds during our visits there: African pitta, Sokoke scops-owl, Sokoke pipit, Green tinkerbird, Amani sunbird etc.

The Sengi, being very secretive and easily spooked, was seen on numerous occasions but either half obscured or too far away. Our lucky day was the third day when this was our target species to photograph. As usual, Rafiki delivered and we had beautiful but brief views as the sengi he/she foraged close by!

I must admit I heard our guide and driver talking about the oldies (myself 68 years and hubbie 71 years) and wondering if we would be able to react fast enough and steady enough to get a decent photo!! Well, I did!

Averaging about 56 cm (20 in) in length, the golden-rumped Sengi is the largest member of the family Macroscelididae and hunts through the leaf litter for insects and other invertebrates. As its common name suggests, its rump is golden colored, which draws attention to this more protected area of its body. It’s listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List of Species, threatened primarily by habitat loss. 

Desiré (above) says that both she and Gregg are 

keen naturalists and our holidays are always planned around nature. Birds, butterflies, dragonflies, orchids, mammals and reptiles are always high on the list to photograph. We both use Inaturalist to confirm if the species we are looking for has been seen and during which months.

We’re excited to announce a new pilot aimed at boosting retention by increasing identifications on observations from new users. This experiment is designed to explore whether more engagement from the identifier community can encourage new users to stay engaged with iNaturalist.

If you’ve been active in the last month and have made between 25,000 and 50,000 identifications —you may notice a new panel on the right side of your dashboard on the website. This panel is an invitation to join the pilot. You can dismiss it if you're not interested. (Note: when we first launched this experiment on Oct 22 the criteria was top 500 IDers, the criteria was changed on Oct 28, see comments below)

How It Works

By opting in, starting the following day and continuing each day you participate, you’ll receive a list of up to 30 observations from new users that we think you’re well-suited to identify.

These observations are selected based on criteria we developed for the Observation Accuracy Experiments, matching identifiers with observations of taxa based on at least 3 improving identifications. In some cases iNaturalist’s species suggestions are being used to determine the taxa. We hope your expertise can help elevate some of these observations to Research Grade status. If you can't identify any, feel free to ignore them, the set will refresh daily.

Your participation is greatly appreciated, and we explain more about the goals and expected outcomes of this experiment below.

Goals of the Experiment

We’ve noticed an interesting trend among new iNaturalist users. New users who achieve at least one Research Grade observation in their first week have a 25% retention rate—meaning they return to the platform a week after joining. In contrast, those who don’t achieve a Research Grade observation have a much lower retention rate, topping out at 10%.

To break this down, the graph below categorizes new users into five groups and shows their respective 1-week retention statistics:

• 0 observations: Users who end their first week with no observations.
• 0 observations without errors: Users who only have observations with submission errors (e.g., missing location data).
• >0 captive obs, 0 wild obs: Users who submit only captive observations, such as houseplants, without any wild observations.
• >0 Needs ID obs, 0 RG obs: Users with observations that need identification but haven’t yet achieved Research Grade status.
• >0 RG obs: Users with at least 1 Research Grade observation.

What stands out is the sharp difference in retention between the >0 Needs ID obs, 0 RG obs group and the >0 RG obs group. The key difference? Whether the iNaturalist identifier community has elevated at least one of their Needs ID observations to Research Grade.

While actions like posting an observation or fixing errors require effort from the new user, transitioning from Needs ID to Research Grade depends entirely on the community of identifiers. It’s likely that attention from the identifier community is crucial for driving new user retention, and this is something we’d like to test.

Why This Experiment Matters

We’ve previously run experiments to encourage new user behavior—like sending reminder emails to users who haven't posted observations or have incomplete submissions—but these email nudges haven’t led to statistically significant improvements in retention.

This pilot shifts our focus to the identifier community. By increasing identifier attention on new user observations, will timely identifications have a more meaningful impact on retention than outreach emails to observers?

Currently at any moment, there are about 4,000 users in their first week in the >0 Needs ID obs, 0 RG obs group. Since we’re only including half of these users (group A from the A/B test), and we are picking up to 3 observations from each included user, that’s a group of about 3,000 observations at any time available to be ID’d. Based on how many identifiers agree to participate, we’ll assess whether it makes sense to make this experiment available more broadly or with other modifications.

