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How Can I Make a Difference?

1/9/2020

2 Comments

 
Many ecosystems—and the diverse plant communities within them—are imperiled in California, raising an important question: what can a concerned citizen do?

No, this isn't a post about donating money, reducing waste, or calling your representatives (all important actions!), we're talking about empowering science, particularly that which examines the effects of anthropogenic change on Earth's biodiversity.

You don't need to be a trained scientist to help advance science. In fact, you can contribute to California botany and change biology from the comfort of your own home using Notes from Nature, a user-friendly website that enables you to view high-resolution images of plant specimens and transcribe data from the specimen labels.
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The transcribed data are quality-checked and imported directly into the CCH2 portal (cch2.org), where they are instantly available for education and research, such as studies that examine how a warming climate has impacted plant flowering times, or predict how climate change may affect plant species' spatial distributions. Without these critical data in a digital format (i.e., typed into the computer by volunteers like you), such research is severely impeded.

The California Phenology Network is uploading thousands of herbarium specimen images to Notes from Nature for transcribing, and we need your help to get 'er done!
​
Did we mention it's super simple to get involved? Here's how you can  make a difference:​​
  1. Visit NotesFromNature.org (the home page may take a couple seconds to load).
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     2. If you want to track your work and earn badges, create an account by clicking REGISTER in the top right
​         corner of the page.
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     3. Select a project from the home page. (Pick us, please! You can find the California Phenology Network             by looking for the orange poppy).
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     4.  On the project homepage, select an "expedition" from one of the buttons below "Get Started".
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     5.  Read the tutorial for instructions on how to transcribe specimen labels and get started! More help can
        be found by clicking the Field Guide tab on the right side of the page, or by clicking any of the links
​        labeled NEED SOME HELP WITH THIS TASK?
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     6.  Spread the word, be curious, and ask questions! We want to hear what YOU think about these
          specimens and the project.
References:
  • Feeley KJ, Hurtado J, Saatchi S, Silman MR, Clark DB. 2013. Compositional shifts in Costa Rican forests due to climate-driven species migrations. Global Change Biology 19(11). https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12300
  • Willis CW, Ellwood ER, Primack RB, Davis CC, Pearson KD, Gallinat AS, Yost JM, Nelson G, Mazer SJ, Rossington NL, Sparks TH, Soltis PS. 2017. Old plants, new tricks: phenological research using herbarium specimens. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 32(7):531-546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2017.03.015
2 Comments
Dean Taylor
1/21/2020 02:57:15 pm

I visited the data entry page. I looked at FSC specimens. I note the following:
1: its awkward to maintain the label (ordinarily lower left of a sheet) in view when typing (this could be programmed to be a constant)
2: partial dates – specimens with only month and year prevent one from doing entry ~2% of all specimens - not all specimens have full data data
3. skip some data – the entry form requires all initial data, and one can not do a partial entry even if that is all that a given specimen offers. some data is better than nothing
4. it is largely now a pattern that a given gathering (collector and collection number) has been entered more than once in CCH. There ought to be a method by which one can duplicate the data from a existing CCH record, rather than clicking through the entire entry pathway. An example is Quibell 4290 at FSC (CAS-BOT-BC259284, & RSA107799) which has two existing distributed duplicates in CCH, and which would be much easier to just copy the data, rather than having to click/type through the invariant format for data entry
5. capture annotations in some format

Reply
Katelin Pearson
1/21/2020 03:33:18 pm

Hi Dean,

Thanks for your feedback, and we're glad you're trying it out! Here are a couple tips regarding your concerns:
1) You can generally zoom and pan such that the label stays up next to the data entry fields for easy access. Try zooming in a little more and dragging the label upwards!
2) For partial dates, you can enter the information you have, then for the fields that can't be filled out, you can select "Not Shown" from the pulldown menu.
3) For fields that require entry, if there are no data for that field, try just typing "unknown" or "not shown" into that field!
4) You're absolutely right! This functionality is built for our database, CCH2, but not for Notes from Nature. We figure a little duplication of effort is better than not transcribing things at all because there's technically a more efficient way. Experienced botanists like you should get in contact with your local herbarium...they might be able to train you in data entry for CCH2 and have you enter data there!
5) Annotations are captured in CCH2 soon after the data are loaded into the database. We do this because our ability to batch load annotations into CCH2 is currently limited. Don't worry, those data will make it into the database!

Please feel free to ask further questions or post comments on the Notes from Nature "talk" option! We have a community of users there who can provide quick and accurate answers.

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This project made possible by National Science Foundation Award 1802312.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.


Poppy images courtesy of Matt Ritter

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