Discussion 6 

Download the free app iNaturalist to your phone or laptop and watch these videos that explain how to use this citizen science species identification tool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe_FRjNg-AY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL9iQL9YUsI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdEH-BL8tG8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS_9KpXgPdk

Create an account (be sure to make note of your account name and password!).

Using the above videos as a guide, practice making observations by taking a photo of any fungi or plant you find (ideally a leaf, fruit, flower, moss, or lichen)

Now upload your photo and select the option “What did you see?” This will list suggested matches. Hit “Compare” to see a side by side comparison.

Select the best match to the species in your photo. If not, try a better photo! 

Now take a series of 10 photos that include (try your best to get these all but if its too hard any 10 will do) :

One fungi or algae (mushroom, lichen on a rock, scrap of seaweed..)

One non-vascular plant (moss on a tree or sidewalk crack)

One seedless vascular plant

Two gymnosperm

Two monocots

Three eudicots

Your images SHOULD  include each of the following (again, if possible but if not, try for at least some)

A fruiting body

A stem/trunk

A simple leaf

A compound leaf

A flower

A seed/nut

A root/tuber

A fruit

These structures can be fresh or dried but must be whole (eg not ground spices). They can be wild (in a park or street) or cultivated (produce aisle, bouquet, pot)

HINT; Look in your vacation photos and see if there is a flower, palm tree, fern leaf hiding in the background you can zoom in on and crop out everything else)

you can take an image of an image of a plant part or fungi such as the label of a can in your kitchen, a pine tree or cone on a Holiday card, etc.

Take a screenshot of your observation screen and post it to the discussion thread. List and identify all 10 items and structures you posted along with their scientific binomial. Briefly describe your experience using iNaturalist to search for urban botanicals. What was the most surprising plant/fungal part you found? Were any items more difficult to identify? If so, how did you solve the problem?

Reply to a classmate who found/identified a taxa similar or the same as yours or who had something familiar that you were surprised to see. Briefly describe where else you have seen that organism in your experience.

Discussion 8

Open iNaturalist and find the Explore icon by clicking on the three grey bars at the top left of your screen. The Explore icon is at the top and looks like a compass.

On the top right select the grey bars which indicate Filters. At the top look for the icons for an insect, snail, or spider. Select one at a time and select the map icon to show sightings in your neighborhood (you will need to zoom in to see each dot).

Now pick a member of each group listed below and find one species close to your neighborhood (you may need to zoom out a bit depending on where you live). List it’s common name and scientific binomial, and its approximate location (Neighborhood and Borough). For each, indicate whether it is:

1. deuterostome or protostome or neither

2. bilateral, radial or neither

3. diploblast or triploblast or neither

4.  coelomate, pseudocoelomate, acoelomate or neither

(You can find the answers in the PowerPoints) 

1. Bryozoan moss animal OR Porifera sponge
2.  Ctenophora or Cnidarian jelly 
3. Cnidarian coral, hydra or anemone
4. Mollusk Bivalve clam, mussel or oyster
5. Mollusk Gastropod snail or slug
6. Annelida or Platyhelminthes or Nematode worm
7. Arthropoda Insecta beetle, ant, bee or wasp
8. Arthropoda Crustacean crab, shrimp or lobster
9. Arthropoda Arachnida or Chelicerata spider, tick scorpion or horseshoe crab
10. Echinodermata sea star, sand dollar or urchin

Post your list of 10 organisms and their descriptors in the discussion thread.

Briefly describe your experience using iNaturalist to explore what creatures others have identified in your own neighborhood. Compare this to your first experience with iNaturalist to ID plants last week. 

Reply to a classmate who located a surprising or a familiar taxa. Perhaps something you did not know exists in New York City or perhaps something you have never heard of. Come up with one scientific research question that iNaturalist could be used to answer. 

Discussion 9

Open iNaturalist and find the Explore icon by clicking on the three grey bars at the top left of your screen. The Explore icon is at the top and looks like a compass.

On the top right select the grey bars which indicate Filters. At the top look for the icons for a fish, reptile or mammal. Select one at a time and select the map icon to show sightings of members of this group. Or find the search box and look for a particular group (eg sharks, tunicates, rodents etc.)

Now pick a member of each group listed below and find one species close to your current or home state (you may need to zoom out to the East Coast) List its common name and scientific binomial, and its approximate location (Borough/’hood). For each, indicate which below traits it possesses:

1. Endothermic or Ectothermic

2. Chordate, Vertebrate or Gnathostome

3. Amniote, Placental, Marsupial

4. Tetrapod, Terrestrial, Arboreal, Aquatic or Marine

 (you can find the answers to these questions in this week’s PowerPoints)

This is your list of 11 species to find in iNaturalist

1. Tunicate or Lancelet
2. Lamprey OR Myxine
3. Chondrichthyes
4. Osteichthyes
5. Amphibian
6. Testudinae OR Squamate
7. Aves
8. Marsupialia
9. Carnivora
10.  Rodentia
11.  Cetacea

Post your list of 11 organisms and their descriptors in the discussion thread.