Thank you for considering participation in this pilot if you’re eligible. We’re eager to learn from this experiment and will keep you updated on the results!

Identification Pilot Update: 150 Days In (Mar 14, 2025)

This experiment has been running for almost 150 days, and we wanted to share a brief update. Thanks to everyone who has participated—currently 462 people—and with spring underway in the Northern Hemisphere, we expect even more new users to join.

Our goal has been to track whether interventions, such as sending targeted emails or enrolling users in the Identification Pilot, help guide new users along their journey and impact 1-week retention (i.e., if they signed up on a Monday, did they open iNaturalist the following Monday?).

Below are the results from these first 150 days:

Key Findings

• Encouraging New Observations
  
  • Sending new users an "Observation Appeal Email" (prompting them to make an observation) successfully moved ~1% of users out of the "0 obs" group compared to those who didn’t receive the email (bar 1).
  • However, this did not significantly improve 1-week retention (bar 2).
• Fixing Observation Errors
  
  • Sending an email to users in the "0 obs without errors" group (helping them fix issues like missing locations or dates) significantly increased the number of users creating error-free observations (bar 3).
  • But again, no clear impact on 1-week retention (bar 4).
• Encouraging Wild Observations
  
  • The third bar shows results from an email sent to users in the ">0 captive obs, 0 wild obs" group, encouraging them to post wild organisms (bars 5&6).
• Identification Support
  
  • Enrolling new users in the Identification Pilot significantly helps move ~10% of users out of the ">0 Needs ID obs, 0 RG obs" group, thanks to the dedicated efforts of participating identifiers (bar 7).
  • However, this has not led to a noticeable impact on retention (bar 8).
• Research Grade Milestone
  
  • The most promising result: Sending a congratulations email when a user achieves their first Research Grade observation does seem to increase 1-week retention by about 1% (bar 9).

What’s Next?

These ongoing experiments provide valuable insights, though they also highlight how challenging it is to increase retention. It’s possible that:

• Retention is inherently difficult to shift with small interventions.
• Our 1-week retention metric isn’t ideal—for example, a user who signs up on Monday and actively uses iNat daily for two weeks but not on the following Monday would still be considered not retained by this metric.

We're excited to continue refining this experiment throughout the year. For now, it's still running, and your participation remains entirely optional—don't feel obligated to identify new user observations if it’s not a good fit for you, or to participate every day (I personally participate a few days a week).

Thanks again for all your help in identifying observations and making iNaturalist a great resource for both new and experienced users alike!

64% of Americans say that having a will is important — but 68% don’t have a will in place.

October 21st - 27th is National Estate Planning Awareness Week, and this year, we’re reminding our
community that no matter your age or how wealthy you are, you should have a plan in place. With our partner, FreeWill, you can create your plans for free in just 20 minutes online, and protect those you love.

Your iNaturalist account is its own digital legacy to secure. Each member of the iNaturalist community makes unique contributions to our global understanding of biodiversity by adding observations and/or identifications. This week is a great time to create a clear plan for your iNaturalist account and your other assets.

There are two key areas to consider:

1. Securing your iNaturalist account for maximum impact

Your iNaturalist account should be treated as a digital asset in your will and any other estate planning documents. You should describe your wishes for your iNaturalist account, and most importantly, who should be the person to fulfill them. Clarity is important so that your iNaturalist account is set up for maximum long-term impact and isn’t deleted by a well-intentioned person.

In FreeWill, in the section called “gifts” you enter your iNaturalist account as a “property” (the type is “digital”). We recommend you designate loved ones as the primary and contingent beneficiaries for your iNaturalist account. You can unambiguously describe it with these details:

Website: https://www.inaturalist.org
Username: [your username]
User id: [your numeric user id] - (you can find this in the URL of your profile)
Associated email address: [email address]
[Include any guidance, which may include changing some settings for maximum long-term impact]

Outside the United States, you’ll need to consult other resources to make sure that your wishes are legally binding.

2. Supporting loved ones and causes you care about

It’s essential to consider your loved ones in the process of estate planning, including your pets. Many people also take the opportunity to designate charitable gifts to causes that are important to them. We encourage you to consider how gifts from your estate can support biodiversity.

