Thomas Mesaglio | Lightnews

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Jul 29

"who knows?"
--> and yet you + others continue to unhelpfully speculate. I'm unsure you understand what 'pivot' means if that's how you interpret a proposed demo which may never progress further after testing

also fyi using iNat data in research ≠ 'working with them'

have a great day

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Jul 29

Check out our new paper exploring the incredible uses of @inaturalist.bsky.social data in biodiversity research!

Corey Callaghan @coreytcallaghan.bsky.social · Jul 28

Our new paper in BioScience shows how iNaturalist data is powering research across the globe, with use growing 10x in 5 years and spanning 128 countries & 638 families of life.

Paper: doi.org/10.1093/bios...

@ifas.ufl.edu @inaturalist.bsky.social

#Biodiversity #iNaturalist #OpenScience

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Jul 29

"pivoting to generative AI" is a strange and very misleading characterisation of the planned demo that does not accurately described the currently intended tool whatsoever

iNaturalist @inaturalist.bsky.social · Jul 28

This new paper documents a tenfold increase in research papers using community-collected iNaturalist data over just five years: tr.ee/89Ot3I

According to the study, here are four key ways that iNaturalist data directly powers science 🧵⤵️

Corey Callaghan @coreytcallaghan.bsky.social · Jul 28

Our new paper in BioScience shows how iNaturalist data is powering research across the globe, with use growing 10x in 5 years and spanning 128 countries & 638 families of life.

Paper: doi.org/10.1093/bios...

@ifas.ufl.edu @inaturalist.bsky.social

#Biodiversity #iNaturalist #OpenScience

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Jun 12

did you use the Shiny app, or the R package? The latter allows you to use infinitylists for anywhere in the world, the former only for select regions as a demo of the functionality

Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · Jun 11

infinitylists: A Shiny application & R package for rapid generation of place-based species checklists

In #AppsPlantSci by @thebeachcomber.bsky.social @fontikar.bsky.social @hsauquet.bsky.social ‬& @willcornwell.bsky.social ‬

bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... @unswbees.bsky.social

Mosaic of three images. Top left, someone holding a mobile phone using the infinitylists Shiny app. Top right, two botanists on a boardwalk in a Melaleuca swamp in northern Sydney, looking closely at a small plant on the ground. Bottom, pink flowers from a rosy sundew (Drosera spatulata). Photo credits (clockwise from top left): Kate Mesaglio, Hervé Sauquet, Thomas Mesaglio

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Jun 10

humans make mistakes all the time when IDing stuff. Could be any number of reasons: it's a woodpecker, and it's olive-coloured, so that's what they typed (this is why there are so many black house ant misIDs). Or, there's a local species with the common name olive woodpecker as well

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Jun 10

that first ID wasn't made by AI, and that species isn't one of the suggestions at all for that record when you query the AI. In fact, when you check it the top suggestion by the AI is the correct species ID

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · May 19

nice one Francesco! I've added both species to iNat for you ;)

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · May 17

A fun short paper we wrote about new plant species discovered and subsequently described thanks to @inaturalist.bsky.social records, with recommendations for optimising this process into the future!

Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · May 16

Check out this new #AJB essay by @thebeachcomber.bsky.social, @hsauquet.bsky.social & @willcornwell.bsky.social!

#Citizenscience records are fuelling exciting discoveries of new plant species

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience #iNaturalist #herbarium

A world map showing the locations of new plant species discovered through iNaturalist. Each species is represented by a photograph and text explaining the family and year of description.

Botanical Society of America @botsocamerica.bsky.social · May 16

Check out this new #AJB essay by @thebeachcomber.bsky.social, @hsauquet.bsky.social & @willcornwell.bsky.social!

#Citizenscience records are fuelling exciting discoveries of new plant species

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience #iNaturalist #herbarium

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Apr 3

New field guide incoming: Sydney Harbour Fishes

2,500+ colour photographs
>700 species
>300 photographers

almost all images from Australasian Fishes (www.inaturalist.org/projects/aus...) on @inaturalist.bsky.social

May release, now accepting pre-orders at sydneyharbourfishes.company.site

Sydney Harbour Fishes

sydneyharbourfishes.company.site

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Mar 17

We extensively discuss why accuracy was so high, but key is that many experts have already spent years sharing their knowledge on iNat. It's clear: consistent expert engagement with citizen science, and the learning by citizen scientists that results, drives high quality biodiversity datasets.

Figure 6 from Mesaglio and Callaghan 2021. Conceptual figure showing the positive feedback loop as iNaturalist continues to grow in Australia. As more taxonomic experts join iNaturalist, more observations will increase the bioliteracy of the data, providing more data for ecological and conservation research questions in Australia.

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Mar 17

What did we find? Almost 11,000 records were reviewed by at least one expert during the event. Of the 7,000+ records from our dataset that were identified to species or finer, 92% of them were correctly identified. And if only considering the ~3,500 Research Grade records, these were 97% accurate.

