Millions of people are tuning in for college football season. For most Alabama residents, late November showcases the game that they have waited for: the Iron Bowl. This annual clash between Auburn University and The University of Alabama pits football fans of each team against each other to earn bragging rights for the year.
This year, to excite everyone’s inner scientist, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System expert aims to bring the gridiron competition of the Iron Bowl into the realm of citizen science. Dubbed the Marble Bowl, this unique contest allows Auburn and Alabama football fans to compete all season in their local ecosystems.
How to participate:
From now through Dec. 1, anyone can participate in the Marble Bowl by submitting observations of wild plants, animals and fungi to one of two projects on the iNaturalist platform. This online site stores crowdsourced, public observations of biological organisms.
Listed below are the necessary steps to participate:
- Visit inaturalist.org and sign up for a free account. There is also a mobile application for smart devices.
- Be sure to join the “Marble Bowl 2024 – University of Alabama” project to ensure your observations count and you’re contributing to the team.
- To document an observation, you may shoot photos of wild organisms with your cell phone or camera.
- Because cell phone photographs are automatically timestamped and geotagged, all of the necessary information is already with the photograph when you upload it.
- If you prefer to take photos with a digital camera, be sure to note the location and include it with your observation if the camera doesn’t geotag it for you.
- Observations may be uploaded to iNaturalist through a web browser or the app. As you submit observations, the platform’s artificial intelligence will suggest an identification based off what is in the photo along with similar species that have already been observed nearby. You are allowed to suggest a different identification if you’re confident about what you saw. Select your species, and then submit your citizen science observation.
Following the rules:
To make sure that the contest is fair and remains competitive, there are a list of rules to follow.
- Winner – This year’s scoring will be a 50/50 split between number of observations and number of taxa.
- Location – Observations must occur within the state of Alabama.
- Date and time – Observations must occur between kickoff weekend (Midnight on August 31, 2024) and the end of Iron Bowl weekend (11:59 p.m. on December 1, 2024). No photographs taken before this time can be used.
- No captive/cultivated observations – As much as people may love their pets, they aren’t suitable subjects for iNaturalist observations. The goal of this project is to record observations of wild plants, animals, fungi and other organisms across the state. Pets–along with other domesticated animals like horses, chickens and goats–should not be added to the project. Observations of cultivated plants are not allowed either.
- Quality grade – To be counted in the competition, observations must meet the criteria for Research Grade or Needs ID. Read about those classifications more on the iNaturalist website.
The Marble Bowl is a collaboration between the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Alabama Museum of Natural History, Auburn University Museum of Natural History and Auburn University College of Forestry, Wildlife, and Environment.
2022 marked the inaugural Marble Bowl competition. Between the two sides, 33,177 observations of Alabama’s biodiversity were made across all 67 of its counties. Over 4,800 species were observed by 359 participants. These included 171 species that are considered rare or imperiled.
Auburn led throughout the competition. A late push by the Alabama team almost turned the tide, but Auburn held onto the lead and because the Marble Bowl’s first winner with a score of 100 to 80.
For more information on the Marble Bowl and other research initiatives, visit the Alabama Extension website at www.aces.edu.
