Alpinists Contribute to Biodiversity Science Using iNaturalist
by Gabe Schepens and Brian Starzomski
Pile of grass where it shouldn’t be? The above photograph became a research-grade iNaturalist datapoint for American Pika. Photo: Zac Robinson, 2019.
Mountains are an important refuge for species as they adapt to a changing world. Animals with large home ranges like wolverines seek secluded snow-covered areas for denning, while rare flowers sprout uphill of their parents to move up valleys following the toe of a melting glacier. These remote ecosystems are challenging to study, and biologists know much less about alpine biodiversity than closer-to-town habitats. Throughout Canada’s vast mountain network, eager alpinists are making important contributions to our knowledge of biodiversity by sharing photos to the iNaturalist (www.inaturalist.ca) community science platform.
In our changing climate, ecosystems are most dynamic at their edges. Mountains are sentinels of change, filled with habitat edges, species range limits, climate zonations, and variable elevation – such regions of transition are called ecotones. These boundaries, such as the treeline, are moving as climate warms and lengthens the growing season at high elevation. While scientists are busy studying these transitions using technology like comparative satellite imagery, we have little time (or funding) to venture into mountain ecosystems to collect data on unique species. In the hard-to-reach places that alpinists go, a few pictures taken with a phone camera can provide valuable data to fill these gaps. From geotagged photographs uploaded to iNaturalist.ca, scientists can study a range of different ecological phenomena. For example, iNaturalist photo observations taken in western Canadian mountains provided data for research on the timing of mountain goat coat shedding.[1]
Figure 1: University of Alberta students iNatting at the 2019 General Mountaineering Camp. Bubbles show examples of iNaturalist observations they later uploaded. Photo: Mary Sanseverino, 2019.
Whether it’s the golden-mantled ground squirrel – not a chipmunk – eyeing your granola, or the century-old moss campion cushion you sat on, all photographs are valuable. If you don’t know what exactly you might be looking at, you can learn with iNaturalist’s automated identification tools, which can be used on-trail (and offline) as part of the Seek app. Once the photo is uploaded online, iNaturalist has thousands of experts who will help identify your observation – be it the alga which causes pink “watermelon snow,” or the cheeto-shaped droppings of a ptarmigan. There are so few alpine observations that you may unknowingly document a species new to the region, as Brian Starzomski did with a blurry butterfly photo last summer that was identified as an Edwards’ Fritillary.
At last year’s Mummery Glacier General Mountaineering Camp (GMC), ACC member and scientist Mary Sanseverino created an iNaturalist “Project” to collect the GMC observations by defining the camp’s perimeter and time frame.[2] Like an automatic photo album, GMC project photos are all collected to one website, and you can take a look at Mary’s photo of the elusive camp marmot. Projects list summary statistics: 2021 GMC-goers submitted 189 photo observations of 70 unique species, which were identified by 30 experts. Once a species identification is confirmed, the iNaturalist observation is passed to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, which hosts and freely provides data to the public and for research.
Figure 2: iNaturalist Projects exist for hundreds of popular alpine destinations. Shown here as an example are two Projects on Vancouver Island: Strathcona Provincial Park, and the Golden Hinde Alpine and Montane Zone.
iNaturalist Projects have been created for many mountainous places, such as popular summits and their approaches, parks, and conservation areas. Before heading out, check iNaturalist projects for the area – what rare species might await you along the trail up the Golden Hinde? Are the blueberries ripe? In Strathcona Provincial Park, outdoor enthusiasts have contributed over 28,000 iNaturalist observations. [insert Figure 2] While this park is largely covered in rugged mountainous terrain, only nine per cent of these observations were taken in the alpine ecosystem.
“iNaturalist Projects have been created for many mountainous places, such as popular summits and their approaches, parks, and conservation areas.”
For climbers, much like projecting in the crag and peak-bagging in the alpine, gathering species observations can quickly become a competitive endeavour. On a recent trip to a glacial bowl, our team clambered among the rocks in search of streamside flowers while keeping an ear out for the sharp cry of a pika. Over dinner, we compared pictures of wildflowers, and tall tales of the marmot that ran before having its picture taken. Once the photos are uploaded to iNaturalist, the Project tallies a leaderboard, which turns naïve naturalists into fierce competitors. Soon, a fun scavenger hunt (sometimes termed “bioblitz”) becomes a passion to document as many organisms as possible. Less than a year after I unwittingly downloaded the iNaturalist app, my mother made me a 1000-species congratulatory cake – a slippery slope.
What matters much less than the successes of a few nerds are the small contributions of hundreds of engaged members – each traveling to different places in different seasons with different interests. Observations from novice “iNatters” have been used to inform management of endangered species, monitor species invasions, and measure biodiversity across the country. At the time of writing, iNaturalist observations in Canada exceed seven million, with over 32,000 species documented. However, the majority of these observations are gathered near roads and urban areas – giving alpinists a unique asset to contribute to our collective knowledge of the natural world. So, next time you’re feeling the freedom of the hills, snap a few photos of the plants and animals you encounter, upload to iNaturalist, and contribute to alpine science.
Gabe Schepens is a recent MSc graduate from the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. They have studied mountain ecosystems from plants to wolverines, and they are currently working on habitat modeling for species at risk.
Brian Starzomski is the Director of the School of Environmental Studies at University of Victoria. He studies biodiversity across a variety of ecosystems, using iNaturalist in his research, as a hobby, and in his role on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.
References
1. Nowak, K. et al. Using community photography to investigate phenology: A case study of coat molt in the mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) with missing data. Ecology and Evolution 10, 13488–13499 (2020).
2. iNaturalist. Mummery Glacier 2021 GMC Observations. https://inaturalist.ca/projects/mummery-glacier-2021-gmc-observations (2021).