Congratulations to the young lady who discovered and shared these fantastic pictures. We often talk about "citizen science" and how great it is, but we tend to overlook recognizing these individuals within the scientific community. I know of many cases where non-professionals like amateurs, taxi drivers, or young soccer players made the initial discovery and shared photos, only to be later unacknowledged in scientific publications. I truly hope we can set aside our egos and give credit to those who made the discoveries, regardless of their academic background. That would be lovely and appreciated.
Why the ecuadorian young researcher who found the new species wasn't invited to co-authored the article? It could increase the interest to add information to iNat from other people
People don't want to share their details with others because of this kind of behavior. Journal writings should mention citizen scientists as co-authors (at least in this scenario). Using his/her observations for further research and publish a manuscript with acknowledgment is not enough; it's through his/her (local citizen) record that researchers or scientists gain first-hand knowledge of new things. The acknowledgement section of a manuscript should not be the only place where citizen scientists are acknowledged.
That is a great question and it depends on many factors. The trick is to look for under-studied and overlooked organisms and to do it in places that have not been as thoroughly studied as others. Butterflies are a heavily-studied group because they are so darn captivating! That's what makes this discovery especially exceptional... there likely aren't thousands of species of butterfly left in the world to be discovered. The same goes for birds, people are absolutely bonkers for birds and there is a lot more funding available for researching these two groups of organisms (among other charismatic groups like orchids, mammals, reptiles, etc.)... The opposite is true, however, for organisms like springtails, woodlice, barklice, lichens, & mosses (I tried to name a few groups from different kingdoms here , but these are just a tiny percentage of under studied organisms out there). The beauty of iNaturalist is it gets more people interested in looking at some of these overlooked species and it makes it easier for the experts out there to zero-in on species that haven't been described yet thanks to the many eyes out there. If I had to say what opened my eyes to this situation, it would be an iNaturalist user named Charley Eiseman and his project on Leafminers of North America. Charley works very hard at directing people to notice species that are maybe already known to science but don't have a name yet! I have photographed probably dozens of species of leafminers in South Florida, USA, that aren't known to science yet and, if I had more time and managed it more wisely, I would make a bigger effort at collecting these species and sending them to him so he can get them to the right people to describe them... in fact, as I'm typing this, I am feeling guilty about not making an effort to collect more species! To conclude... you can definitely find a new species in a garden, even in a country that has been relatively thoroughly studied like the UK, France, or US. That new species will likely be one that others simply haven't noticed yet, like a tiny moth or fly making a mine in a leaf. If you do visit a dense forest though, and I'm assuming you mean something tropical, then pfft... the biodiversity will likely be off the charts! Add in the factor of it being harder to reach for scientists and there will probably many thousands of species, especially if you count all the tiny species that don't get as much attention!
Congratulations to the young lady who discovered and shared these fantastic pictures.
We often talk about "citizen science" and how great it is, but we tend to overlook recognizing these individuals within the scientific community.
I know of many cases where non-professionals like amateurs, taxi drivers, or young soccer players made the initial discovery and shared photos, only to be later unacknowledged in scientific publications.
I truly hope we can set aside our egos and give credit to those who made the discoveries, regardless of their academic background.
That would be lovely and appreciated.
Why the ecuadorian young researcher who found the new species wasn't invited to co-authored the article? It could increase the interest to add information to iNat from other people
People don't want to share their details with others because of this kind of behavior. Journal writings should mention citizen scientists as co-authors (at least in this scenario). Using his/her observations for further research and publish a manuscript with acknowledgment is not enough; it's through his/her (local citizen) record that researchers or scientists gain first-hand knowledge of new things. The acknowledgement section of a manuscript should not be the only place where citizen scientists are acknowledged.
THE POWER OF CITIZEN SCIENCE!
Yay iNaturalist and crowdsourcing folks!👍
Fantastic!!
There are few honors greater than discovering a new butterfly.
Rare pokemon.
I wonder how hard to discover a new species? Should we visit dense forests or a new species can be found in a random garden too?
That is a great question and it depends on many factors. The trick is to look for under-studied and overlooked organisms and to do it in places that have not been as thoroughly studied as others. Butterflies are a heavily-studied group because they are so darn captivating! That's what makes this discovery especially exceptional... there likely aren't thousands of species of butterfly left in the world to be discovered. The same goes for birds, people are absolutely bonkers for birds and there is a lot more funding available for researching these two groups of organisms (among other charismatic groups like orchids, mammals, reptiles, etc.)... The opposite is true, however, for organisms like springtails, woodlice, barklice, lichens, & mosses (I tried to name a few groups from different kingdoms here , but these are just a tiny percentage of under studied organisms out there).
The beauty of iNaturalist is it gets more people interested in looking at some of these overlooked species and it makes it easier for the experts out there to zero-in on species that haven't been described yet thanks to the many eyes out there. If I had to say what opened my eyes to this situation, it would be an iNaturalist user named Charley Eiseman and his project on Leafminers of North America. Charley works very hard at directing people to notice species that are maybe already known to science but don't have a name yet! I have photographed probably dozens of species of leafminers in South Florida, USA, that aren't known to science yet and, if I had more time and managed it more wisely, I would make a bigger effort at collecting these species and sending them to him so he can get them to the right people to describe them... in fact, as I'm typing this, I am feeling guilty about not making an effort to collect more species!
To conclude... you can definitely find a new species in a garden, even in a country that has been relatively thoroughly studied like the UK, France, or US. That new species will likely be one that others simply haven't noticed yet, like a tiny moth or fly making a mine in a leaf. If you do visit a dense forest though, and I'm assuming you mean something tropical, then pfft... the biodiversity will likely be off the charts! Add in the factor of it being harder to reach for scientists and there will probably many thousands of species, especially if you count all the tiny species that don't get as much attention!
Just brilliant? How rewarding!
so cool, I love and use Inaturalist a lot
🦋🩶💚🤘🏾