Diario de carrieseltzer

We've created another way to encourage you to submit observations: scavenger hunts! We've arranged scavenger hunts around two themes—food webs and butterflies—and created supporting materials to help you explore biodiversity while learning more about these topics.

Food Web Mission

Butterfly Mission

These biodiversity scavenger hunts were created especially with families in mind, but anyone can use them. If you or someone you know wants a little more guidance exploring biodiversity in your neighborhood, download these documents to take outside with you.

Right now they are just pdfs you can download to view on a mobile device or print out, but our long-term plan is to make it easy to contribute via greatnatureproject.org and/or an app. Please let us know if you have thoughts or suggestions.

If you've filled out a profile in greatnatureproject.org too, you should have received an email about this today. We sincerely apologize if you clicked on the links right away and found they didn't work. They work now!

We want everyone to get outside during that time for our global snapshot of biodiversity from May 15-25. I have a special challenge for you that I'm going to take on myself.

Can you make at least one observation from each of the 13 iconic taxa? That's at least one of each of the following:
-Plants
-Protozoans
-Fungi (including lichens)
-Mollusks
-Ray-finned fishes
-Birds
-Reptiles
-Amphibians
-Mammals
-Insects
-Arachnids
-Other Animals (stuff that doesn't fall into another more specific animal category listed above, like most other invertebrates)
-Kelp, Diatoms, and Allies

Some of these are going to be easy, but it's definitely going to vary from place to place. You might have to brush up on what's in Kingdom Chromista and get your hands on a microscope for the Protozoans.

Rules:

1. It has to have a photo, date, and location.
2. It has to be observed during May 15-25 (your local time).
3. You must upload it by Wednesday, May 27 (your local time).
4. It has to have a correct identification that ties it to one of those taxa.

At the end of the snapshot, I'll recognize everyone who met the challenge in another journal post. I hope you'll use this as an excuse to explore something out of your comfort zone!

We want everyone to get outside during that time for our global snapshot of biodiversity from May 15-25. I have a special challenge for you that I'm going to take on myself.

Can you make at least one observation from each of the 13 iconic taxa? That's at least one of each of the following:
-Plants
-Protozoans
-Fungi (including lichens)
-Mollusks
-Ray-finned fishes
-Birds
-Reptiles
-Amphibians
-Mammals
-Insects
-Arachnids
-Other Animals (stuff that doesn't fall into another more specific animal category listed above, like most other invertebrates)
-Kelp, Diatoms, and Allies

Some of these are going to be easy, but it's definitely going to vary from place to place. You might have to brush up on what's in Kingdom Chromista and get your hands on a microscope for the Protozoans.

Rules:

1. It has to have a photo, date, and location.
2. It has to be observed during May 15-25 (your local time).
3. You must upload it by Wednesday, May 27 (your local time).
4. It has to have a correct identification that ties it to one of those taxa.

At the end of the snapshot, I'll recognize everyone who met the challenge in another journal post. I hope you'll use this as an excuse to explore something out of your comfort zone!

(Cross posted from http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/national-geographic-great-nature-project)

We sincerely apologize if you have had trouble accessing greatnatureproject.org this morning. While we manage the heavy load, you can also contribute to our global snapshot of biodiversity directly from iNaturalist.org. Thank you for your patience, and please do check back to greatnatureproject.org later!

For the Global Snapshot of Biodiversity for the Great Nature Project, I issued a challenge to make at least one observation of each of the 13 iconic taxa in iNaturalist between May 15-25. I'm trying to do this myself and there's only a few days left to make observations, so I thought I'd report my progress here. Some of you prolific iNaturalists should be able to do this pretty easily by just looking harder for some things you don't usually pay attention to.

I've also made a point to make at least one observation during each day of the Global Snapshot, which I've sometimes barely managed to do. I've spent way too much time in front of my computer working! In spite of that, here's my status:

Plants - DONE (easy, though I realized I don't have many.)
Protozoans - I'm on the hunt for slime molds today!
Fungi (including lichens) - Not done! I thought I had a fungus observation... I'll find one.
Mollusks - DONE (snails & slugs)
Ray-finned fishes - This is going to be hardest for me. I know where I can find some goldfish as a last resort, but I'm trying not to include captives in my count.
Birds - DONE (easy to see, harder to photograph)
Reptiles - I should be able to find a turtle, but i haven't yet.
Amphibians - DONE
Mammals - DONE (squirrels are so easy here)
Insects - DONE (almost as easy as plants)
Arachnids - DONE (almost as easy as insects)
Other Animals (stuff that doesn't fall into another more specific animal category) - DONE (you might have to think a little for this one, but this includes millipedes, isopods, annelids, crustaceans, and more)
Kelp, Diatoms, and Allies - DONE! (I am most proud of this one - the cyanobacteria Nostoc! You might be able to find this green blobby stuff too after a rain. Here's a great little article about it.

I've got 9 out of 13, so just 4 to go! I'll have my eyes peeled for reptiles, fish, fungi, and slime molds (protozoans) this weekend. If I didn't have my toddler in tow I'd get these no problem, but "hiking" with a two year old is matter of finding the right spot in the woods where both of us can happily explore. Wish us luck!

On Sunday evening (US Eastern Time), we passed 30,000 observations since May 15, and we've still got tomorrow! Great work, everyone! Hope you get a chance to explore on Monday, too.

It's nearly midnight U.S. Eastern Time and the event is drawing to a close around the world, but it's not too late to submit your observations! Right now there are more than 34,000 observations from the last 11 days. How high will it climb? Do you have all of yours submitted?

Later this week I'll crunch the numbers and let everyone know the final count. In the meantime, get those observations in and keep helping each other add IDs!

It's just past midnight U.S. Eastern Time and the global snapshot of biodiversity is drawing to a close around the world, but it's not too late to submit your observations! Right now there are more than 34,000 observations from the last 11 days. How high will it climb? Do you have all of yours submitted?

Check out the count here:
http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/natgeo-gnp-global-snapshot

Later this week I'll crunch the numbers and let everyone know the final count. In the meantime, get those observations in, keep helping each other add IDs, and see who's new from your area!