tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1957074345233116902.post8160464238831784720..comments2023-06-10T01:39:20.461-07:00Comments on Hooky Natural History: The National Plant Monitoring Scheme - A ChoreTerry Swainbankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04295803121903172360noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1957074345233116902.post-53299206345372743352016-04-23T01:46:47.257-07:002016-04-23T01:46:47.257-07:00Very much my initial thought because of rthe appea...Very much my initial thought because of rthe appearance - petals spread out so the sepals could be seen, but looking closely the petals are obviously quite a bit longer than the sepals and the tooth at the tip of the leaf is longer than the teeth each side. So two out of three! Cannot find anything about hybrids, and they are in a different genus to each other.Terry Swainbankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04295803121903172360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1957074345233116902.post-53714023944613931662016-04-23T00:28:43.362-07:002016-04-23T00:28:43.362-07:00Hi Terry,
Just a couple of clarifications on the ...Hi Terry,<br /><br />Just a couple of clarifications on the NPMS methodology. The design is not 'pseudo-random', but weighted-random. That is to say that the selection of squares was done by randomly drawing squares from the complete set of British and Northern Irish monads, but squares enriched for rarer habitats were given a greater weighting. This is like drawing different coloured marbles from a bag, but having more of some colours than others. This was done to try and enrich the national sample of squares for the more interseting bits of the countryside, but also does not rule out selecting the type of square that you have received.<br /><br />You say 'it was designed as a citizen science' project, with the implication that the NPMS is only targeting one type of naturalist. Citizen science is generally defined as any type of volunteer activity contributing to scientific activity, so, even the BSBI recording you refer to further down your post could be (and has been) defined as citizen science. To address the point which I think you are actually intending to make, the scheme was designed to be suitable for a range of different skill levels (hence the three levels of participation, and the broad and fine habitat options); we therefore hope that those who are still learning their plants will find it valuable, and those who are already expert will perhaps have a different recording experience to 'square-bashing' -- as you imply, time will tell whether there is a general appetite for this type of plant recording.<br /><br />To clarify a couple of other points, a GPS is not essential for the NPMS (although it is a useful tool, as for any type of natural history or countryside pursuit, and of course, is now widely available on phones); sketch maps and photos can be used to approximate plot (re)location). Regarding the documentation, the methods of plot selection are fairly involved, but, please remember, this step is only necessary once, revisits to plots in future years do not require any of the plot selection tasks of the first year.<br /><br />We are sorry that you found the scheme a chore, and found your square uninteresting. Of course, there is little we can do to rememdy that, but I would say that the commitment of two field days a year is a lot less than many other long-running 'structured' monitoring schemes, and, if we are to monitor the countryside at the fine-scales required to detect changes in habitats (which has frequently been argued for the in wake of atlas projects and BSBI Local Change), then unfortunately the less interesting, as well as the superlative, are going to be drawn out of the bag for close inspection.<br /><br />Hope to see you in the field at one of Sue's recording days this year!<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />Oli Pescott (on behalf of the NPMS)OliPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11534469604186284154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1957074345233116902.post-45589478985101714582016-04-22T23:46:19.187-07:002016-04-22T23:46:19.187-07:00Are you sure your strawberry isn't Barren Stra...Are you sure your strawberry isn't Barren Strawberry? Best,Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com