Have you posted an observation on iNaturalist of a sensitive plant—one with a conservation status of threatened or more dire? Did you know that only you can see the true coordinates of the location of a sensitive plant unless you affirmatively grant access to that information? The accurate location of a plant is an important piece of information for those who are tracking the occurrence and distribution of plants in our area. Read on to learn more about this issue, and how it may affect whether you receive input on the identification of your plant observations from Dr. Jon Rebman, Curator of Botany at the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Voucher specimens collected over many years held in the San Diego Natural History Museum’s herbarium are the primary source of data that informs our knowledge of the occurrence and distribution of plants in our area. In December 2016, the San Diego County Plant Atlas project was created on iNaturalist so that observations of plants in San Diego County could be integrated with scientific specimen data to improve the overall knowledge of the flora of our county. Before an iNaturalist observation can be used in this way, the identification of the plant must be verified by Dr. Rebman.

In 2017, there were a little over 30,000 observations of plants added to the iNaturalist Plant Atlas Project—a large number for one person to review, but small compared to the numbers in the following years: 94,000 in 2018, 136,000 in 2019, and 131,000 in 2020. Reviewing all observations of plants from San Diego County (along with observations of plants from Imperial County and Baja California, which are also part of the Museum’s areas of interest) has become a daunting task for someone whose time is already stretched thin by the other demands of his job. Since the goal is to allow the observations to be integrated with scientific specimen data, it makes sense for Dr. Rebman to limit his review to observations that will be appropriate for that purpose. Observations without an accurate location cannot be used and reviewing them is not a good use of his time.

Working with iNaturalist staff to address this issue, Dr. Rebman will now be able to selectively review only observations for which the actual coordinates of the location are available. If you want to be sure that your plant observations will not be omitted from Dr. Rebman’s review and can be used to improve our plant distribution knowledge in a scientific manner, visit your membership page of the San Diego County Plant Atlas Project on the iNaturalist website and change the setting to allow Dr. Rebman, as curator of the project, access to the actual coordinates of your observations no matter who adds the observations to the project. More specific directions can be found in these instructions.