iNaturalist

iNaturalist
Name	iNaturalist
Type	Citizen science, Biodiversity informatics
Founded	2008
Founders	Nate Agrin; Jessica Kline; Ken-ichi Ueda
Headquarters	San Francisco, California
Owner	California Academy of Sciences; National Geographic Society (since 2014)
Website	iNaturalist.org

iNaturalist is an online citizen science platform and social network for recording biodiversity observations. It connects amateur naturalists, educators, professional scientists, and institutions to document species occurrences and contribute to biogeographic datasets used by conservationists and researchers. The project integrates mobile applications, community identification workflows, and data exports to global biodiversity infrastructures.

Overview

iNaturalist functions as a crowdsourced observation database where users upload photographs, audio, or observations of organisms and receive identifications from the community. The platform aggregates georeferenced records, temporal metadata, and taxonomic annotations to support research initiatives at organizations such as the California Academy of Sciences, National Geographic Society, Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Museum of Natural History, London, and universities worldwide. Data from the platform are cited in publications, incorporated into species distribution models used by IUCN Red List assessors, and leveraged by conservation NGOs like World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International.

History and Development

iNaturalist originated in 2008 as a collaboration among developers and naturalists, later formalized through partnerships with the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society in 2014. Early technical influences include citizen science projects like eBird, BugGuide, and community platforms such as Flickr and Facebook that demonstrated large-scale photo sharing. Subsequent development incorporated standards from initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and the Atlas of Living Australia, and was shaped by funding and policy frameworks from institutions including the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and programs at the Smithsonian Institution.

Platform and Features

The platform provides web and mobile applications that integrate GPS, camera, and metadata capture similar to mobile tools developed by Google and Apple for field data collection. Core features include automated species suggestions leveraging machine learning models informed by datasets from museums like the American Museum of Natural History, community identification threads akin to moderation workflows at Stack Overflow, project pages modeled after portals used by institutions such as the United Nations Environment Programme, and export functions compatible with standards from the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG). Users can create or join projects for local bioblitzes, educational curricula aligned with institutions like Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County.

Community and Research Contributions

The community comprises naturalists, taxonomists, educators, students, and researchers from organizations such as Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, University of California, Berkeley, Australian Museum, and regional nature societies. Collaborative events like bioblitzes mirror activities organized by National Geographic Society and The Explorers Club, producing dense temporal datasets used in phenology studies and invasive species detection by agencies such as the United States Geological Survey and the European Environment Agency. Peer-reviewed studies citing platform-sourced observations appear in journals associated with publishers like Springer Nature, Elsevier, and societies such as the Entomological Society of America.

Data Quality and Verification

Verification relies on community agreement, curator roles, and automated suggestions powered by machine learning. Taxonomic backbone mapping aligns with authoritative sources including the Catalogue of Life, Integrated Taxonomic Information System, and specialist checklists maintained by museums like the Field Museum. Quality control mechanisms resemble peer review practices used by scientific journals such as Nature and Science in that identifications can be challenged, annotated, and revised. Data licensing choices (e.g., Creative Commons) affect reuse by organizations including Wikimedia Commons and repositories such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Partnerships and Impact

iNaturalist has formal collaborations with research institutions, governmental agencies, and conservation NGOs including the California Academy of Sciences, National Geographic Society, GBIF, United States National Park Service, Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, and academic networks at universities like University of Oxford and Harvard University. Impact examples include contributions to species range extensions documented by museum curators at institutions such as the Natural History Museum, London and policy-relevant data used in assessments by IUCN specialists and regional conservation plans developed with groups like Nature Conservancy.

Privacy, Ethics, and Criticism

Privacy and ethical concerns have been raised by conservationists, academics, and indigenous organizations including consultative dialogue with entities like United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues when observations reveal sensitive locations or rare species vulnerable to poaching. Critics point to risks highlighted in case studies by institutions such as Human Rights Watch and debates in journals published by societies like the Society for Conservation Biology regarding data sensitivity and consent. Platform responses mirror policy revisions similar to those adopted by museums and archives like the Smithsonian Institution to balance open science, researcher needs, and protection of at-risk taxa.

Category:Citizen science Category:Biodiversity databases