Figure 4 from Mesaglio et al. 2025. Assessment of identification accuracy after expert identification (ID) blitz. All illustrations by Thomas Mesaglio, from top to bottom: Caladenia flava R.Br. (Orchidaceae), Burchardia rosea Keighery (Colchicaceae), Lechenaultia biloba Lindl. (Goodeniaceae), Nematolepis phebalioides Turcz. (Rutaceae).

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Mar 17

We recruited over 50 taxonomists, botanists and other experts with knowledge of the Western Australian flora, and gave them three weeks to assess the ID accuracy of thousands of iNat records from three regions in WA as part of an 'expert ID blitz'.

Figure 1 from Mesaglio et al. 2025. Locations for the 2024 Western Australian iNaturalist plant identification blitz. Note that each area encompasses a larger zone centred on the national park itself. Photographs by Thomas Mesaglio.

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Mar 17

New paper open access in @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Cit sci data quality is a hot topic, and assumptions about ID accuracy are often made without evidence. We decided to test identification accuracy for a WA plants @inaturalist.bsky.social dataset

Expert identification blitz: A rapid high value approach for assessing and improving iNaturalist identification accuracy and data precision and confidence

Citizen science data are increasingly used in research and conservation, so assessing and improving data accuracy is important. We recruited 50 experts to review a dataset of Western Australian plant....

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 25

Keeping track of new taxonomic changes and species descriptions can be tough, so I've created a living spreadsheet to document recent taxonomic works relating to Australian plants, and provide an easy to access central resource. It will be updated every week or two

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Updates to Australian plant taxonomy

docs.google.com

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 17

Photographed one of my mega bucket list species on a recent trip to Kakadu NP, the amazing Leichhardt's Grasshopper (Petasida ephippigera). Found only across the Top End of the NT, this species is on the decline. I waited almost 5 years to see this grasshopper after failing to find one in March 2020

Leichhardt's Grasshopper (Petasida ephippigera) on host plant Pityrodia jamesii in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory.

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 2

But discovery hasn't finished! Since we ran the numbers earlier this year, at least 50 new species (mostly introduced) have already been found for Royal, with a smaller handful for Yosemite. There's still lots to discover, so head out there with your camera and plant press!

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 2

Second, the most complete picture of the plant biodiversity from each park relied on combining all three data streams: each had unique species that the other two didn't. Excitingly, @inaturalist.bsky.social records contributed 63 new species for Royal, and 20 for Yosemite

Plant species newly recorded for Royal National Park (a-c) and Yosemite National Park (d-f) from Research Grade iNaturalist observations. a) Pleroma urvilleanum (Melastomataceae), introduced, photograph by Thomas Mesaglio, CC BY; b) Thelymitra improcera (Orchidaceae), native, photograph by Robert Humphries, CC BY-NC; c) Nymphaea alba (Nymphaeaceae), introduced, photograph by Russell Barrett, CC BY-NC; d) Hemitomes congestum (Ericaceae), native, photograph by Adam J. Searcy, CC BY; e) Erythranthe rubella (Phrymaceae), native, photograph by Brett Bell, CC BY-NC; f) Lotus corniculatus (Fabaceae), introduced, photograph by yhirama, CC BY-NC.

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 2

Key take homes?

First, compiling species lists for a reserve requires lots of manual curation! We found many errors, including misIDs, wrong coordinates, taxonomic issues, and databasing errors. These result in differences of 100s of species across curated vs non-curated lists

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 2

And what about Yosemite? It reached 1,632 species, including 1,409 natives, in an area of 300,000 ha.

Photo by Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 2

How many vascular plant species do you think are in Royal NP? We compiled a total of 1,414 species! This includes 1,146 natives, more than the entire British Isles in an area of just 15,000 ha.

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 2

New paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...

We compiled master plant species lists for 2 of the 5 oldest national parks: Royal (Australia) and Yosemite (USA) by combining herbarium vouchers + @inaturalist.bsky.social records + official expert park lists, extensively manually curating all records.

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 1

A few years ago on the midnorth coast, I walked through a tall, closed wet forest with tens of thousands of razor grinders calling simultaneously, it was close to unbearable. The overall sound was so loud I felt like I was almost hallucinating, and the air seemed to be almost pulsing with sound.

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 1

@siobhanleachman.bsky.social a mysterious, slightly dodgy online store that seems to have now disappeared off the face of the earth...

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Nov 18

yeah fairly spread out; I like to see myself as a geographic 'specialist' (or at least fairly adept jack of all trades...) of the Australian biota rather than a taxonomic specialist. Eyeballing things, I'd say ~90% of my IDs are plants + birds + insects + molluscs

Thomas Mesaglio @thebeachcomber.bsky.social · Dec 16

Cracked the 300,000 mark for IDs on iNaturalist

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