Briefly describe your experience using iNaturalist to explore what chordates others have identified in your own state/region. Compare this to your last experience with iNaturalist to ID plants last week.

Reply to a classmate who located a surprising or a familiar taxa. Perhaps something you did not know exists in New York State or the East Coast or perhaps something you have never heard of. Generate one hypothesis about the distribution of these animals that iNaturalist could help answer.

Discussion 10

Select a local species of interest to you as the topic for your inquiry lab. This should be a species well represented in iNaturalist (at least 50 sightings in the NY area). Once you have selected a species of animal, post the common and scientific name of your chosen species. (NO REPEATS – so check before you post). Now use iNaturalist to find out the following:

1. The specie’s biome/s (geographic habitat type), range local habitat type (use the map in iNaturalist)

2. What season/months do sightings peak? How might this relate to limiting factors for this species’ biotic potential? (click on the species name to see a green graph showing when its seen)

3. Which gender/sex is sighted more? (Click on the SEX tab) When are juveniles spotted? (click on the LIFE STAGE tab) Based on this, what type of survivorship curve do you think this species exhibits?

4. Do you think members of this species are more r or K selected?

5. Identify one predator OR prey of this species found in the same areas (check iNaturalist)

Now generate a testable hypothesis about the sightings of your species in relation to a limiting factor/resource/prey/predator. eg. It is hypothesized that the red fox (Vulpes. vulpes) population will be highest in areas with a higher density of Eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus). 

Reply to a classmate’s post with a constructive suggestion for clarification or modification of their hypothesis or species description OR by generating an alternate hypothesis that can be answered using iNaturalist about the population distribution or density of their species as it relates to either a key resource, predator, prey or limiting factor. Eg. Is this species restricted to coastal wetlands? Does their population drop in areas with more predators/competitors?

Discussion 11

This will tie in the work you have done in iNaturalist with the concept of Community Ecology. Now that you have selected a species and its predator/prey in iNaturalist, use Google Scholar to find two peer reviewed scientific research articles about the predator-prey relationship between these two species. Type “scholar” into Google and it takes you to Google Scholar. Now type in the scientific binomial of both species and a few search terms such as ”Predator-Prey Interaction” . Now read through the titles of the top articles that seem to include these terms and describe the impact of one on the other (its ok if other species are mentioned since they may be a surrogate for a similar comparison with your species). Its best to focus on the articles with a PDF icon somewhere. These can easily be downloaded for free (never pay!) From these, select two that seem most relevant to helping you understand the nature of the potential predator/prey interaction between these two species.

Post a brief summary of each article using only the Abstract of the articles. Summarize (in your own words!!!) two KEY findings of each study and briefly describe in two sentences how it could shed light on the predator prey relationship and/or population dynamics or distribution patterns of these two species. Begin each summary with the last name of the two lead authors and the year of publication… (eg Colon & Botton (2017) looked at…………and concluded………..).

Be sure to include a LINK to each article abstract so I can review that as well. 

INQUIRY INVESTIGATION DATA & GRAPH 

Select one of the two following hypotheses to test using data generated in iNaturalist:

1. Sightings of my selected species will INCREASE in areas with relatively higher sightings of the prey/predator species I selected.

2.  1. Sightings of my selected species will DECREASE in areas with relatively higher sightings of the prey/predator species I selected.

Now, open iNaturalist and search for each species one at a time in 12 adjacent areas moving from East to West (or along the coastline for marine species).  In each area, record the sighting count for each species to generate your data (see format below). Be sure to search the SAME area for each species. Do not change the size of your search frame each time you shift to an adjacent search area. 

Sightings of Species A   Sightings of Species B

# in area 1                                        # in area 1

# in area 2                                        # in area 2

# in area 3                                        # in area 3

etc.

# in area 12                                     # in area 12 

Now paste these 12 paired sightings plus the header into Excel. Highlight them and select “Line Chart”. Add appropriate labels, data points. Add a descriptive title. Now cut and paste it into a Word file containing the title of your study and your hypothesis. Be sure to include the descriptive statistics in Excel (Mean and Range) and also include the Correlation value. Based on your understanding of the correlation statistic and the value it shows, do the data support or refute your hypothesis?  

INQUIRY INVESTIGATION FINAL REPORT- 3 PAGES (RUBRIC AN FILE IS ATTACHED EXPLAINING EVERYHTING)