FreeWill makes it easy to designate iNaturalist or any other US nonprofit organization as a primary or contingent beneficiary of your estate. You can choose to either notify the organization about your gift intentions or not.

Create my free will or trust

Nothing you create on FreeWill is binding until it’s signed, so you can take a look even if you’re just curious.

We hope that you will explore these free resources this week to ensure that your legacy for biodiversity is secured for the future.

Species that haven’t been seen for years but may not yet be extinct are urgent conservation priorities. Rediscovering them before time runs out is crucial to directing conservation efforts and resources where they are needed most.

In June, we featured the Search for Lost Birds initiative by Re:wild, American Bird Conservancy, and BirdLife International, which used data from iNaturalist and other sources to highlight 126 bird species that haven’t been observed in the past decade.

Shortly after, the iNaturalist community made an amazing discovery: one of these lost species, the New Britain Goshawk, was unknowingly photographed and posted by @tomvierus in Papua New Guinea.

Accelerating Rediscoveries with Re:wild

We’ve been working closely with Re:wild’s Search for Lost Species program to accelerate these rediscoveries. Together, we’ve revamped the Search for Lost Species projects on iNaturalist, which are actively maintained by Re:wilds’s Lost Species Officer, Christina Biggs (@searchforlostspecies), and her team.

At first glance, there are nearly 500 lost species candidates, observed by over 750 iNaturalist observers, spread across 13 different lost species groups. The Re:wild team is actively investigating these potential rediscoveries, and also highlighting stories such as the rediscovery of the Frosted Phoenix, the "Holy Grail of New Zealand moths", on iNaturalist. By coordinating with Re:wild, we aim to better surface these finds and ensure they receive the conservation attention they deserve.

How can you help?

You can contribute to the search by reviewing observations in the Search for Lost Species projects. Here's how:

1. Taxonomic issues

Some lost species according to Re:wild’s taxonomy may be lumped with more common species on iNaturalist. For example, the bird Glaucidium castaneum from the original lost bird list is considered a subspecies of Glaucidium capense on iNaturalist, which is not lost. If you encounter species listed due to taxonomic discrepancies, please mention @searchforlostspecies and suggest their removal.

2. Misidentifications

If you have expertise in any of the species groups and suspect that an observation of a lost species candidate is misidentified, please add a disagreeing ID and explain why.

3. True rediscoveries

If you've ruled out taxonomic issues and misidentifications and believe an observation represents a genuine rediscovery, leave a comment explaining your reasoning. Mention @searchforlostspecies and suggest they add it to the Rediscovered Lost Species project.

Supporting Biodiversity Through iNaturalist

We’re excited to collaborate with organizations like Re:wild, who are leveraging iNaturalist to fulfill their mission of protecting and restoring biodiversity. Together, we can make a difference in rediscovering species that the world thought were lost forever.

This is the twenty-sixth entry in an ongoing monthly (or kind of monthly!) series profiling the amazing identifiers of iNaturalist. She had a lot of really interesting responses to my questions so I’ll be quoting her extensively here.

Hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, @rlucine (who goes by Lucie) remembers first becoming interested in nature during her “mushroom phase” at about the age of four. “As an adult, I am discovering that I was always extremely neurodivergent,” she says.

I also remember going birding with my mom when I was in grade school, and I liked observing wildlife at aquariums and on beaches in Japan (particularly Nakatajima Sand Dunes in Hamamatsu) whenever my family went to visit my grandma. 

Lucie first heard about iNaturalist while on a date in 2021, and started using it in earnest in 2023, when she found out her girlfriend was also on iNat. 

I decided to document everything in my local neighborhood, and also upload whatever old observations I saw in Japan. I currently love to photograph bugs, spiders, mollusks, and wildflowers; and in Japan I try to document as many limpets as possible.

A year ago I got cranky on the train when the computer vision on iNaturalist didn't suggest what a limpet I photographed was, and it was obviously a very striking color, so I went on the internet to do research. It turned out to be Cellana nigrolineata, and that prompted me to look into limpets more and try to identify them for other cranky people in Japan too. However, I'm not only currently interested in nature - I'm also a queer experimental fiction author, a big fan of Pokemon, and a huge nerd about commercial aviation.

