Naturalist Training - Incredible Insects In our 8th Naturalist training, talk about the magnificent insects that live around us. Insects are fascinating creatures - they are found in almost every habitat on Earth, they can feed on diverse food resources, and they look indestructible. But are they? During this interactive webinar, we will learn about the intriguing lives of insects: we will discuss different groups of insects and how to identify them. How can you tell if it's a bug or a beetle? What does a lady bug larva look like? What are these cicada molts we find on trees? We will explore techniques to find insects at home or on a hike, and how to document them using iNaturalist. This is part 8 of an ongoing series. Part 1 - Community Science and Introduction to iNaturalist @ https://youtu.be/ty2Fu7Trz8o Part 2 - A Deeper Dive into Inaturalist @ https://youtu.be/_7kJBpDutpg Part 3: Leaf Miners, Galls, and Other Creatures on Plants @ https://youtu.be/VJuyz19K4rQ Part 4: Nature Interpretation for the Rest of Us @ https://youtu.be/JqvADIulSQA Part 5: Serpentine Grasslands and iNaturalist Projects @ https://youtu.be/FKbxTt08bMA Part 6: Why City Nature Challenge Matters @ https://youtu.be/DYIyLdOmsSM Part 7: Aquatic Macroinvertebrates @ https://youtu.be/CivYOrl5vRE Co-hosts are Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful and BioBlitz Club Presenters are Deb Kramer, Merav Vonshak, Barbara Banfield, and Eddie Dunbar Recording date 8/28/24 == CHAPTERS 4:49 - Incredible Insects Introduction by Merav Vonshak 13:06 - Bees & Wasps by Barbara Banfield 41:01 - Beetles vs True Bugs by Eddie Dunbar 1:06:40 - Questions == RESOURCE LIST Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful: - Website: KeepCoyoteCreekBeautiful.org - Facebook: @CoyoteCreekSJ - Instagram: @CoyoteCreekSJ BioBlitz.club - Website: https://www.bioblitz.club/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bioblitz.club == BOOKS - Field Guide to California Insects, 2 edition, California Natural History Guides, Will, Gross, Rubinoff, and Powell, 2020 - Insects of North America, Princeton Field Guides, Abbott and Abbott, 2023 - Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates: A Guide to North American Species, Stackpole Books, Charney and Eiseman, 2010 == ABOUT BEES, WASPS, & FLIES - How to tell if a pollinator is a bee, wasp or fly slide show https://www.greatsunflower.org/node/1000250 - Black Soldier Fly https://cesanmateo.ucanr.edu/?blogpost=27407&blogasset=107918 - Bumblee look-alikes https://entomology.ces.ncsu.edu/biological-control-information-center/beneficial-look-a-likes/bumblebee-look-a-likes/ - California Bumble Bee Atlas: https://www.cabumblebeeatlas.org/ == iNATURALIST PROJECTS - The fly project - we can add that they also formed a community and they teach people how to ID flies - Insects of the San Francisco Bay Area: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/insects-of-the-san-francisco-bay-area - Flies of the US & Canada: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/flies-of-the-us-and-canada - Gall Week September 2024: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gall-week-september-2024 == RELEVANT NATURALIST TRAININGS - Aquatic Macroinvertebrates: Learn more about aquatic insects and their larval stages https://youtu.be/CivYOrl5vRE - Leaf Miners, Galls, and Other Creatures on Plants: Learn more about insects and other organisms found on plants, and what can you do to help at the end of the webinar https://youtu.be/VJuyz19K4rQ - A Deeper Dive into iNaturalist: Learn how to document organisms on iNaturalist, and how to improve your observations - https://youtu.be/_7kJBpDutpg - Plant Galls for the Curious Naturalist: Learn more about galls https://youtu.be/7oUAuMlMUEQ

