NIG Biodiversity
This is the third year of NIG Biodiversity photo collection. In this project we document the diversity of nature found at the NIG campus. While taking a walk around the campus, look around - maybe you will see an interesting creature or plant. Try to photograph it, and submit your photos here, even if you don't know what it is.
NIG Biodiversity Spring 2025
Status: Open for submissions. Ending on May 31, 2025.
Previous NIG Biodiversity Events (click to expand)
- NIG Biodiversity Autumn 2024: Photos, Poster (28 photos by 8 submitters)
- NIG Biodiversity Summer 2024: Photos, Poster (21 photos by 6 submitters)
- NIG Biodiversity Spring 2024: Photos, Poster (38 photos by 10 submitters)
- NIG Biodiversity Autumn 2023: Photos, Poster (26 photos by 10 submitters)
- NIG Biodiversity Summer 2023: Photos, Poster (21 photos by 7 submitters)
- NIG Biodiversity Spring 2023: Photos, Poster, Handout (62 photos by 20 submitters)
How to participate:
- Photograph something alive you find within NIG premises.
- It can be anything, including animals, plants and fungi (except humans and lab animals).
- Eligible photos are those taken in Spring 2025 (March 1 - May 31).
- Submit your photos in this form.
Details (click to expand)
- Species name. This is optional. It's nice if you can identify what you found, so that others can learn from you. In such case you can write scientific name of the species in the form. If you are not sure, you can use a wider taxon, such as genus or family. Otherwise, you can just write "plant" or "animal".
- Location. If you can, try to record the location of your photo. Preferable format is decimal degrees, "lon,lat", e.g., "35.117620,138.938598". How to find the coordinates? When using a smartphone, often they are recorded automatically. Otherwise, you can open Google Maps, right-click at the point where you took the photo, and select the coordinates from the menu.
- Bonus points if you manage to find any rare or endangered species listed in the Japanese Red List.
- You can check whether the species you found already has a sequenced genome, using the GenomeSync database You can click "Statistics", then search for the species name. Even if the species was not sequenced yet, you can find the closest related species with sequenced genomes, by using the "Search entire taxonomy" option.
- Replacing submisisons. You can submit any number of photos, but only the last 5 will be used. You can also inform us which photo you'd like to replace when submitting a photo beyond the first 5.
- If you took too many photos, or if you are really interested in biodiversity, consider joining iNaturatlist and submitting your photos to this international database of nature observations.
What happens next?
- All submitted photos will be displayed online.
- If there is enough material, we will make a poster.
- At the end of the year we may make a calendar for the next year, using submitted photos.
- All donated prizes are distributed among the participants via a lottery (organizers don't participate).
This is not a contest
Our focus here is more on the nature than on photography. Instead of a contest, we see it as a collaborative project on the boundary of science, art, education, and nature conservation. Without competition, anyone can participate, free from judgement or comparison.
Lottery
Same like before, there will be a lottery, with prizes distributed randomly among the entries. So, submitting 5 photos will increase your chance of winning something.
Please contact organizers with any questions, comments, or suggestions.
Organizers:
- "Kirill Kryukov" <kirill-kryukov@nig.ac.jp>
- "Rumiko Suzuki" <rusuzuki@nig.ac.jp>
- "Kaisar Dauyey" <kdauyey@nig.ac.jp>