This webinar was recorded during the Lorquin Entomological August 2023 meeting. Galls are intriguing plant structures induced by insects (usually), creating a sheltered home for the larval stages of the inducing organism. Galls have diverse and sometimes incredible shapes and colors, and their natural history is equally fascinating, with complex life cycles, tiny opportunistic parasitoids, and more! Dr. Merav Vonshak (Ecologist and Founder of BioBlitz Club) and Michael Hawk (Founder, Jumpstart Nature and host of Nature's Archive podcast) talk about gall biology, common host plants and gall inducers. They discuss how you can find and identify galls, with numerous examples including gall look-alikes.

Naturalist Training - A Deeper Dive into iNaturalist During the second presentation we will discuss how to make better observations, add them into projects, and how to add fields, tags, and annotations. All these features will help your observations stand out, and will make it easier for experts (and you!) to find it and use it. We will also demonstrate how to efficiently search and filter observations. All these features will not only improve the "quality" of your observations, but also your ability to learn from the process. This is Part 2 of a new series of naturalist presentations. Part 1 can be found at https://youtu.be/ty2Fu7Trz8o Co-hosts are Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful and BioBlitz Club Recording date 8/23/23 Resource List from Merav Vonshak - Merav Vonshak merav.von@gmail.com - Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bioblitz.club/ - Website https://www.bioblitz.club/, including a short discussion about useful gadgets here. Some local organizations with great community science programs: - Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful – https://www.keepcoyotecreekbeautiful.... - Sequoia Audubon Society – https://www.sequoia-audubon.org/ - California Academy of Sciences – https://www.calacademy.org/citizen-sc... - Wholly H2O – https://whollyh2o.org/

Naturalist Training - Community Science and Introduction to iNaturalist This interactive presentation is an introduction to community science and iNaturalist. We will explain what iNaturalist is and how we use it at our BioBlitz events. You'll learn the "why" - why should you use the iNaturalist app, if you aren't doing so already, and how can you improve your experience, if you're already a user. We will provide examples of scientific studies using iNaturalist data in order to learn about our environment. This is Part 1 of a new series of naturalist presentations. Co-hosts are Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful and BioBlitz Club Recording date 7/19/23 Resource List from Merav Vonshak - Merav Vonshak merav.von@gmail.com - Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bioblitz.club/ - Website https://www.bioblitz.club/, including a short discussion about useful gadgets here. A few community science programs I mentioned: North America: - **7/22-30** – National Moth Week – document moths at https://nationalmothweek.org/ - eBird – a huge database for reporting bird observations (global) at https://ebird.org - Zooniverse – help researchers analyze data of various studies at https://www.zooniverse.org/ - Firefly Atlas – for firefly observations at https://www.fireflyatlas.org/ - SOD – Sudden Oak Death blitzes at https://nature.berkeley.edu/matteolab/?page_id=148 - Rockd – app for recording geological observations at https://rockd.org/ Bay Area/ California: - The Newt Patrol project – https://www.bioblitz.club/newts - Data at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pacific-newt-roadkill-main-project-lexington-reservoir - City Nature Challenge – iNaturalist global event at https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/ - Snapshot Cal Coast – https://www.calacademy.org/calcoast - The Jasper Ridge Ant Survey – https://jrbp.stanford.edu/research/jrbp-ant-survey Some local organizations with great community science programs: - Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful – https://www.keepcoyotecreekbeautiful.org/ - Sequoia Audubon Society – https://www.sequoia-audubon.org/ - California Academy of Sciences – https://www.calacademy.org/citizen-science - Wholly H2O – https://whollyh2o.org/ ** if you’d like to hear more about the Newt Patrol or the Jasper Ridge Ant Survey – please email merav.von@gmail.com

When you think of climate change, one might think of wildfires, rising sea levels, and drastic changes in weather. Most people don’t think about the major conservation challenges induced by this issue and how it affects ecologies, shifts the distribution of many species, and introduces invasive intruders to new environments. In this episode of Google Maps Platform Customer Stories, we’ll explore how iNaturalist - a crowdsourced biodiversity recording platform and social network for people who love nature - uses Google Maps Platform to scale the collection of biodiversity data. Watch this video to learn how iNaturalist works, the problems it solves, and more! Resources: Check out iNaturalist → https://goo.gle/3WmlzuJ Check out our blog post →https://goo.gle/3K4Riye Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 0:40 - Why is the collection of biodiversity data important? 1:42 - What is iNaturalist? 3:38 - How does iNaturalist use Google Maps Platform? 4:57 - How did iNaturalist change the practice of BioBlitzes? 6:15 - What makes the iNaturalist community unique? 6:52 - Why is it vital to pay attention to ecologies? Watch more episodes of Google Maps Platform Customer Stories → https://goo.gle/3NDRzqs Subscribe to Google Maps Platform → https://goo.gle/GMapsPlatform #sustainability #nature

with Michael Hawk and Dr. Merav Vonshak, part of the CNPS Yerba Buena speaker series Galls are intriguing plant structures induced by insects (usually), creating a sheltered home for the larval stages of the inducing organism. They have diverse and sometimes incredible shapes and colors, and their natural history is equally fascinating, with complex life cycles, tiny opportunistic parasitoids, and more! Michael Hawk (Nature's Archive podcast and Jumpstart Nature) and Dr. Merav Vonshak (BioBlitz Club) will talk about gall biology, common host plants and gall inducers. They discuss how you can find and identify galls, with numerous examples including gall look-alikes.

