An oldie but a goodie. A good example of how much is out there in the insect world just waiting for discovery…in your own back yard!
One thing I like to stress when I’m promoting citizen science to kids and families: There is so much out there, you might discover something new if you just look.
If you’re interested in being a citizen scientist, check out iNaturalist [link]. You upload photos (it tracks when and where you saw something), and then you and experts will determine the ID of the organism. It’s good for any form of life, even that mold growing on leftovers that were in the fridge for too long!
So many people assume that biodiversity is all about big, obvious organisms, and end up underestimating how much there is to discover around them. Spend a sunny afternoon sitting in the grass and see how many individual plants, animals, fungi etc you can find in a few square meters. There is far more life out there than you might expect, no matter where you live! You just need to take some time to look and learn.
Yes yes yes. On iNat, I have a project to keep track of things I’ve seen in my yard. I do not have a large yard. It’s about 0.10 acre, whatever that means (I don’t even know how big an acre is, jeez).
And this is only the first 500 that iNat would load. There are almost 200 more. Every time I go in my yard, I will find something that 1) I had no idea lived in Austin, TX and/or 2) I had no idea existed, period.
The world is a mind-bogglingly fascinating place. You just gotta look!
sky's stuff 