היומן של suvarna

Question from @magrietb :
Why are the numbers taking so long to reflect in the projects?
I've noticed today specifically with the species number, my tally is higher than it is on our local GSB project's home page, and our total species number kept climbing through the day but is stuck on the umbrella project's home page leaderboard. I'm just curious, is there a manual process to get everything up to date, somehow?

Response by @tonyrebelo:
iNat counts species in many ways. And there is no consistency. The variations are:

• all leaves - from Class to Species rank - anything below species level eg subspecies (subsp) and variety (var) is omitted - this is your personal
• all species - this is the number on the projects page
• all research grade species

Accept the figures - the projects and the umbrella projects count species differently.

For a more detailed explanation, see https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2023-southern-africa-umbrella/journal/87465-species-tallies-not-agreeing

Thank you for all the IDs made during this week. However, 55% of obs still need ID across the region!

Most pressing are those observations in the Unknown category - 3500 observations made during the GSB are not linked to a taxonomic group, see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=unknown&verifiable=true&project_id=great-southern-bioblitz-2024-southern-africa-umbrella&place_id=any

See the ID links below for each of the participating countries, which can then be filtered per taxonomic group/ region:
Angola
Botswana
eSwatini
Gabon
Kenya
Lesotho
Madagascar
Malawi
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Sao Tome and Principe
South Africa
Tanzania
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Angola
Angola 7100
Botswana 7105
eSwatini 7143
Gabon 7112
Kenya 7042
Lesotho 8489
Madagascar 7783
Malawi 7113
Mauritius 8357
Mozambique 7134
Namibia 7140
Sao Tome and Principe 9173
South Africa 6986
Tanzania 7144
Zambia 7145
Zimbabwe 7146

Burundi 7106
Comoros 8421
Equatorial Guinea
Democratic Republic of the Congo 7054
Republic of the Congo 7046
Rwanda 7142
Seychelles
Somalia 7218
Uganda

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/southern-hemisphere-countries

Congratulations to all our organisers + participants (observers and identifiers) for the many hours you have invested in collating foundational biodiversity data for your respective provinces and countries during the GSB 2024.

45 places (towns, regions, and countries) across 16 of 25 countries in the southern hemisphere of Africa participated - Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Sao Tome and Principe, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

111,457 observations representing 10,735 species were made by 2,048 observers.

48% of observations made were identified. While we understand that a proportion of observations are not of good photo quality to ascertain identification to species level, with time those keen on surveys can only improve their photography skills. We encourage our identifiers to share tips and tricks for their respective taxon groups as well as produce videos and crib notes that we share via our YouTube channel.

The number of casual observations (those made of organisms in cultivation/ captivity) has reduced from 4.9% last year to 3.6% this year, reflecting that participants are surveying natural areas.

Favourite species: Mops Bats (the observation is a bird-bat interaction) observed by @thepigeongirl in the Kruger National Park, Limpopo province, South Africa

Number of Species recorded and most observed species per taxonomic group:
Plants: 6,912 species; most observed - Bietou (Osteospermum moniliferum)
Insects: 1,570 species; most observed - Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
Birds: 519 species; most observed - Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris)
Fungi/ Lichen: 309 species; most observed - Splitfill Mushroom (Schizophyllum commune)
Arachnids:278 species; most observed - Grass Lync spiders (Genus Oxyopes)
Mollusks: 207 species; most observed - Brown Garden snail (Cornu aspersum)
Mammals: 145 species; most observed - Chacma Baboon (Papio ursinus)
Reptiles: 142 species; most observed - Angulate Tortoise (Chersina angulata)
Fish: 73 species; most observed - Cape Kurper (Sandelia capensis)
Amphibians: 56 species; most observed Clicking Stream Frog (Strongylopus grayii)

We appreciate everyone who contributed to a successful GSB2024 - from those who organized bioblitzes, outings, events, diving, climbing, walking, and crawling to those who spent hours identifying the observations (during the 2 week ID phase) while giving some photography and ID tips for future observations.

Contributors with over 1,000 observations:
@craigpeter - 2,521 observations
@tonyrebelo - 1,65 observations
@suzette35 - 1,573 observations
@hhodgson - 1,331 observations
@grantforbes - 1,310 observations
@linkie - 1,281 observations
@adele84 - 1,263 observations
@sihlebruce529 - 1,234 observations
@janmomsen - 1,153 observations
@willem_luzahn - 1,100 observations
@cecileroux - 1,074 observations

Contributors with over 450 species recorded:
@grantforbes - 624 species
@linkei - 599 species
@suzette35 - 552 species
@renatakruyswijk - 531 species
@adele84 - 495 species
@odettecurtis - 484 species

iNatters who identified over 2,000 observations:
@galpinmd - 5,492 identifications
@jennyparsons_201pringle - 4,619 identifications
@peakaytea - 4538 identifications
@traianbertau - 3,802 identifications
@marissa1990 - 3,616 identifications
@tonyrebelo - 3,115 identifications
@suvarna - 2,770 identifications
@troos - 2,659 identifications
@alanhorstmann - 2,334 identifications
@benjamin_walton - 2,072 identifications

Our participation in GSB annually brings much fun being in nature, while feeding foundational biodiversity data to our national datasets, especially that of endemic, threatened, and protected species. More importantly, GSB data is being analyzed by local government agencies responsible for managing and reporting on biodiversity at the municipal scale.

A total of 654 species of conservation concern were recorded. These are records as per the South African Red List Plants and Animals Project which does not have all taxonomic groups listed. Note that the more threatened species are at the bottom of the link as they are the least observed.

223 Invasive species were recorded; the most observed invasive alien species (IAS) was the Prickly Pear cactus (Opuntia ficus indica)

Mostly threatened birds were recorded.

Mountain Zebra NP:
Blue Crane https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243089807

Blue Crane Route:
Southern Tent Tortoise https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243335640

Beyers Naude municipality:
African Black Eagle https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243328293
Blue Crane https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243320201
Southern Sable antelope https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243319033
Possibly African Clawless Otter https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243040077

Inxuba Municipality:
African Black Eagle https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/243177622