INaturalist New User Guide: FAQ

iNaturalist New User Guide: FAQ

[If you haven’t joined iNaturalist, you should! It’s a great way to learn about the wildlife around you and contribute to citizen science]

This guide will be consistently updated as I write more posts/receive more questions. This is intended to be a basic jumping off point, with some links to more detailed guides(when I write them). If there is something you would like a more in-depth answer on, feel free to contact me directly!

Account Basics

Do I need to be a biologist/naturalist/professional or have experience with wildlife to join iNaturalist?

Nope! iNaturalist is for everybody, and is in fact founded on the principle that you do not need to be a professional researcher in order to contribute to science

Do I have to make an account under my real name? 

Also no. You will see a lot of people on iNaturalist doing this, but it isn’t required. Do as much as you are comfortable with

Posting Observations

[More in-depth guide TBA]

What is required to post an observation? 

In order for an observation to be eligible to become Research Grade, it needs to include three things: media(a photo or audio recording), location, and date. You CAN post an observation without these things, but it will be considered Casual.

What does Research Grade/Casual/Needs ID mean?

Research Grade(RG) means that an eligible observation has at least 2 identifications, and 2/3rds of those identifications agree on a species. As stated above, in order to be eligible for research grade, an observation needs to include media, date, and location. Research grade observations are, as the name implies, able to be used in research by relevant professionals. 

Needs ID means that an observation is eligible to become research grade, but does not yet have a 2/3rds consensus on species

Casual means that an observation is not able to be used in research. There are three main reasons an observation will be marked Casual. One, it is missing media/date/location. Two, it is a captive observation. Three, the user has opted out of community ID. 

What is a captive observation? 

An observation is marked captive when the organism depicted is owned and cared for by humans with no intention of release. Common examples are pets, garden plants, and zoo animals. Captive does not apply to feral domesticated species, wildlife taken to rehab centers, invasive species, or plants that have spread beyond gardens into unmaintained land. Captive observations are not eligible to become RG. 

I want to contribute to research, but I don’t want to post my exact location

iNaturalist allows you to set the location visibility on each observation to obscured, which displays the observations location as a 400 km^2 bounding box. You can also choose to assign locations manually instead of via image metadata, and thus set the “confidence interval” fairly large, such as encompassing your entire city. 

Can I post dead things? 

Yes. Several projects actually utilize iNaturalist to keep track of species mortality causes. You do not have to censor anything, but some users will upload a cover image that states “Dead Observation”. This is a matter of individual user’s comfort levels. 

I don’t know what it is, what do I put in the initial ID box when submitting?

ID it to the level you’re confident about. You shouldn’t leave it at “unknown” unless you are 100% unsure of what kind of lifeform it is. Initial IDs can be as general as “birds” “mammals” “plants” and so on. These generic categories help put your observation in the sights of more experienced identifiers. While some users do dedicate time to sorting observations marked “unknown”, they are much less likely to be seen. 

Identifications

[More in-depth guide TBA]

Someone left an ID on my observation, should I agree with them?

If you have reasons to be confident that their ID is correct, yes. Otherwise, just leave it. Erroneous agrees can lead to incorrect RG status. 

Someone disagreed with my ID and I don’t know why

Ask! Most identifiers are happy to explain their reasoning for an identification, and you don’t have to agree with them, you can simply let your own ID stand and allow other identifiers to chime in. 

It’s been a while and nobody has contributed an ID to my observation

Unfortunately that happens, especially in taxonomic groups where less experts are active on iNaturalist. A few ways you can attempt to remedy this are submitting the observation to projects or tagging identifiers in the observation(a good place to start is the “top identifiers” leaderboard that will show up in the bottom right corner in desktop). And you can also consider researching that organism yourself! 

Community Etiquette 

Do I need to speak formally? 

No, but you should treat it like a polite public conversation

Can I swear?

I wouldn’t recommend it, you’ll probably get suspended