Your Help Matters

We wanted to share this very important discovery that happen recently on Notes from Nature.

Your Help Matters: A Threatened Plant Discovery

A few quotes from the article:

Notes from Nature volunteers may not have known it at the time, but while they transcribed the label of this small and unassuming plant specimen, they were documenting a novel occurrence of a rare, threatened species.

By transcribing information from specimen labels, citizen scientists helped us rediscover this historical occurrence of the rare Phacelia mustelina. These data are critical for assessing the conservation status of this species; if we know where this plant grew historically, we can better know where it might likely still exist. Once we know where and how abundantly this species exists, we can determine whether it needs protection and how to effectively do so. If you ever wonder whether your help matters, remember the weasel phacelia. Bringing “dark data” to light can us help protect biodiversity on Earth.