More challenging than birdwatching and not nearly as popular, insect-watching is on the rise.
Concern about dwindling native insect populations is one reason why. And new technology has made it easier to log insect sightings and become part of wide-reaching citizen-scientist projects.
A worldwide project called "Never Home Alone: The Wild Life of Homes," for example, invites everyone to photograph and catalog the insects, spiders and other tiny creatures that share our homes. It was created by Rob Dunn, author of Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live (Basic Books, 2018).
In the equally global City Nature Challenge, cities compete for how many sightings residents can log. The idea is to see which city can make the most observations of nature (of any sort, not just insects), find the most species and engage the most people. The first year, it was just San Francisco versus Los Angeles. The second year, 16 cities joined in. Last year, 68 cities around the world took part.
More than 100 cities internationally have signed up to participate this year — none in Arkansas, according to Alison Young of the California Academy of Sciences. Lila Higgins of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles expressed hope Arkansas cities would join in 2020.
Both challenges — and many others like them — make use of the ever-evolving iNaturalist app and iNaturalist.org, a joint initiative by the California academy and the National Geographic Society.
"It gets people and communities to make observing all forms of nature part of their lifestyle," says Scott Loarie, co-director of iNaturalist, based at the California Academy of Sciences.
iNaturalist lets one log sightings of plants and animals, and confirm other peoples' identifications. A more kid- and novice-friendly version, Seek by iNaturalist (without the social networking component), helps identify species on the spot.
"If you think about the roughly 2 million living things that are named, about half of them are insects. So if we really want to get a handle on the diversity in the world, and changes underway, we need to start paying closer attention to insects," Loarie says.
"With birdwatching, one person goes out and says, 'Oh, it's a warbler.' It's really tough for a regular person to just go out and identify insects. iNaturalist uses photo-sharing and networks to help them tap into that naturalist's sense of curiosity," he says.
Loarie says the app has more than a million registered users, hundreds of thousands of whom are active users. "We get tens of thousands of photos a day," he says.
WINDSHIELD TEST
Baby boomers can remember road trips of their childhood when a drive through the countryside resulted in a car windshield or front grille covered in splattered bugs. That happens a lot less these days, a realization that tipped off entomologists early on to what seems a marked decline in insect populations.
Recent studies have shown precipitous declines in some invertebrate populations. The number of monarch butterflies in the country has declined by 90 percent in the last 20 years, according to one. Another study found a 76 percent decrease in flying insects in the past few decades in German nature preserves.
Other efforts to engage people in insect-watching include National Moth Week, a global event to promote the understanding and enjoyment of moths and raise awareness about biodiversity. It's slated for July 20-28 this year.
In Arkansas, various organizations and parks welcome the public to join "bio blitz" events that count all kinds of plants, birds and animals.
Brian Boom, vice president for conservation strategy at the New York Botanical Garden's monthly, city-wide EcoQuest Challenge, says the project has enrolled more than a thousand people. Each month, they are challenged to look for a different plant, often in combination with an insect. The goal is to cure what Boom calls "invertebrate blindness."
"Most people probably don't have a positive relationship with insects. Except for maybe bees, people either see past them or consider them unworthy of notice," he says. But, he says, quoting entomologist E.O. Wilson, insects are "these little things that run the world."
Celia Storey added information to this report.
Style on 01/21/2019