To: Bluedot Living
From: The MV Atlas of Life (MVAL)
Subject: Learn about Vineyard Biodiversity (or Help Study It!)
The Martha’s Vineyard Atlas of Life (MVAL) project at BiodiversityWorks exists to promote awareness of the ecological value of the Island. If you’re curious about what species occur here, the MVAL website includes a section of checklists for various groups of plants and animals. The site also offers news of important local discoveries, an events calendar, and a section of web, print, and YouTube resources for Vineyard nature buffs. A fun and easy way to participate in the MVAL project is by using the “community science” platform iNaturalist (inaturalist.org).
With an iNaturalist account and either a camera and computer or a smartphone and the iNat app, you can contribute sightings and get assistance (from both artificial intelligence and human experts) identifying what you’ve found. An iNaturalist project pulls together all observations submitted from the Vineyard, allowing users to search or explore almost 30,000 observations of Island plants and animals.