I find myself drawn to limpets because of their unique body plan and behavior. It's funny to me how they only move like 1 meter per day at a very slow rate, and I've enjoyed finding them attached to rocks by surprise. In general things like marine fouling and weeds interest me since they are parts of nature that people don't value as much. Like, compare weeds to rose gardens, or compare marine fouling (barnacles, limpets, oysters, etc) to what might be kept in an aquarium.

I feel like often people ignore or even despise what is “common” or “unwanted” in nature and attempt to remove it, such as by weeding parks. Removing marine fouling is also necessary to some industries such as shipping since encrustation of organisms increases the drag of the ship's keel in the water. But as a person who's often found myself “unwanted” by society, I have a lot of empathy for the vermin/weeds/unwanted creatures which persist anyway.

She’s now added over 4,300 identifications to iNaturalist and focuses her identifying

across multiple classes and families in the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean, particularly in Asia. Subclass Patellogastropoda (true limpets) are my main focus, however I've also done research into the families Siphonariidae (false or pulmonate limpets), Fissurellidae (keyhole limpets), Hipponicidae (hoof snails), Calyptraeidae (slipper snails), the genus Septaria of Neritidae (nerite snails), and the order Lingulida (lingulate brachiopods), all of which are often confused because they are all "limpetized" to some extent.

Lucie’s task is made difficult for a few reasons: 

Visual characteristics and the number of ribs [on the shell] are historically unreliable in many cases, there are cryptic species, and erosion can also delete identifying characteristics from a shell and leave us with only the shape of the margin to determine a genus. Unfortunately a great deal of research also requires tons of money to read, which is not accessible to me (I just work as a housekeeper in my local Co-op, and don't have that kind of cash - I'm not sponsored or anything, despite that my friends keep calling me a grad student for how invested I am in limpetry).

So she finds as many free resources as she can (“many of which mutually contradict each other on topics such as shell morphology and distribution and contribute to a general sense of chaos”), such as WoRMS, malacopics.nl, BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library), the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Jstage, ResearchGate, SeaLifeBase, BISMaL, Bishogai, biolib.cz, Conchology, Femorale, and Molluscs of Tasmania. Her identifications are best guesses based a “synthesis of distribution and morphology across as many sources as possible…[and] I add comments in order for whoever shows up next to have information to either agree or disagree with me”

Despite the many difficulties involved when researching and identifying limpets, and fixing misidentified observations on iNaturalist, Lucie tells me 

Taxonomy and shell identification are often frustratingly subjective, but the sense of understanding and organization that follows from identifying the natural world gives me a great sense of connection. I de-stress from my work week by identifying limpets on the computer, and I hope that the information I link to users makes them more excited to post photos of limpets, so that I can see more of them :)

Speaking of which, she’s anticipating her next trip to Japan:

I'm looking forward to visiting unusual non-tourist locations in Japan to determine the range of several species such as Cellana testudinaria and Siphonaria laciniosa, which may or may not be found as far north in the Pacific as Kyushu? I also intend to search for Siphonaria rucuana, Siphonaria subatra, and Siphonaria acmaeoides, which we don't have many photographs of on iNaturalist. The genus Nipponacmea and members of the Lottia kogamogai species complex also interest me, but we do have several photos of them. iNaturalist is very helpful because I get to see limpets every day without actually being on the beach in Asia.

Found a limpet? Lucie has some tips for making an identifiable observation:

• If possible, capture a photograph of the top-down, underside, and side profile of the shell so we can accurately discern the shape. However, the top of the shell tends to be most important.
• Please zoom in close and focus, as shell and rib microstructure is often necessary to discern or corroborate a species ID, particularly for Nipponacmea.
• Eroded shells and shells covered in algae or mineral deposits are often impossible to ID to species level, but sometimes it can be. Cellana species in Hawaii can be inferred based on what is growing on them, for example, as the three main species inhabit different areas of the shore.
• If you are in Hawaii, please try to observe the color of the limpet's foot (without hurting the animal, of course - unless you plan to eat it too).
• Photographs of numerous limpets next to each other often include more than one species, and often, more than one family. Siphonaria japonica and Siphonaria sirius mingle among Patelloida saccharina and Lottia dorsuosa, for example. It's best to include one limpet per picture/observation. Some very good information has been rendered unusable due to people uploading two species of limpet in the same photo, or combining tons of different limpet photos into the same observation.
• Tiny limpet shells can be found intact among large-grain sand on the beach, and these species are often incredibly interesting and understudied, such as Patelloida signata or (in my wildest dreams) Lepetidae or Pectinodonta species.
• Please do not hurt the limpets in order to take photos of them. I am opposed to live capture and it makes me very sad when people kill limpets just to post identifiable research information on iNaturalist. Even if a view of the muscle scar of the shell is needed for an ID, please do not excise a live organism from its shell; just search for another one that is already dead.

