January EcoQuest - Make the Grade
Great job everyone – in 2021, over 66,800 observations of plants and fungi were made in the Denver-Boulder metro area! However, over 34,500 of these observations are still waiting to make research grade status. In fact, of all 168,933 observations included in the Denver EcoFlora project, 48% have not made research grade. This month, we encourage you to practice your identification skills by reviewing some of these observations so they can make the grade.
To make research grade, two or more reviewers must agree on the same species name. Once they’ve made the grade, these observations are uploaded to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF; gbif.org) database of over 1 billion biodiversity records. Your observations can then be used by researchers worldwide to answer questions such as: the past and potential spread of invasive species, the influence of climate change on biodiversity, the role of rare species in protecting critical ecosystem functions, and the identification of priority areas for plant conservation.
You can also use this opportunity to hone your plant identification skills. Pick a few species – maybe your favorite wildflowers, or a group you’ve always been interested in. Learn the characteristics of these, and then apply this knowledge to the Denver EcoFlora observations. From the project page on iNaturalist, simply click on “Observations” and then “Identify.” You can narrow this list down by entering a specific species in the search box. We can’t wait to see how many observations make the grade!
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