Dear colleagues,

I have two offers for you:

1) I am sure that many of you know a citizen science platform, iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org), and how it works, but if not, I would like to invite you for an iNaturalist workshop on Tuesday, 25th of April, from 10.30 to 13.00. Meeting point is Tellus Galaxy. Please, take your smartphone and laptop, as well as you can bring your photo cameras, though the most important tool is smartphones for our work.

Spring is here, and maybe some of you would like to know more about species of plants and animals which you will meet on your way. Therefore, I would like to introduce you to iNaturalist, which has its own application for smartphones and website (of course, if you haven't used it yet), as well as I will try to explain how they work. Making pictures of species which are interesting for you, and using these mentioned resources, you will be able to distinguish many organisms. Then, the search for relevant information about them will not be a problem for you. Moreover, you will be involved indirectly in the process of the studying and documenting of local biodiversity, and the results of your observations will be very important for biologists, ecologists and conservators.

During this workshop, I am going to talk a little about opportunities and benefits of iNaturalist for the wild range of its users. Then, I will help to registrate you there, and show how the platform (website and app) works. Further, we will go out, somewhere close to the university building, to make your first observations with their next uploading to iNaturalist. Finally, after our return to Tellus Galaxy, I would like to discuss and start implementing the research idea about observations of "Biodiversity from Window/s".

2) I don't know how many people like to observe animals and plants through their own windows at home, but, at least, I am one of them. It may be wonderful, especially when, for example, hares are feeding at lawns near your apartment, but at the same time, it may be scary if a bear is near your house. Nevertheless, you will never know all possible pleasant and terrible moments connected with local biodiversity which might wait for you buying a new apartment or house. That's because realtors will at maximum write something like "apartment with a breathtaking view to the forest" or something similar or nothing. So, I would like to come up with an index that details the biodiversity information you see from your window. It can be something like the index of Biodiversity from Window/s (iBFW), i.e. the number of all documented species from your window/s. The index will be useful not just realtors, sellers and buyers, but for scientists too. Because, if it becomes fashionable, we will get thousands of monitoring sites operated essentially by volunteers.

How can we document these species? - using iNaturalist

Why am I writing to you about this idea? - All unit's members might take part in this study playing different roles, and then we will try to publish a paper about our work together.

What will we need for the implementation of this idea? - I would like to make Oulu and its neighborhood our research polygons. Therefore, first of all, everyone (if you live here) can start observing biodiversity from your window/s using iNaturalist. However, it will need special methodology, so if you are in, please let me know, and I will tell you how to document species better for our aim. Also, we will need help from sociologists to understand how it is important for apartment/house owners/tenants to know which biodiversity they will be able to observe from their window/s during their choiсe. Finally, everyone will be able to take part in discussion and processing of the obtained data and manuscript preparation.

Please, let me know who is interested in participation in the workshop and the research.

Have a nice weekend, Mykyta

Mykyta Peregrym | Visiting Researcher Ecology and Genetics Research Unit | University of Oulu P.O. Box 3000, 90014 Oulu, Finland +380505445944 (Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber)

Senior Lecturer | Department of Landscape Gardening and Ecology Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University Myrhorod, Poltava region, Ukraine

ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5989-4406 | SCOPUShttps://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=55484657400 | WoShttps://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/2054792

In social networks: Linkedinhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mykyta-peregrym-7a483937/ |ResearchGatehttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mykyta-Peregrym | iNaturalisthttps://www.inaturalist.org/people/mykytaperegrym [cid:5da7ec6b-3bf1-4768-b7d0-883683db45a1]