Purpose of Position
Review observations, ensure data quality, confirm or question identifications, provide positive mentoring, and communicate with data collectors statewide. Confirmed observations are exported to other regional and national databases such as the Invasive Plant Atlas of New England database, and are used by scientists & environmental practitioners to further their research and management efforts.
Benefits
- Receive immediate notification every time someone publishes a new observation of your species
- Coach the Vital Signs community to identify your species correctly
- Reward high quality species observations with positive comments; help improve less desirable data with tips and hints for improvement
- Challenge the Vital Signs community to investigate new areas throughout Maine for your species of interest
- Connect with others who share your passion for a particular species
Responsibilities & Tasks
- Select from our species list a species that interests you and that you feel confident identifying
- Select from the list any similar, look-alike species that may be easily confused with your species
- Contact us to sign-up as a Species Expert Reviewer for the species you select
- Once confirmed as a Species Expert Reviewer, review the species card(s) available for your species. Provide comments and feedback to ensure accuracy of species cards. If we have not yet published a card for your species, help us do so with your tips, tricks, and photos
- Review species observations as they are published (an email will notify you automatically of new observations with a direct link to the observation)
- Based on the written and photo evidence provided by the Investigator, decide whether to confirm or question the identification
- If you question the species ID, or if the data observation inspires you to do so, provide comments and feedback to the Investigator
Optional Responsibilities & Tasks
- Start an online conversation with an Investigator to ask follow-up questions, solicit more information, or to motivate additional observations of your species
- Periodically contribute to the Vital Signs forums, blog, and identification resources regarding your species and how you are using observations to further your own research or fuel your interests
- Contribute provocative questions to the discussion forum to engage Investigators with pertinent scientific questions
Necessary Qualifications
- Experience and comfort identifying your species from digital photographs and written explanations
- Access to and comfort using a computer with Internet access
- Desire to contribute to the quality of species observations in the Vital Signs database
- Patience and a desire to help coach others to identify species correctly
- Interest in furthering awareness of native and invasive species in Maine
Training & Support
No formal training is required. We will respond to your species request with a short how-to instruction guide, and will offer you a short tutorial over the phone to orient you to the Vital Signs website and community. We encourage you to explore the website and familiarize yourself with the resources (species cards, datasheets, sampling methods) used by Investigators. We also encourage you to collect data on your own to better understand the data collection and publication process. Feel free to contact us or post any questions that arise to a discussion forum.
Time Commitment
Your time commitment to species review will vary from season to season, and will depend greatly on the number of species you have selected. Minimal involvement looks like this:
- The online registration process takes 1 – 2 minutes
- A browse through the species list, and email to us to request species will take 5-10 minutes
- We recommend that you spend a few minutes exploring the site
- Review for a single species or pair of look-alike species will take between 5 minutes and 30 minutes per week during the height of field season
- Consider spending 2 hours every 6 months contributing to the discussion forum, blog, and resources
