By Chad Love

One of the things that never fails to amaze me about anglers and hunters is the level of observational wisdom many of us possess, the kind of specialized natural history knowledge gained only through years of woods and water time. John Merwin's recent blog post is an excellent example of this connecting-the-natural-dots talent outdoorsmen possess.

Knowledge like that is priceless and I've always been convinced hunters and anglers could make significant contributions to humanity's broader understanding of the natural world, if only there was some way for scientists to plug that data into the worldwide research matrix.

And when I saw this story yesterday I realized this might be our chance.
 
OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists asked people around the world on Monday to help compile an Internet-based observatory of life on earth as a guide to everything from the impact of climate change on wildlife to pests that can damage crops...

People in many countries already log observations on the Internet, ranging from sightings of rare birds in Canada to the dates on which flowers bloom in spring in Australia. The new system, when up and running, would link up the disparate sites. About 400 biology and technology experts from 50 countries will meet in London from June 1-3 at an "e-Biosphere" conference organized by the EOL to discuss the plans. The EOL is separately trying to describe the world's species online.

"This would be a free system that everyone can access and contribute to," said Norman MacLeod, keeper of paleontology at the Natural History Museum in London which is hosting the talks. Edwards said a biodiversity overview could have big economic benefits, for instance an unusual insect found in a garden might be an insect pest brought unwittingly in a grain shipment that could disrupt local agriculture.
 
Imagine hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of individual data points from outdoorsmen around the world being plugged into such a system. It's a brilliant idea, and one that, with our participation, would dramatically illustrate just how relevant we as hunters and anglers are in the global community.
 
Of course, not all my reasons for hoping it works are purely altruistic. If this thing ever gets off the ground it might just be the ultimate Internet scouting resource...

Comments (6)

from jbwill9 wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

I love the idea but I can't imagine how they could possibly sort all of that information and keep out all of the filth and fluff. That's the problem with search engines now, you have a hard time finding good information because there are ten links to crap you don't want for every one piece of good info. If they can find a way to pull it off it would be pretty amazing.

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from 2Poppa wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

Wow!
To some degree,on a much lesser scale, I believe it's already happening.

The economic impact and benefits would surely be there!

http://www.kaxe.org/phenology/

I always wanted to place a camera on top of a big buck's rack to see how other deer responded to his presence in the wild.

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from Devil_Dog wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

This is an awesome concept on paper, but I can't see it working in reality. For the data to have an validity there have to be a certain set of parameters for all the observations. But there is no way ensure that the parameters would be understood by everyone, and no way to confirm that they would be adhered to.

And while sportsman could provide many keen observations to what happens in the natural world, we all know at least one guy who's seen a 1,000 lbs black bear, a deer with a rack bigger than an elk, and sasquatch out back of his buddy's, brother's, first cousin's cabin.

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from suburban bushwacker wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

What a fantastic idea, like wikipedia with a built in peer review system.
The chances for a everyday outdoorsman to be the acknowledged discoverer of something new and important are huge.

Still with enough nay saying it could still come to nothing ;-)
SBW

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from Ziggy4334 wrote 2 years 35 weeks ago

The average user probably wouldn't be able to use a site such as that because any site that would log thousands of wild plants and animals wouldn't be one to easily access, and you could just go buy a book and learn more about what you're looking for than having all that logged onto a particular site. What';s the sense in having that all video-streamed, or even logged onto the internet? There's not a way to crosslink that data.

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from FloridaHunter1226 wrote 2 years 35 weeks ago

Sounds like a really good idea that would help with scouting... main word there being "help"... it definitely would not take away the need to scout just because deer are different and do different things. Although they (most of the times) follow the same patterns, not all of them do. So it would be good as a broad scouting tool but not specific for your hunting property unless you are the one posting what you find.

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from suburban bushwacker wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

What a fantastic idea, like wikipedia with a built in peer review system.
The chances for a everyday outdoorsman to be the acknowledged discoverer of something new and important are huge.

Still with enough nay saying it could still come to nothing ;-)
SBW

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from jbwill9 wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

I love the idea but I can't imagine how they could possibly sort all of that information and keep out all of the filth and fluff. That's the problem with search engines now, you have a hard time finding good information because there are ten links to crap you don't want for every one piece of good info. If they can find a way to pull it off it would be pretty amazing.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from 2Poppa wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

Wow!
To some degree,on a much lesser scale, I believe it's already happening.

The economic impact and benefits would surely be there!

http://www.kaxe.org/phenology/

I always wanted to place a camera on top of a big buck's rack to see how other deer responded to his presence in the wild.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Devil_Dog wrote 2 years 36 weeks ago

This is an awesome concept on paper, but I can't see it working in reality. For the data to have an validity there have to be a certain set of parameters for all the observations. But there is no way ensure that the parameters would be understood by everyone, and no way to confirm that they would be adhered to.

And while sportsman could provide many keen observations to what happens in the natural world, we all know at least one guy who's seen a 1,000 lbs black bear, a deer with a rack bigger than an elk, and sasquatch out back of his buddy's, brother's, first cousin's cabin.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Ziggy4334 wrote 2 years 35 weeks ago

The average user probably wouldn't be able to use a site such as that because any site that would log thousands of wild plants and animals wouldn't be one to easily access, and you could just go buy a book and learn more about what you're looking for than having all that logged onto a particular site. What';s the sense in having that all video-streamed, or even logged onto the internet? There's not a way to crosslink that data.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from FloridaHunter1226 wrote 2 years 35 weeks ago

Sounds like a really good idea that would help with scouting... main word there being "help"... it definitely would not take away the need to scout just because deer are different and do different things. Although they (most of the times) follow the same patterns, not all of them do. So it would be good as a broad scouting tool but not specific for your hunting property unless you are the one posting what you find.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.