Can you find ALL of the iconic taxa in 11 days?

We want everyone to get outside during that time for our global snapshot of biodiversity from May 15-25. I have a special challenge for you that I'm going to take on myself.

Can you make at least one observation from each of the 13 iconic taxa? That's at least one of each of the following:
-Plants
-Protozoans
-Fungi (including lichens)
-Mollusks
-Ray-finned fishes
-Birds
-Reptiles
-Amphibians
-Mammals
-Insects
-Arachnids
-Other Animals (stuff that doesn't fall into another more specific animal category listed above, like most other invertebrates)
-Kelp, Diatoms, and Allies

Some of these are going to be easy, but it's definitely going to vary from place to place. You might have to brush up on what's in Kingdom Chromista and get your hands on a microscope for the Protozoans.

Rules:

  1. It has to have a photo, date, and location.
  2. It has to be observed during May 15-25 (your local time).
  3. You must upload it by Wednesday, May 27 (your local time).
  4. It has to have a correct identification that ties it to one of those taxa.

At the end of the snapshot, I'll recognize everyone who met the challenge in another journal post. I hope you'll use this as an excuse to explore something out of your comfort zone!

Publicado el jueves, 14 de mayo de 2015 a las 06:56 PM por carrieseltzer carrieseltzer

Comentarios

Hard Job without microscope... :(

Anotado por martingrimm hace casi 9 años

Martin, a microscope would certainly make it easier, but there are some protists visible without magnification. You'll have to find some slime molds! :-)
http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47685-Mycetozoa
Those are definitely outside MY comfort zone, but I'll be on the lookout!

Anotado por carrieseltzer hace casi 9 años

unlikely for those of us who are landlocked but hey if I get a chance I'll put anything in I can. Of course that's what I always do anyway :)

Anotado por charlie hace casi 9 años

Charlie, what do you think you won't be able to find in Vermont?

Anotado por carrieseltzer hace casi 9 años

kelp? I doubt I will get them all anyway, but just thinking... i guess if i had a microscope i could get a diatom.

Anotado por charlie hace casi 9 años

You should be able to find cyanobacteria like Nostoc! It was one of my most fascinating discoveries last summer to learn what it was and what Kingdom it belongs to. It's blobby seaweed-y looking stuff that I found in abundance on gravel road shoulders in western Maryland. Grows in the grass by my DC metro station sometimes too.
http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/67332-Nostoc

Anotado por carrieseltzer hace casi 9 años

wow, yeah those are weird and neat. I will try to find some.

Anotado por charlie hace casi 9 años

will a photo of a person looking thru a microscope be enough for the protozoa?

Anotado por kcastaneda hace casi 9 años

Nope, it needs to be a photo identifiable as a protozoan! Try looking for slime molds :-)

Anotado por carrieseltzer hace casi 9 años

Game ON!

So far, I only have three: mammals, plants, and fungi. I did get a picture of a cowbird but there is also a HUGE bison in the picture so you pretty much don't notice the cowbird.

This should be fun! I'll have to do some research about where to find slime molds. I've noticed snow mold before but not slime mold.

Anotado por anneclewis hace casi 9 años

Here's my update about how I'm doing on this challenge: http://www.inaturalist.org/journal/carrieseltzer/4204
Anyone else want to give an update?

Anotado por carrieseltzer hace casi 9 años

Missing Protozoans, amphibs and Kelp group.

Anotado por martingrimm hace casi 9 años

I'm not gonna make it but I will get a good chunk of them. It's time to plant the garden which means a bit less wandering about :)

Anotado por charlie hace casi 9 años

I did, though, just find that orange iron eating bacteria

Anotado por charlie hace casi 9 años

I'm missing quite a few, so many in fact that's it's easier to list what I do have.
-Plants Very easy especially as we are coming into wildflower season
-Fungi (including lichens) Found Shaggy Mane Inky Caps. I love it for the name alone
-Birds A challenge to photograph as Carrie noted. I do have a picture of an American robin, but am hoping for something a little less pedestrian. Will be adding a gull later. Tried to get pictures of turkey on a work related road trip and only ended up making the interns nervous.
-Mammals A big horn sheep and bison. The day trip to a national park paid off. Ironically, when I got home and looked at my pictures, I saw one of the bison pictures also had a cowbird in it, since cowbirds like to feed right near the bison's head. But really, you don't notice the cowbird at first or even second glance.

And for the record, I took these from the road at a safe distance, watching carefully for agitation. Bison raise their tales when irritated and you'd better believe that even though I was in the car, I kept a close eye on those tails.
-Insects Green lacewing. I was taking a picture of a tree and boom, there it was.

I thought the arachnids, reptiles and amphibians would be easier. I did see a spider in the house this morning, I was trying to have these be all outside critters but time is growing short. Compromises may have to be made.

I went out tromping this afternoon ISO slime molds. I did find an interesting organism but I suspect it is a fungi and not a slime mold.

I'll have to go back to the little wetland area where I took a photo of duckweed. I saw something algae-y looking there.

Even though I'm not doing well on this particular challenge, I've been sharing a picture a day via the FB page of the science center where I work. I haven't been out every day, but I think I've missed just a few.

My personal guidelines for the project are the items have to photographed using a camera phone in places that people who are not back country explorers would go. My reasons for this are to model that this is something that anyone and everyone could do. So far, my pictures have been taken in my yard, a city park, a state park, a national park and a few on the sidewalk.

The Sage Creek Wilderness area in the Badlands National Park where I took a lot of the wildflower photos was a little bit of a cheat, since it's back country style hiking but it was still something that a family with older children could do.

Anotado por anneclewis hace casi 9 años

Glad to hear your updates! If you look at the observations on my journal post, the species are about as pedestrian as it gets (http://www.inaturalist.org/journal/carrieseltzer/4204), except maybe for the cyanobacteria :-)

I went hiking along a creek with a couple of friends this morning, but unfortunately my toddler wasn't interested in anything other than being worn in her carrier. Carrying 28 pounds of kid in front of you makes it much more difficult to get down and look for slime molds! Now I just need protozoans and reptiles.

Anotado por carrieseltzer hace casi 9 años

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