Here are some notable observations and taxa that Lucie sent:

• This beautiful limpet from Shandong has stymied myself and @zouyifan, and we think it may be an undescribed species! This is the one I think I'm most excited about.
• I think this one is Patelloida lentiginosa, a species first reported in India in 2020 by Vakani, Nakano, and Kundu. This paper basically showed me that all of the shells we thought were Cellana radiata, including the example images we used on iNaturalist, were wrong...
• If I had to pick a favorite limpet, it would be the Philippines' black-and-white striped form of Patelloida saccharina, or Patelloida striata. 
• Recently I identified Siphonaria tongensis on iNatualist here after some weird and exhaustive research detailed in comment.
• And I also may have identified Lottia tranquebarica in Tamil Nadu, India for the first time documented on the internet since the original description.

Our Observation of the Week is this Syzygium longifolium myrtle plant, seen in New Caledonia by @adurbano!

“I always knew that my life would be dedicated to protecting the environment,” says Amaury Durbano, who joined his first nature protection association at the age of seven. 

As a teenager, I arrived in New Caledonia where I discovered the marine environment and the exceptional Caledonian biodiversity, both terrestrial and marine. My academic career led me to obtain a master's degree in the functioning and management of marine ecosystems.

Since 2018, I have been the facilitator of the Hô-üt association based in Touho in New Caledonia.

The association helps to preserve part of the North East Coastal Zone (subzone 4), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and works with local stakeholders to do so. “Between my work at the Hô-üt association and my free time,” Amaury says, “I am lucky to spend a lot of time in nature.”

The inhabitants of the tribes, particularly that of Koé (Ko weï in Cèmuhî, the language of Touho) welcomed me warmly, integrated me into their activities and shared their knowledge. This article gives me the opportunity to thank them. Thanks to the Hô-üt association, I also have the opportunity to act as a link between the population and the community in charge of environmental management (the Northern Province).

In 2022, the Hô-üt association won a call for projects to create an educational trail in the Ponandou rainforest with the support of the clan council of the Koé (Ko weï) tribe. The objective of this trail, led by members of the Hô-üt association and the inhabitants of Koé (Ko weï), is to raise awareness among visitors about the preservation of the rainforest and to present this ecosystem: animal and plant species, the roles of the forest and its dynamics, traditional uses of plants, pressures and threats (fires, invasive exotic species, etc.), the names of plant species in Cèmuhî, the micro-endemic skink of Ponandou, etc. Note that 70% to 80% of the plant species in the rainforest are endemic to New Caledonia. 

As part of a project funded by the Northern Province, members of the Hô-üt association organized a visit to the trail with students from the Touho vocational high school on the morning of September 19, 2024, to raise their awareness of the importance of preserving the rainforest. Arriving at the end of the visit, around a waterhole where a waterfall flows, visitors had the chance to observe a Syzygium longiflorum in bloom. This species, which is part of the same genus as the Kanak apple tree (Syzygium malaccense), is called “éï” in Cèmuhî.

Ranging from Africa to Australasia, the genus Syzygium contains well over one thousand species. As Amaury mentioned, some have edible fruits (often called “roseapples”), and the clove is also a member of Syzygium.

A member of iNat since 2021, Amaury (above) tells me “iNaturalist and its community allow me to identify and learn about species living in the Pacific region and easily connect with experts around the world. Additionally, iNaturalist’s classification system allows me to easily save, categorize, and find my observations.”

(Photo of Amaury courtesy of the Hô-üt association.)

- a “lost fish” species in New Caledonia was rediscovered via iNat!

- a previous Observation of the Week detailed the finding of a rare Pancheria ouaiemensis plant in New Caledonia by @narido!

Last week, iNaturalist hit an exciting milestone—1,000,000 observations with sound!

