#Tag
In the midst of the unfortunate decision of #iNaturalist going all big tech, partnering with google genAI, and ignoring criticisms from the (volunteer) community, i would like to point out that if all you are looking for is an identification tool, you will learn far more from books than you ever will from an app.
In the midst of the unfortunate decision of #iNaturalist going all big tech, partnering with google genAI, and ignoring criticisms from the (volunteer) community, i would like to point out that if all you are looking for is an identification tool, you will learn far more from books than you ever will from an app.
Hey Ya'all: iNaturalist update on their #enshittification with #GenAI
They seem to still not understand how LLM works, that hallucinations are inherent to the machine, and they *cannot* deliver on the "promises" they are making.
*I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DELETE YOUR iNATURALIST ACCOUNT*
I say this as a scientist. Who has used iNaturalist for research. Who has done almost 30,000 ID's on it, mostly for others. The danger is immense, and they are ignoring facts about the very way these machines work to make.
#inaturalist #nature #science #sciencecom #naturalist #communityScience #AI
Hey Ya'all: iNaturalist update on their #enshittification with #GenAI
They seem to still not understand how LLM works, that hallucinations are inherent to the machine, and they *cannot* deliver on the "promises" they are making.
*I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DELETE YOUR iNATURALIST ACCOUNT*
I say this as a scientist. Who has used iNaturalist for research. Who has done almost 30,000 ID's on it, mostly for others. The danger is immense, and they are ignoring facts about the very way these machines work to make.
#inaturalist #nature #science #sciencecom #naturalist #communityScience #AI
I found this reflection of one community member in the forum interesting: «Every time I read that AI is better, faster etc. it lowers my motivation to identify. It makes me feel that what I do when identifying (mostly unknowns) is not going to be useful any longer.»
My take is that this development is par for the course once organizations "professionalize" — and thus start to focus more on keeping their staff salaries than on their mission & working with their volunteer community…
Looks like #inaturalist has released an update on their misguided "AI" efforts: Beyond their preliminary results being underwhelming they don't seem to really have learned from the criticism they got.
"People at the Center", "Openness with Care" etc. are all empty words if the results are preordained with zero control by their "community". Their "environmental impact assessment" is also disingenuous, counting their prompt-fondling but not the training…
Malcolm Storey created and maintains https://www.bioimages.org.uk , a huge catalogue of high-resolution images of most animals that can be found in the British Isles, except for birds and other vertebrates.
Offers one of the most comprehensive catalogue of #Ichneumonidae images with special emphasis on macro photography to illustrate species-diagnostic features.
Malcolm has been identifying thousands of parasitoid wasps at #iNaturalist – that's how I found out. Thanks so much for all your work.
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/3839145
Malcolm Storey created and maintains https://www.bioimages.org.uk , a huge catalogue of high-resolution images of most animals that can be found in the British Isles, except for birds and other vertebrates.
Offers one of the most comprehensive catalogue of #Ichneumonidae images with special emphasis on macro photography to illustrate species-diagnostic features.
Malcolm has been identifying thousands of parasitoid wasps at #iNaturalist – that's how I found out. Thanks so much for all your work.
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/3839145
#Arachtober 5: the last order of arachnids I have found, pseudoscorpions! They look kind of like scorpions without tails; they are found basically everywhere on earth but Antarctica, but they are absolutely tiny and live in places like under tree bark, under rocks and logs, in leaf litter, etc., so you will rarely see them unless you're looking for them. Sometimes they can be found clinging to the legs of larger flying insects with their little claws, or indoors eating booklice and other tiny household insects.
The ones in my garden are so small you might take them for mesostigmatid mites at first glance. This one has captured a soil-dwelling mite of some kind.
#iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99203146 
#ArthroBeauty #arachnids #pseudoscorpions #Pseudoscorpiones #Cthoniidae
#Arachtober 4: March mating mesostig madness!
These are an ubiquitous sort of soil-dwelling predatory mites, likely in the family Parasitidae (ironically, primarily predators) in the order Mesostigmata in the superorder Parasitiformes. They are only very distantly related to the whirligig mite I posted the other day, which is in superorder Acariformes. While the two superorders are traditionally grouped together under Acari, it is likely they don't share a common ancestor and should be treated separately. So I'm counting them as a different group!
#iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/275521159
Some pro-level photos and info about mesostigs: https://www.chaosofdelight.org/all-about-mites-mesostigmata
#ArthroBeauty #arachnids #mites #MiteSex #taxonomy #Acari #Parasitiformes #Mesostigmata #Parasitidae
NEWS FLASH: We have CLAMS living on campus!
As part of last week's Sustainability Week at #LincolnUniversityNZ, our freshwater ecology tutor Elysia Harcombe did some kick sampling along a farm ditch. Yes, she found clams!
It's the first record on #iNaturalist of clams on campus, or anywhere in Lincoln (and we've been kick sampling in the Liffey Stream through Lincoln for several years in my biodiversity class).
There are records of some clams living in the Yarrs Lagoon wetland reserve to the south of campus, but that's about 3 km to the south (which is downstream and is not connected to campus).
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/316195607
[Edit: “Sustainability Week”, not “Sustainability Weed”, which would be a bad thing. ]
NEWS FLASH: We have CLAMS living on campus!
As part of last week's Sustainability Week at #LincolnUniversityNZ, our freshwater ecology tutor Elysia Harcombe did some kick sampling along a farm ditch. Yes, she found clams!
It's the first record on #iNaturalist of clams on campus, or anywhere in Lincoln (and we've been kick sampling in the Liffey Stream through Lincoln for several years in my biodiversity class).
There are records of some clams living in the Yarrs Lagoon wetland reserve to the south of campus, but that's about 3 km to the south (which is downstream and is not connected to campus).
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/316195607
[Edit: “Sustainability Week”, not “Sustainability Weed”, which would be a bad thing. ]
Here are a couple of vine weeds to watch out for at the moment that are still uncommon but actively spreading around Ōtautahi-Christchurch, New Zealand.
What's commonly known as German Ivy (Delairea odorata) is a fast growing vine from, well, not anywhere close to Germany. It's a native to southern Africa. It's been establishing in parts of the Port Hills and I saw the first one in Halswell last week. Its leaves are thinner than English ivy and it has yellow flowers.
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/306208256
Chilean glory creeper (Eccremocarpus scaber) is an orange-flowered vine that's been popping up in and around the city. Every year I see a few more plants.
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/306208250
Weedbusters has fact sheets on these, including recommendations on how to get rid of them.
https://www.weedbusters.org.nz/what-are-weeds/weed-list/german-ivy/
https://www.weedbusters.org.nz/what-are-weeds/weed-list/chilean-glory-creeper/
Please report sightings on #iNaturalist if you find them.
Here are a couple of vine weeds to watch out for at the moment that are still uncommon but actively spreading around Ōtautahi-Christchurch, New Zealand.
What's commonly known as German Ivy (Delairea odorata) is a fast growing vine from, well, not anywhere close to Germany. It's a native to southern Africa. It's been establishing in parts of the Port Hills and I saw the first one in Halswell last week. Its leaves are thinner than English ivy and it has yellow flowers.
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/306208256
Chilean glory creeper (Eccremocarpus scaber) is an orange-flowered vine that's been popping up in and around the city. Every year I see a few more plants.
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/306208250
Weedbusters has fact sheets on these, including recommendations on how to get rid of them.
https://www.weedbusters.org.nz/what-are-weeds/weed-list/german-ivy/
https://www.weedbusters.org.nz/what-are-weeds/weed-list/chilean-glory-creeper/
Please report sightings on #iNaturalist if you find them.
If you photograph enough wasps and bees eventually you’ll encounter some that are stylopized: parasitized with Strepsiptera, a family of flies that look harmless yet are capable of dominating and living off top brass like paper wasps and more.
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/306092511
A Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) spotted at Mount Faber Park, Singapore on 16 Feb 2025. Always good to see these birds in the forest, especially those that still have those distinctive long tail feathers.
On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/261823130 ].
A Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) spotted at Mount Faber Park, Singapore on 16 Feb 2025. Always good to see these birds in the forest, especially those that still have those distinctive long tail feathers.
On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/261823130 ].
Between #GiveUpGitHub and #iNaturalist jumping the "AI" shark, I'm extra grateful for infrastructures like @Codeberg that have democratic governance mechanisms to give contributors a real vote and power in decision making.
I hope more folks use those opportunities to find infrastructures that they can actually co-own, instead of wasting time & energy in dictatorial platforms that at best "make the community feel heard" (notice the subtle difference between being heard and feeling heard).
A space for Bonfire maintainers and contributors to communicate
