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  • 2021 Plant Photographic Scavenger Hunt a success

2021 Plant Photographic Scavenger Hunt garners 8,988 images!

Monday, March 21, 2022

The yellow-petalled bloom of Helianthus tuberosus (common name: Jerusalem artichoke); photo taken by Robert Barber.
This photo of the Helianthus tuberosus (Jerusalem artichoke) flower was selected as "photo of the month" during the scavenger hunt. Photo by Robert Barber

“Our photographic scavenger hunt was an overwhelming success,” reported Eric Knox, director of the Indiana University Herbarium, the collection of preserved plant specimens maintained by the IU College of Arts and Science’s Department of Biology.

During the 2021 growing season, the IU Herbarium staff mounted a broad effort to engage native plant lovers across Indiana in its Plant Photographic Scavenger Hunt. The purpose of the scavenger hunt was to build greater understanding and interest in the 2,700 species that comprise the state’s flora while adding to the library of photographs displayed on the Consortium of Midwest Herbaria data portal, the web platform used to present the IU Herbarium specimen database.

Paul Rothrock, Nov. 2019.
Associate Curator Emeritus Paul Rothrock led the Plant Photographic Scavenger Hunt. Courtesy photo

Associate Curator Emeritus Paul Rothrock in collaboration with Knox received funding to support this year-long endeavor from the IU Institute for Advanced Study, the Indiana Academy of Science (IAS), and the Indiana Native Plant Society (INPS) with matching internal funds.

The website

The Plant Photographic Scavenger Hunt website presented monthly hunt lists for the nine ecoregions of Indiana, tips on how to photograph plants effectively, instructions for recording locality information, and a submission page. Details about the hunt website and the overall scavenger hunt are available through the webinar presented as part of the IU Themester program on Resilience & Memory in Archives, Libraries, and Museums.

A map of Indiana delineating the nine ecoregions.
Scavenger "hunt lists" were issued monthly for each ecoregion of Indiana in order to focus the efforts of participants throughout the state on species expected to be seen at that time of year in their location.

An overwhelming success

By the end of funding, the project had garnered 8,988 images. Of them, 6,430 were edited and uploaded to the Consortium of Midwest Herbaria. At the start of the Plant Photographic Scavenger Hunt, approximately 1,400 Indiana species lacked adequate images. The project reduced that to fewer than 500 species.

The submitted photos have multiple uses. They illustrate species information pages and have been used for a photographically enhanced online glossary of terms. They also have a powerful interactive function in a plant identification tool known as the Golden Key. Thanks to recent programming changes implemented by Ed Gilbert, users can view the list of possible species as a photo-gallery, confirming the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. Hundreds of photographs were also accompanied by full locality information. These add to our knowledge of where species occur in Indiana and how the dynamic flora of the state might be changing.

Examples of how photos are used

This example of a species page  from the Consortium of Midwest Herbaria website includes photos, verbal descriptions of the species, and habitat as well as a link to a map showing where the species is known to occur.
Species page: A gallery of photos contributed by Michael Huft, a scavenger hunt participant from northern Indiana, enhances this species page from the Midwest Consortium of Herbaria data portal. The page also includes verbal descriptions of the species and habitat as well as a link to a map showing where the species is known to occur. Image courtesy of Paul Rothrock
The glossary page from the Consortium of Midwest Herbaria website for 'Alternate' leaf arrangement includes the definition illustrated by a pair of labeled photos.
This example of a glossary page in the Midwest Consortium of Herbaria data portal is for "alternate" leaf arrangement. It includes the definition illustrated by a pair of labeled photos. Image courtesy of Paul Rothrock
The 'Golden Key" on the Consortium of Midwest Herbaria website uses a check-off list of simple traits (right hand column) to reduce the original list of 1650 species. In this example, after clicking ten traits, eight candidate plant species remain in the resulting photo gallery (on left).
Golden Key: The Golden Key feature in the Midwest Consortium of Herbaria data portal uses a check-off list of simple traits (right hand column) to reduce the original list of 1,650 species. After clicking ten traits, eight candidate species remain in the resulting photo gallery (on left). Image courtesy of Paul Rothrock

Completing the project

The submission of photos was strong throughout the year, but—as a result of a late surge of image submissions—3,225 photos came in too late for inclusion in the 2021 cohort. The late submissions include many of Indiana’s rare species. Given the success and interest in the project, herbarium staff is in the process of finding funding to complete the editing and uploading of this image backlog.

The 2021 Plant Photographic Scavenger Hunt was promoted by partnerships with environmental groups in Indiana including The Nature Conservancy of Indiana, regional land trusts, state agencies such as Division of Nature Preserves, as well as the project sponsors, IAS and INPS.

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