How to search parasites on iNat by host species
URL search parameters
iNat has not made it easy, but it is possible to search for parasites/diseases by the host species using url search parameters. To start go to all observations in this project (or anywhere else really), in this example the URL is:
Each chunk of this url after the ? is a 'url parameter', and each parameter is separated with a &. So this url is using these three parameters:
- place_id=any
- project_id=plant-diseases-of-africa
- verifiable=any
To search for an Observation field you can use this parameter: field:Host=taxonId to the url string. The taxonId you need to use can be found in the url for the host species. Using Buffalo-Thorn Ziziphus mucronata as an example, that species URL is:
The ID is the number 340228, so to search for any observations with that host species you can use this url
This is also why it's important to use the Host attribute when posting galls and other parasites. If you use some variation like Host ID or nothing at all we aren't able to search this way.
The hidden 'interactions' UI
There is another way I use a lot, a hidden part of a taxon's UI which you can turn on with a different url parameter: test=interactions. This UI will add a new tab called Interactions to the taxon's page and it will fill up with data it gathered using attributes like Host:
About Interactions
Most organisms interact with other organisms in some way or another, and how they do so usually defines how they fit into an ecosystem. These interactions come to us from Global Biotic Interactions (GLoBI), a database and webservice that combines interaction data from numerous sources, including iNaturalist. You can actually contribute to this database by adding the "Eating", "Eaten by", and "Host" observation fields to observations that demonstrate those interactions.
This UI is not perfect, it's a little primitive, loads slowly and I've noticed sometimes species don't appear that I think should. But it has helped me find parasite information many times and I check it constantly. Using Buffalo-Thorn as the example again here is a direct link to the tab (the #interactions-tab tells the UI to open that tab directly saving you a click):
Here you will see a list of species under the heading hasHost, this list is populated by the Host field, but not other similar fields like Host ID, Host Plant, etc. In this case there are only four species listed, and one is a mistake (it has itself marked as a host somewhere on iNat).
So you can just copy and paste this string ?test=interactions#interactions-tab onto any iNat taxon URL to directly access this UI. I hope this helps you identify some parasites!
