green living
TECHNOLOGY MEETS NATURE
APPS BRING US CLOSER TO FLORA AND FAUNA by Sheryl DeVore
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hile exploring Seattle, Jackie Lentz Bowman noticed some bushes filled with pink and orange berries. She discovered she could safely eat them by using the smartphone nature app called iNaturalist (iNaturalist.org). “I learned they were salmonberries and edible,” says the Chicago area photographer and birder. “I just had to try them. They were very similar to raspberries.” Bowman is among a growing number of people using their smartphones to enhance their nature experiences. Phone apps are available for free or a modest price to identify mushrooms, bugs, birds, dragonflies, reptiles, beetles, wildflowers and other flora and fau-
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Morris, Union, Sussex & Essex County Edition
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na. “Whether it is to help identify a plant I’ve taken a photo of or to familiarize myself with what a bird looks like and sounds like, these are tools I’m always glad to have in my back pocket,” she explains. At least 6,300 nature apps were available in 2015, according to Paul Jepson and Richard Ladle, Oxford environmental scholars and co-authors of “Nature Apps: Waiting for the Revolution,” a research paper published in the Swedish environmental journal Ambio. Such programs are only beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible. They write, “As most people own a mobile phone today, the app—though a small device—is a major way conservationists could be reaching a huge audience with transformative possibilities.” Right now, some apps allow the user to point a smartphone to a plant or animal to get instant feedback on its common or scientific name. Others ask the user questions about what they are seeing and suggest an identity based on the answers. Some allow the user to interact with scientists, share their knowledge, record their observations and contribute to science. Perhaps the most popular nature app is iNaturalist, which has all those features and more. “Our mission has been to connect people to nature through technology,” says Scott Loarie, co-director of iNaturalist, a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. “By 2030, we want to connect 100 million people to nature to facilitate science and conservation.” The app began as a master’s degree project at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2008, and today 2 million people have recorded about 100 million observations, covering one in six species on the planet. “iNaturalist has grown to the point where it’s helping take the pulse of biodiversity,” he adds. Newcomers are often mentored and helped with identifications by volunteers that are experts in different fields. One example is a worldwide competition called the City Nature Challenge in which beginning and advanced naturalists document urban flora and fauna for several days. During the event, people share their photos of plants and animals on iNaturalist.