During our 6th installment of our Naturalist Training series, we discuss the City Nature Challenge (CNC), a four-day global iNaturalist event, happening every year on the last weekend of April. Started in 2016, hundreds of cities from around the world come together in a friendly competition to document the most species and observations by the highest number of people. Topics covered help you to: 1. Understand what is the CNC and different ways you can participate. 2. Learn how to host your own event. 3. Gather some tips and tricks on how to find more biodiversity around you. This is part 6 of an ongoing series. Part 1 - Community Science and Introduction to iNaturalist https://youtu.be/ty2Fu7Trz8o Part 2 - A Deeper Dive into iNaturalist https://youtu.be/_7kJBpDutpg Part 3: Leaf Miners, Galls, and Other Creatures on Plants https://youtu.be/VJuyz19K4rQ Part 4: Nature Interpretation for the Rest of Us https://youtu.be/JqvADIulSQA Part 5: Serpentine Grasslands and iNaturalist Projects https://youtu.be/FKbxTt08bMA Presenters are Merav Vonshak and Deb Kramer == RESOURCE LIST Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful: keepcoyotecreekbeautiful.org BioBlitz Club: BioBlitz.Club iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CalAcademy City Nature Challenge website: https://www.calacademy.org/community-science/city-nature-challenge City Nature Challenge 2024 San Francisco iNaturalist project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-san-francisco-bay-area == GLOBAL CITY NATURE CHALLENGE City Nature Challenge: https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/ Global CNC project (if don’t live in a CNC city, and you’d need to join the project for your observations to count): https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-global-project Two global umbrella projects with all the cities: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-eurasia-africa-oceania https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-north-and-south-america == HOW TO HOST A BIOBLITZ Nerds for Nature, 10 Steps to BioBlitz: https://blog.nerdsfornature.org/post/64452358890/10-steps-to-bioblitz National Geographic, How to Host BioBlitz: https://media.nationalgeographic.org/assets/file/NationalGeographicBioBlitzGuide.pdf Recorded 4/17/2024

During our 5th installment of our Naturalist Training series, we focus on two subjects: 1. Serpentine grasslands Our main topic will be serpentine grasslands and the soil they form on. We will have a guest expert joining us for this section, Paul Heiple, who is a geologist and a plant expert. He will discuss the characteristics of serpentine soil and how only certain plants can grow on it, forming our serpentine grassland habitat that is home to many endemic plants. 2. iNaturalist projects How to create them, how to use them, and why! We will give examples of some of our favorite projects, and hopefully entice you to upgrade the way you use iNaturalist. Also, we will create a project together and add some observations! This is part 5 of an ongoing series. Part 1 - Community Science and Introduction to iNaturalist can be found at https://youtu.be/ty2Fu7Trz8o Part 2 - A Deeper Dive into Inaturalist can be found at https://youtu.be/_7kJBpDutpg Part 3: Leaf Miners, Galls, and Other Creatures on Plants can be found at https://youtu.be/VJuyz19K4rQ Part 4: Naturalist Training - Nature Interpretation for the Rest of Us can be found at https://youtu.be/JqvADIulSQA Presenters are Merav Vonshak and Paul Heiple == RESOURCE LIST iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org iNaturalist project on serpentine plants of the western US https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/serpentine-plants-of-the-western-united-states Vol. 1 of Ecology, Phytogeography & Physiology Series; "Serpentine and its Vegetation" R. R. Brooks "California Serpentines: Flora, Vegetation, Geology, Soils, and Management Problems" by Arthur R. Krucheberg INATURALIST PROJECTS LISTED IN THE PRESENTATION Amazing Aberrants ARThropod. Arthropods on snow Ask a Lichenologist Backyard Pollinators Bay Area Beach Blobs Coyote Creek Biodiversity Dock Fouling in California Fascinating Fasciation Flies of the US and Canada Found Feathers Funny common names Galls of California Home Compost Exploration Life in cow pats of the world Mystery Oak Leaf Skeletonizer Never Home Alone: The Wild Life of Homes + analysis North American Animal Tracks Database Open Space Authority Biodiversity Pacific Newt Roadkill (Main Project) Predators Scatology Serpentine Plants of the Western United States Skulls and Bones Snapshot Cal Coast 2023 The Pot Fouling Project UV fluorescent organisms And a few more worth mentioning - Animal Architecture Microscopy Mimicry Gallery The Butt End Of Nature seeds and fruits U.S. Terrestrial Nature and Plastic WeirdWildWonders Gall Week