A presentation for the 2021 ICOET conference. Abstract: Since 2017 a group of citizen scientists has been monitoring roadkill mortality of two species of pacific newts: California Newt (Taricha torosa) and Rough-skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa) along a road near Lexington Reservoir, Los Gatos CA. The newts migrate from the hills to the reservoir and the creeks nearby in order to reproduce. They start migrating after the first substantial rains, and head back early spring (November-May). Many of them get hit by the busy traffic on the road surrounding the reservoir. For the past three seasons we have been surveying a 4.2 miles section of the road, recording an average of about 5,000 dead newts per year. This is one of the highest rates of herpetofauna mortality on roads ever reported globally. We record each newt using a smartphone, and share our observations on iNaturalist (https://tinyurl.com/6csrsbf4). We also record other species, with over 800 individuals of 100 species documented so far. Newt roadkill counts were affected by rainfall and frost. Although newts prefer to migrate on rainy nights, once they start migrating, they continue even during a long dry spell. In addition to our monitoring program, this year we also studied the impact of weather conditions on the persistence of dead newts on the road, in order to estimate how many newts are being missed by our teams. We are highly concerned about the survival of the two newt populations. 5,000 dead newts a year are not sustainable. With climate change, fewer breeding ponds will be available for the newts to reproduce in. Plans to develop further recreational activities along this road will attract even more traffic into the area. So far, different attempts by local environmental advocates have failed to engaged the different agencies in finding and funding solutions. We will discuss possible solutions.

Galls are intriguing plant structures induced by insects (usually), creating a sheltered home for the larval stages of the inducing organism. They have diverse and sometimes incredible shapes and colors, and their natural history is equally fascinating, with complex life cycles, tiny parasites, and more! This event is scheduled in the middle of Gall Week 2022 - a global event aiming to document gall diversity worldwide. During the webinar, Michael Hawk (Nature's Archive podcast and Jumpstart Nature) and Dr. Merav Vonshak (BioBlitz Club) talked about gall biology, common host plants and gall inducers. They discussed how you can find and identify galls, with numerous examples including gall look-alikes. This webinar is intended for beginners looking to better understand and learn how to find galls, as well as gall enthusiasts who are already exposed to the diverse world of galls, and would like to learn more. Even though the webinar includes many West Coast species, principles and approaches apply to most locations! Keep CoyoteCreek Beautiful hosted a webinar featuring Merav Vonshak with BioBlitz Club and Michael Hawk with Jumpstart Nature. Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful: keepcoyotecreekbeautiful.org BioBlitz Club: BioBlitz.club Jumpstart Nature: https://jumpstartnature.com Nature's Archive: podcast.naturesarchive.com Recorded September 7, 2022 === Resources Relevant Nature's Archive Podcast Episodes * Podcast interview with Merav Vonshak, covering BioBlitzes and a bit of galls: https://podcast.naturesarchive.com/2020/10/28/merav/ * Podcast interview with Merav Vonshak talking about Gall Week 2021 Podcast: https://podcast.naturesarchive.com/2021/09/29/gallweek2021/ * Podcast interview with Adam Kranz of Gallformers.org: https://podcast.naturesarchive.com/2021/09/14/galls/ BioBlitz.club BioBlitz.club resources * Gall pamphlets, upcoming events == More resources The Russo Western USA Gall Book: https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691205762/plant-galls-of-the-western-united-states A really fun 3 minute "Deep Look" video on galls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOgP5NzcTuA USA/Canada gall research and identification. gallformers.org Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates: A Guide to North American Species, Eiseman & Charney, 2010 https://www.powells.com/book/tracks-sign-of-insects-other-invertebrates-a-guide-to-north-american-species-9780811736244?partnerid=32527 Another great book, with some galls, and plenty of other things California Indians and Their Environment by Kent Lightfoot and Otis Parrish, UC Press c. 2009 https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520256903/california-indians-and-their-environment Photographer Joyce Gross, UC Berkeley, https://joycegross.com/index.php, many gall photos https://joycegross.com/galls_ca_oak.php == iNaturalist Gall Projects: * Gall Week 2022 iNaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-2022 * Galls of California iNaturalist project https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/galls-of-california * Galls of North America iNaturalist project https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/galls-of-north-america NOTE: Don’t forget to document and note the host plant, even if you can’t identify it. The Iron Gall Ink Website Make your own gall ink irongallink.org

This is the second instructional video on iNaturalist. We go into details on the process I use once I get home from the field, especially after a BioBlitz

a quick how to video on how to get started with iNaturalist

A zoom presentation as part of the Naturalist Talk series at Grassroots Ecology. This presentation was prepared especially for Halloween, celebrating different organisms we might encounter at night

Merav Vonshak, Ph.D. leads us in an online workshop about San Francisco Bay Area ants. Dr. Vonshak covers the common ants in and around homes, neighborhoods, and open spaces, and what are the important characteristics to look for when trying to identify them. You will get instructions on how to make your own simple ant baits and where to place them in your yard, so that you could take better photos of your ant neighbors. Part of the session will be devoted to sharing these photos and helping with IDs. We will discuss ways in which you can get involved and learn more about ants and other insects in the Bay Area. [Co-hosted by Bioblitz.Club: www.bioblitz.club]

Merav Vonshak discusses iNaturalist in this follow-up to the meeting from August 10.