Diario del proyecto Great Southern Bioblitz 2022 southern Africa umbrella

Thank you everybody for your participation, your help with planning, organizing, observing, identifying and sundry other tasks that make for a great event.

Currently, the overall standing is:

Observations
1 Overstrand 19,807
2 Colombia 18,842
3 Cape Town 15,048
4 Garden Route 11,737
5 Overberg 10,294

Species
1 Colombia 2,572
2 Overstrand 2,398
3 Garden Route 2,334
4 Cape Town 2,236
5 Coffs Harbour Region 1,791

Observers
1 Cape Town 334
2 Greater Sydney 275
3 Colombia 234
4 Greater Adelaide 176
5 Brisbane City QLD 173

Turning to Southern African results.

97,988 Observations
9,738 Species
1,406 Identifiers
1,581 Observers

Thanks to all our observers:
top 5 observers - observations
1 tonyrebelo 2,540
2 jandrevanzyl 1,470
3 hhodgson 1,448
4 sandraf 1,367
5 linkie 1,341

top 5 observers - species
1 linkie 727
2 sandraf 667
3 hhodgson 490
4 troos 485
5 nicky 478

top 5 identifiers
1 tonyrebelo 7,555
2 dianastuder 3,369
3 traianbertau 2,925
4 rjpretor 2,564
5 sedgesrock 2,148

50.5% of observations were Research Grade
4.7% were casual grade

Plants accounted for 65% of observations
Insects for 19% and birds 5%.

See our faves here: thanks everyone for the great photos and sounds, and for voting for the best observations.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?order_by=votes&place_id=any&project_id=great-southern-bioblitz-2022-southern-africa-umbrella&verifiable=any

Congratulations. Well done especially to our top teams. Positions Internationally:
Overstrand: 1 on observations, 2 on species,
Cape Town: 1 on observers, 3 on observations, 4 on species,
Garden Route: 3 on species, 4 on observations,
Overberg: 5 on observations.

Reports of rabbit and hare deaths across South Africa's Western and Northern Cape

Please use this project. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/rabbit-and-hare-deaths-in-southern-africa-2022-3
see here: https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/72513-reports-of-rabbit-and-hare-deaths-across-south-africa-s-western-and-northern-cape

PRESS RELEASE: (EWT)

Reports of rabbit and hare deaths across South Africa's Western and Northern Cape
9 November 2022

An undiagnosed disease is spreading rapidly through wild hare and rabbit species as well as domestic rabbits in both the Western Cape and Northern Cape. The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is closely monitoring the spread due to its potential impact on the Critically Endangered Riverine Rabbit.

more at:
https://voxlite.evlink17.net/public/messages/view-online/s4WrSTAoiJ0XXj6I/TdCkbecHcWGsTY3y/H9czu9sbGieC9p3D

Coordinators!

Well done - we are into the final push. We trust that you have had an exciting, challenging and fun Bioblitz.

Basically we should all have cleared our "Unknown" pile.
If you have any, see if you can perhaps get hold of the observer and ask them to fix their observations. No point in asking them on iNaturalist as they have already been asked, and obviously are not revisiting the site.
The Unknowns should contain just two categories of observations:
(1) observations without photos - usually syncing problem: ask the user (using other media) to sync.
(2) observations with lots of photos of all sorts of different things: ask the user (using other media) to separate out each (instructions here: discombobulation instructions)
Null standings

Beyond that, we should be in the specialist phase: the experts and whizzes should be making species level IDs, and it remains to find someone capable of agreeing with them to push it to research grade.
City standings for Research Grade: https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/72321-progress-with-identifications-by-city

Ideally, but we never have time, the experts should also review the IDs already done - a few mistakes always creep in. But that can keep. Rather focus on getting identifications done.

Identification levels by Family:
If you know anyone able to help with identifications in any particular family or genus, please ask them to help. The url link is:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?verifiable=any&project_id=great-southern-bioblitz-2022-southern-africa-umbrella&place_id=97392
ask them to insert their family in the "Search Species" box.
a tutorial if they have not used the identification tool is at https://vimeo.com/246153496
It is OK to ask them to do your region first, but only fair to share experts over the entire area. We have had 1564 observers, but only 1350 identifiers for all of southern Africa. And only the top 50 identifiers have done more than 500 identifications for 95000 observations. The heros are here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2022-southern-africa-umbrella?tab=identifiers

So your next step is to fire up all your contributors again for the final ID push, and to mop up. Media time!!! Good luck.

Here is looking to a great finish.
Congratulations on Overstrand for taking #1 place on the observations leaderboard - but can you keep it??

Tony & Suvs

Empty identifications.

We still have LOTS of observations that need to be assigned to a group or family. Please help push these. We had hoped to have cleared these by today, but clearly interest has waned. Please help.
4285 observations outstanding - 10 Nov https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=any&iconic_taxa=unknown&page=2&project_id=great-southern-bioblitz-2022-southern-africa-umbrella&place_id=any

Low hanging fruit.

