ESPM 140 – iNaturalist Field Journal & Observations
For the rest of the course, you will be submitting weekly journal entries into iNaturalist. This will include the insects you’ve encountered throughout your collecting and trapping. We will be following a modified format of the Grinnell System, developed by Joseph Grinnell, first director of MVZ.
More information about the Grinnell System:
http://gk12calbio.berkeley.edu/lessons/fieldnoteguide.pdf
https://pages.wustl.edu/files/pages/imce/mnh/grinnell-journaling.pdf
These weekly journal entries will be worth 20 points. The point breakdown will be as followed:
The Journal ( 5 points)
This section will act as your diary, explain what route you took, what traps or tools you used (if any). What did you see? Where did you look? Did you see any insects and were unable to catch them? What was the weather like? What times did you collect? Day time? Night time?
In this section you will also record all the information you would have required to make an insect label:
Country, State, County, Locality, GPS location, Elevation, , Date, Collector
Method
Species list ( 10 points)
In this section you will list all the insects you came across, please try to include photos of most if not all insects you come across. These photos should be uploaded into iNaturalist as observations. While writing your journal in iNaturalist you can check off what observations to include into your entry.
Aim to have 10+ observations per week. These will count towards your total observations you need for your virtual collection.
Species Account ( 5 points)
In this section, try to write a short account of an insect you came across. Did some insect catch your eye? Have some interesting behavior? Try to ID this insect to family and then talk about what it did that interested you.
Example:
Journal #1
USA, California, Alameda County, Albany, Some GPS, Elev: 18m, 10 January 2021, Coll: A. Cabrero
Method: Hand, Net
Time: 3:00p – 4:00pm, 10:30pm-11pm
Today I decided to explore what insect life could be found around my house. It was a sunny day, mild weather, with slight winds. I started by searching near my windowsills and seeing what I found. A few spiders were encountered, with some poor moths as prey. My dog was scratching himself, so I decided to exam him. I found a flea on him, not the first insect I wanted to encounter on my exploration =/ I made my way outside and instantly saw insect activity. There were a few butterflies flying around, I saw a few cabbage whites and a painted lady. Although nice insects to come across, I was more interested in seeing what flies I found. I used my net and swept the overgrown grass, I caught many small flies and spooked a beautiful crane fly that flew into the rosemary bush. Some other flies observed were the usually suspects like calliphorids, sarcophagids and syrphids. Lastly, I decided to look at my carnivorous plant bogs I have outside, I found a few unlucky insects trapped in my sundews and pitcher plants. Far too digested to find out what they were. It was cool to discover the soil full of collembola, they likely enjoy the constant wet conditions. I also found some aphids on my pitcher plants, which wasn’t the most exciting thing to discover…
After my nightly dog walk, I decided to check around the porch lights. There was a lot of insect activity. The crane flies were bumbling around. A few chironomids were perched along the wall underneath the light. The most interesting insect I came across was probably a brown lacewing that was also hanging around the light.
Species list:
Dog flea
Cabbage White
Painted Lady
Sarcophagid Sp.
Calliphorid Sp.
Syrphid, likely Toxomerus marginatus?
Tipulidae
Hemerobiidae
Aphidae
Chironomidae
Collembola, Entomobryidae?
Species Account:
I think my favorite observation of my mini collecting trip was the large red crane fly I spooked out the grass. It flew up over me and into the rosemary bush. Not the strongest flier and I’m not sure it had much choice of where it ended up, the winds really picked up. It struggled to settle itself into the bush, its long legs likely not helping it. There it lingered for a few moments, I was able to get some close-up photos of its really beautiful coloration. I’ve grown accustomed to the common brown crane flies, so it was nice to see this red one. I debated catching it but decided to let it be. Soon after it took off and the wind slammed it into my lemon tree. c'est la vie.