While this is a small fraction compared to the number of image-based observations, it’s a significant contribution to global biodiversity monitoring. In fact, iNaturalist is now the second-largest provider of sound recordings to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) over the past decade. While initiatives like Macaulay Library at Cornell Lab of Ornithology and FrogID at the Australian Museum also contribute vast sound-generated point records to GBIF, the datasets on the graph below uniquely share with GBIF the sound recordings themselves.

The Growing Role of Sound on iNaturalist

Sound is becoming an increasingly important tool for biodiversity documentation on iNaturalist. Here's how it's being used and our vision for the future.

Using iNaturalist to Record and Annotate Sounds: Case Study from Panama

To explore how iNaturalist is helping record and annotate sounds, we spoke with Brian Gratwicke (@briangratwicke), a long-time iNaturalist user and amphibian conservation lead at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. In Altos de Campana National Park, Panama, where amphibian populations have been devastated by chytrid fungus, Brian and his colleagues Roberto Ibáñez (@ibanezr) and Jorge Guerrel (@jorge_guerrel) have been using sound recordings to make remarkable discoveries.

Recently, the team rediscovered and recorded calls from the Boquete rocket frog (Silverstoneia nubicola), a species that hadn’t been detected in the park for years. They also recorded the calls of the abundant Rainforest rocket frog (Silverstoneia flotator), which has a very similar call. Roberto Ibáñez, a leading expert on frog calls in Panama who has been studying them since the 1980s, is one of the few who can distinguish these species by sound alone.

So far, around 100 contributors have submitted 261 sound observations of 47 out of 188 frog species from Panama. Our goal is to make iNaturalist an even more valuable tool for collecting sound vouchers and annotations, which we hope will attract more experts like Roberto to share their amphibian call expertise on iNaturalist.

Looking Ahead: Sound and AI on iNaturalist

The future of sound on iNaturalist is bright. Grant Van Horn (@gvanhorn), a longtime collaborator on iNaturalist's computer vision projects and creator of Merlin Sound ID, recently worked with iNaturalist staff member Alex Shepard (@alexshepard) and colleagues from the University of Massachusetts Amherst to publish a paper on the iNaturalist Sounds Dataset. This paper, focused on building sound datasets for advancing AI sound models, was just accepted to NeurIPS 2024, one of the world’s top conferences on machine learning and AI. It can be found here.

Our long-term vision is to elevate sound to the same status as images on iNaturalist. We’re committed to developing tools that will make it easier for the community to record, annotate, and showcase sounds. We aim to leverage these data to power the next generation of AI sound models. These models will not only enhance the iNaturalist platform but also be shared with the broader scientific and conservation community.

By the end of 2024, we project that iNaturalist’s computer vision and geo models will cover 100,000 species. Even building an AI sound model capable of accurately identifying 10% of that—around 10,000 species—could be transformative for bioacoustics research.

Join Us in Shaping the Future of Bioacoustics

Can the iNaturalist community rally to generate the data needed for a 10,000-species sound model? We believe the answer is yes. With the right tools, outreach, and collaboration, we can achieve this ambitious goal together. Let's continue working together to expand the power of sound in conservation and biodiversity research!

Tips for Contributing Sound Observations

Identifying species by sight can be tricky, and sound adds an extra layer of challenge! Follow these simple tips to make identification easier for the iNaturalist community:

1. Recording Techniques: Get as close as possible to your subject without disturbing it. Stand still and keep quiet to minimize background noise like footsteps, clothing rustle, or other sounds that could obscure your subject’s sound. Point your microphone toward the sound source, which may mean pointing the bottom of your phone toward your subject. Aim for recordings of at least 10 seconds—or ideally 30 seconds if the subject stays put—as longer samples can help with identification.
2. Recording Diversity: To help us build a complete picture of each species’ sounds, record different individuals across various locations and times of year. Many shorter recordings from diverse settings are far more useful than a few lengthy ones from the same spot.
3. Background Species: While it’s not required, going above and beyond by adding notes about any background species you hear can be incredibly valuable. Even when these sounds overlap with your target subject, they provide important context about the environment and help future listeners better interpret your recording. This extra detail also contributes to the development of machine learning models that recognize all species vocalizing, not just the target species.
4. File Format: If you’re uploading sounds recorded outside the iNaturalist app, please use WAV files with a minimum sample rate of 44.1kHz.