Low hanging fruit.
IDs already identified to species: can you confirm them?

Marine:
0 observations outstanding - 10 Nov https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?place_id=176567%2C176675&d1=2022-10-28&d2=2022-10-31&hrank=species

Trees:
3 observations outstanding - 10 Nov https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?place_id=97392&project_id=28880&d1=2022-10-28&d2=2022-10-31&hrank=species

Areas:
We suggest that you put in your favourite families in the 'search species' box (and places in the 'place' box) and process them first.
10,921 observations outstanding - 10 Nov Help with Cape Flora observations
4,548 observations outstanding - 10 Nov Help with Grassveld observations
817 observations outstanding - 10 Nov Help with Southern Savanna observations
409 observations outstanding - 10 Nov Help with Desert Flora observations
484 observations outstanding - 10 Nov Help with Central & East African observations
533 observations outstanding - 10 Nov Help with Flora Zambesiaca observations

Still needing identification!

Please see for details: https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/72465-calling-specialists-please-help-with-identifications

The following urgently need identification please:

Marine:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?place_id=176567%2C176675&d1=2022-10-28&d2=2022-10-31

Trees:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?place_id=97392&project_id=28880&d1=2022-10-28&d2=2022-10-31

Taxa:
please see https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/72256-progress-with-identifications-by-group
You can add your family or genus of interest into the "search species" box
If you know of any specialists, please contact them and request that they help for an hour or two.

Areas:
We suggest that you put in your favourite families in the 'search species' box and process them first.
If you want to just work in your town/region, then type your place into the 'place' box
Help with identifying Cape Flora observations
Help with identifying Grassveld observations
Help with identifying Southern Savanna observations
Help with identifying Desert Flora observations
Help with identifying Central & East African observations
Help with identifying Flora Zambesiaca observations

Reminder: how the identification tool works.
A two minute tutorial: https://vimeo.com/246153496

Some tips:

• Dont forget to use the popup screen
• Skip over the ones you do not know
• Mark any pot plants or planted garden plants or captive animals are Captive/Cultivated (tick box)
• If you find an observation with lots of species photos, please ask the observer to discombobulate them.
• When you are finished with a page (usually 30 observations), mark them all as reviewed before going to the next page.
• DONT FORGET TO FAVE THE BEST OBSERVATIONS - as many as you like, for our Observation of GSB22!! (tick box)

CITY PROGRESS

Proportion (%) of Research Grade Observations as at 8th Nov
For cities/regions with over 500 observations. Best performing at bottom.
updated for 10 November (8 & 6 & 4th) (previous highlights below)

10%
13 (8.3 4.6 3.5) Pondoland Help Pondoland ID its biodiversity Tree specialists needed!
13 (13 9.1 8.4) Kenya Help Kenya ID its biodiversity
15 (12 10 9.4) Umzimbvubu Help Umzimbvubu ID its biodiversity
19 (18 12 14) Potchestroom Help Potchestroom ID its biodiversity
20 (20 19 19) Buffalo City Help Buffalo City ID its biodiversity
25%
26 (24 20 19) Pietermartiburg
27 (26 23 22) Tshwane
33 (31 29 27) Weskus
33.3%
34 (33 30 26) Witzenberg
35 (33 28 24) Mountain Zebra
40 (35 30 28) eThekwini
40 (38 30 29) Zimbabwe
42 (41 38 36) Stellenbosch
43 (45 42 39) Nelson Mandela
Average 43.8% - Global
Average 45.1% - Africa
46 (42 36 36) C Namibia
46 (43 40 36) Cape Town
46 (44 30 --) Zululand
46 (46 46 46) Bloemfontein
47 (47 43 32) Overberg
50%
51 (48 42 34) Overstrand
58 (57 46 --) Limpopo
66.6%
68 (67 63 62) Garden Route
71 (71 62 60) Lowveld
75 (74 72 24) KZN SC
75%
Target: 90%

Group Progress:

as at 9th Nov (previous dates at about noon in brackets in reverse order, sequence most urgent at top)
For African (south of equator Africa) data.

Observations at Research Grade:

• Fungi: 112 (8.3% - tot: 1,354) Click to Help with IDs
• Arachnids: 368 (18% - tot: 2,064) Click to Help with IDs

• Other plants: 744 (27% - tot: 2,755) Click to Help with IDs
  33%

• Insects: 3,715 (33% - tot: 11,128) Click to Help with IDs
• Snails: 278 (35% - tot: 800) Click to Help with IDs
• Monocots: 5,744 (43% - tot: 13,286) Click to Help with IDs
• Fish: 86 (45% - tot: 193) Click to Help with IDs

• Dicots: 22,795 (49% - tot: 46,623) Click to Help with IDs
  50%

• Mammals: 653 (64% - tot: 1,276) Click to Help with IDs
  66%

• Herps: 1,036 (89% - tot: 1,159) Click to Help with IDs

• Birds: 4,915 (90% - tot: 5,465) Click to Help with IDs
  TARGET (95%)

• Nada

Help with IDs: for more focussed and urgent help - and the latest urgent help needed :: please see:
https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/72170-and-now-what
&
https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/72465-calling-specialists-please-help-with-identifications

Good Morning Africa.

