Mexican Nature: Citizen Science and the Rosetta Stone | Article by Carlos Galindo

Carlos Galindo Leal

ANDIn just a decade, the availability of information about nature in Mexico has changed dramatically. Today, thanks to public participation, anyone with a mobile phone can find out in detail more than 53 thousand species of plants, fungi and animals our country in iNaturalistMX. Moreover, like many others, we can become naturalists and citizen scientists.

What is citizen science?

Citizen science is the participation of society in scientific work, that is, in observing, proposing questions, hypotheses, analyzing and reporting results. This is not something new, these public participation initiatives are over a hundred years old, but they have expanded significantly thanks to technology.

In Mexico, a case in point is the discovery of places Monarch butterfly hibernation in 1975. volunteers (citizen scientists). After decades of tracking migration from Canada to Texas with the help of thousands of volunteers, Canadian researchers Fred and Nora Urquhart discovered hibernation sites in Michoacán thanks to community support.

Revolution in technology and knowledge of nature

The Rosetta Stone, discovered in Egypt in 1799, opened a window to understanding the language and culture of Ancient Egypt. A journey into the past of two centuries! Stone text written down in 194 BC. BC, contains three writing systems: Greek, Egyptian with hieroglyphs and Egyptian demotic. This 760-kilogram stone with cryptic inscriptions was transported to France and then to the British Museum in London. A comparison of languages ​​made it possible to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs.

12 years ago, the iNaturalist platform was developed in California by students from Berkeley University. The purpose of the platform is to connect society with nature and contribute to the study and conservation of biodiversity. Mexico was the first country to join the network, which currently includes 21 countries. This large international community has grown exponentially, including 3.4 million observers (citizen scientists) who have recorded nearly half a million species, or 25% of those recorded by scientists worldwide. This platform and its mobile application are nature’s Rosetta Stone.

Becoming a naturalist and citizen scientist is very easy. You just need to take photos of plants, mushrooms and wild animals with your mobile phone or camera and upload them to the platform.

Three conditions allow your observation to be considered “incidental” at the time of upload and acquire “investigation class”: 1. Geographic location, 2. Date, and 3. Agreement on identification by two people. The first two conditions are met automatically when using a mobile phone. The third condition is automatically triggered by the automatic identification of platform and application images and is validated by a large network of participants, many of whom are experts.

The iNaturalistMX platform, a Mexican hub, has included a large amount of relevant information on whether a species is endangered under Mexican law (Official Standard of Mexico 059), whether it is native, endemic or exotic, as well as descriptions of the species. their classification, maps and photographs. What makes it a Rosetta Stone, however, is that in addition to Latin scientific names, it includes common names in many languages, including several indigenous languages.

With over 150,000 members in Mexico, more than 7.5 million observations of 53,000 species, iNaturalistMX has become the fastest and most trusted way to learn about Mexican nature.

The platform includes all biological groups, plants, fungi and animals, terrestrial, flying and aquatic organisms, large and small. Now we can know the names of the trees that surround us in the city, birds, insects and much more about their natural history.

How to be a naturalist?

Naturalist is a person passionate about observing, studying and understanding nature. Some of his most notable qualities include an innate curiosity,
observation, patience, scientific rigor, emotional connection with nature, versatility, spirit of adventure and ethical commitment. These qualities characterized historical naturalists such as Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt, as well as modern explorers who contribute to the understanding and conservation of the natural world.

To help those interested in nature enjoy and learn from this activity, Transformation, Arts and Education AC (a member of the global iNaturalist network) has developed the Somos Naturalistas website. The site contains history, concepts, tools, tips in the field, news and nature stories.

Natural histories that will be presented in Aristegui News These are original discoveries made by scientists using iNaturalistMX information, or interesting stories (news) that are collected but will not necessarily be published in a scientific journal. The main actor is society through citizen science: women and men who participate in their observations and silently contribute to the collection of knowledge about the nature of Mexico.

For some time now, two support networks have been created in Mexico: a network of naturalist mentors and a network of naturalist curators. The first are naturalists who know how the platform works and train interest groups in different states. In turn, naturalist curators are people who have extensive experience in identifying species from different biological groups (taxa) and support the identification.

Contribution to achieving sustainable development goals

Although participating in iNaturalistMX is extremely simple, it supports 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the United Nations. Collaboration can be individual, from scientists supporting species identification to schools, civil society organizations and companies.

We live in a time of caring for nature. We are all responsible for environmental degradation, and we can all play a part in restoring our most precious assets. Start learning about nature and contributing to knowledge today by becoming a naturalist.