The presentation by Carrie E. Seltzer discusses the biodiversity in Washington, D.C., highlighting the existence of over 240 bird species and several other wildlife types, and emphasizes the use of iNaturalist for citizen engagement and data collection. It covers how to effectively document observations and the potential for community collaborations in conservation efforts, along with promoting a Bioblitz event in 2016. Seltzer outlines the limitations of iNaturalist and encourages local partnerships to enhance wildlife action plans.

1. Using for
engagement and data collection
Presentation to the District of Columbia
Department of Energy & Environment
By Carrie E. Seltzer, Ph.D.
Program Manager of National Geographic’s Great Nature
Project
October 15, 2015

2. How many species live in DC?
• “The forests, waters,
meadows, and wetlands
in the District provide
habitat for
approximately 240
species of birds, 78 fish,
29 mammals, 21
reptiles, 19 amphibians,
and thousands of
invertebrates.”
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

3. iNaturalist makes it easy for people to
share what they see
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

4. Elements of an observation
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY
What? Who? When?
Where?
Details?
Community ID
Evidence
(photo or sound)

5. iNaturalist has an underlying taxonomy
• Observations should
somehow be attached
to the tree of life (i.e.
not rocks, water, trash,
etc.)
• Observations can be
attached at any
taxonomic level
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

6. What if you don’t know what you saw?
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

7. Start with what you know
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

8. IDs should get progressively finer
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

9. What if you see a protected species?
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

10. What happens with the data?
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

11. Who else is using this?
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

12. Who else is using this?
• Texas
• Vermont
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

13. Who else is using this?
• Texas
• Vermont
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

14. Texas Nature Trackers Program
Naturalist
Community
Research
&
Conservation
Data
1. Expertise
2. Data Products
3. Legitimacy
Data
1. Achievement
2. Knowledge
3. Impact
Twin Goals:
- Grow the naturalist community
- Inform conservation decisions
Slide from Cullen Hanks, Texas Parks &
Wildlife Dept.

15. Species of Greatest Conservation Need
• 3,300+ observations
• >20% of all HoTX obs
• 93% of SGCN species
Observed by Srhein on May 16th 2015 in
Smith County, iNat # 1596232
Slide from Cullen Hanks, Texas Parks &
Wildlife Dept.

16. You’ve got a running start!
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY
2,876 observations
(~16 per sq km)

17. Export Existing Data
• Filter data and select
relevant fields to export
data as .csv or .kml (for
Google Earth)
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

18. How can DC use this?
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

19. Define a location for your project
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

20. Projects can have rules and extra fields
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

21. Create Species Guides
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

22. Communicate with participants
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

23. Project Participation Stats
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

24. Tap into local experts here in DC
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

25. Upcoming BioBlitz
• May 20-21, 2016
• Surveys at:
– Constitution Gardens
– Rock Creek Park
– Fort Circle Parks
– GW Parkway (incl.
Roosevelt Island)
– C&O Canal
• Target: 10,000
attendees
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

26. What CAN’T you do with iNaturalist?
• Abiotic recording/monitoring (water quality,
precipitation, temperature, air quality, etc.)
• Recording/mapping entire plant communities
• Absence (iNat is best for presence-only)
• Difficult to record metadata around sampling
effort
• Not a GIS itself, but you can use the data in
another GIS.
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

27. What’s National Geographic’s
involvement?
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

28. Other possible local partners
• Biophilic DC
• Audubon
• Rock Creek Conservancy
• Anacostia Watershed Society
• City Wildlife
• DC Master Naturalists
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

29. Next Steps for Citizen Science
• iNaturalist can be one element of citizen science
to inform DC’s Wildlife Action Plan.
• Useful way to grow participant pool for projects
with more complex protocols.
• Other resources/projects include:
– eBird (checklists allow for explicit/inferred absence)
– eMammal (camera trapping)
– FrogWatch (based on calls)
– Feral/outdoor cat monitoring/GPS tracking
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY

30. Note for re-using this presentation
• Please do! Just credit me (CC BY 4.0)
• Most of the images on the slides are just
screen captures from iNaturalist.
• Some of them are composites I created in
Google Drawings. Email me at
cseltzer@ngs.org to get access to these if you
want to edit them (or use the concept to
recreate your own).
C.E. Seltzer, National Geographic. CC BY