Instructions for Identification Phase of GSB22

So the data collection phase for GSB22 is done. And hopefully everyone doing marathon bioblitz sessions has now recovered.
Very many thanks to everyone who participated. I trust it was fun, exciting and you learned lots!

Most participants will have loaded their observations by now. Only the heavyweights and those with urgent meetings wont have uploaded yet. If you have any outstanding observations to load, please do so soonest.

This means that the city rankings by observations should more or less have stabilized - only minor shuffling is likely.

However, the number of species is still totally up in the air, because most identifications must still be done.

And it is time to start with the identifications.

If you are able to help, it would be most useful. How?

The major immediate task is to get the observations that are vaguely identified to levels where specialists can get to see them.

• If you are a total beginner then putting observations to ants, bees, butterflies, daisies, peas and grasses will be very useful.
• If you are more experienced, then skip the observations that you do not know for others and move the unknowns to family, genus and species.

Because identifiers work in areas, it makes sense to group users into similar areas. For ease of use, I have done, East Africa, Savanna, Grasslands and Fynbos regions. (note that some areas are in more than one). If you wish to work only in your city, you will need to tweak the settings yourself: but there are far fewer specialists than observers, and identification should be collective rather than competitive.

The most efficient way of doing this is to use the identification tool. How it works can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/246153496
Some tips:

• Dont forget to use the popup screen
• Skip over the ones you do not know
• Mark any pot plants or planted garden plants or captive animals are Captive/Cultivated (tick box)
• If you find an observation with lots of species photos, please ask the observer to discombobulate them: there is a proforma you can copy and paste below.
• When you are finished with a page (usually 30 observations), mark them all as reviewed before going to the next page.
• DONT FORGET TO FAVE THE BEST OBSERVATIONS - as many as you like, for our Observation of GSB22!! (tick box)

So: please help! Choose your level and get identifying!

Task One: BASIC

These need basic identification (all regions) Help with basic identifications by clicking here
Special note on handlingTrees (see here)

Task Two: INTERMEDIATE

These need identification to family level or lower.
Help with basic Animals identifications by clicking here
Help with basic Plant identifications by clicking here
Help with basic Fungi identifications by clicking here

These two tasks are the most urgent, and need to be cleared soonest, so that the specialists can get started.
Summary statistics are provided below.

Done a whole lot?
Bored?
Then why not see our FAVES so far!!
To support an observation with your vote, click on the picture to open the observation - the Fave button is just below the map - just click the star.

NEXT

It is too early for specialists to be seriously involved. Hopefully by Thursday we will have sufficiently cleared the above tasks for the specialists.

Updated Friday 4th!

Task Three: SPECIALISTS

ID needed below family level
Help with identifying Birds to species level by clicking here
Help with identifying Mammals to species level by clicking here
Help with identifying Herps to species level by clicking here
Help with identifying Fish to species level by clicking here

Help with identifying Invertebrates in e & c Africa to species level by clicking here
Help with identifying Invertebrates in s Africa to species level by clicking here

Help with identifying Fungi & Lichens to species level by clicking here

PLANTS:
We suggest that you put in your favourite families in the 'species' box and process them first.
Help with identifying Cape Flora Plants
Help with identifying Grassveld Plants
Help with identifying Southern Savanna Plants
Help with identifying Desert Flora Plants
Help with identifying Central & East African Plants
Help with identifying Flora Zambesiaca Plants

• All observations must be taken during the weekend of 28-31 October.
• They must be uploaded between 28 October and 14 November, so dont waste time uploading when you can be observing: you have two extra weeks to upload. But please try and finish by 8 November so that identification can be completed.
• Identifications can be done from 28 October to 14 November.
  
• The GSB closes officially on 14 November and the results are tallied on 15 November.

So go out and have fun ...
30 More hours to go ...

We choose the "Observation of the southern African Great Southern Bioblitz 2022" by tallying up your votes.

Dont forget to vote for the best observations.

• To Vote, simply click the FAVE button.
  This can be found

• just below the map on any observation (click the picture on the summary page to open the observation), or
• at the bottom of the left panel in the Identification Tool popup (when we get around to doing identifcations after the weekend).

Rules:

• You are allowed as many votes as you like.
• You can vote for your observations if you think that they are good.
• The observation of the s Afr GSB will be selected from the top five voted observations.
• You can also vote for sounds. Only verifiable observations count (i.e. garden plants and captive animals will not be eligible, and the observation must have a picture or sound, and must be in the GSB202 project).