Press Release: Athens Nature Center Initiative and City of Athens Environment and Sustainability Commission launch iNaturalist project.
The Athens Nature Center initiative, a group of local nature enthusiasts, is partnering with the City of Athens Environment and Sustainability Commission and iNaturalist to facilitate the exploration of biodiversity around people's houses and neighborhoods. Participation only requires a free iNaturalist account and access to a camera and phone or computer. Using the iNaturalist app or web-based platform, observations of insects, plants, mammals and all kinds of other living beings can be documented with a phone camera and then uploaded to iNaturalist. Once the observation arrived in iNaturalist's repository, volunteer experts helps with identifying the organism in question. Even before a human expert looks at your observation, a computer learning algorithm immediately provides a first assessment, which is often surprisingly accurate.
Dr. Stefan Gleissberg, president of the Athens Nature Center initiative says “most people will underestimate the diversity of life around them. For instance, just around uptown Athens, iNaturalists have so far scored more than 300 species, most of those plants and insects. The Biodiversity in the City of Athens project allows everyone to explore, keep track, and learn about the living things around them. It's an easy and fun way to learn about what's native to the area or introduced from elsewhere, what is wild or planted.”
When identification is suggested, a link to Wikipedia allows the curious to learn more about the discovery. Observations shared on the platform become part of a biodiversity record of Athens and its neighborhoods, attesting to the richness of life around us that too often gets overlooked. iNaturalist will help the Sustainability Commission to track species within the city over time and use this as a measurement of the amount of biodiversity within Athens. Users can slowly build and improve their nature literacy, allowing them to enhance the way we see and appreciate what is around us, changing with each season.
The project page can be found at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/biodiversity-in-the-city-of-athens-ohio. A separate iNaturalist project page is provides for most neighborhoods, and this may prompt some users to boost their neighborhood biodiversity pride and ambition. It can also inform how backyards and city land can be managed to sustain or improve suitable habitat for animals and plants. This year has been marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, and many residents find themselves spending more time at home. This can be an opportunity to explore the backyard, neighborhood, and nearby parks and get acquainted with the natural beauty that surrounds us right here, in Athens, Ohio.
Thanks to the Athens Conservancy and the City of Athens for advice and support. Paul Logue and Rob Wiley provided GIS files, and Stefan Gleissberg designed and implemented the project. iNaturalist is a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.
