Identifier Profile: @roman_romanov
This is the eighth in an ongoing monthly (or almost monthly) series profiling the amazing identifiers of iNaturalist!
Currently at the Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Russia, Roman Romanov tells me
It seems to me it is quite usual to be interested in nature being a child [and] this is my story too. I remember when I was a child sitting near a body of water, viewing small and not so small creatures visible in water like larvae of mosquitoes and chironomids, different aquatic plants etc. My first sighting of Hydrocharis morsus-ranae was truly amazing, and it happened when I was less than ten. I took it to my home and placed it in water for better viewing, but, sadly, this plant disappeared during the night because my parents were not thrilled with it as I was.
Thankfully Roman was not discouraged and continued to pursue his interest in aquatic plant life (and protists), which he brought to iNaturalist in 2018. “I found iNaturalist accidentally,” he says, “because I searched for images of charophytes around the world.”
[iNaturalist] is essential for my research. [It allows me to view] many images of the same species taken at different seasons, from different habitats etc. It also allows me to test and polish my opinion about concepts for some species.
In the nearly four years since he joined iNat, Roman has identified over 34,000 observations from around the world, many of which document less commonly-observed aquatic life, often photographed via microscopes.
I prefer to apply keystone taxonomic works for ID in combination with recent papers, the number of which are growing like an avalanche. It allows me to help with IDs as well as test myself. Outstanding records of rarely reported species are not infrequent here because of continuous additions of observations from around the world.
Roman’s current focus is integrative taxonomy of macroscopic algae, including “their distribution in time and space, and protection issues.” While charophytes (which he’s holding in the photo above) are his favorites, he keeps up with other algae and protists. “I think I could be named ‘plantwatcher’,” he says, “because I like viewing plants as well as many aquatic inhabitants.”
(Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.)
- Take a look at Roman’s research here.
- There are so many remarkable images among the most-faved observations which Roman has identified. Check them out!
Comments
Congratulations!
Congrats, that's amazing!
Thank you for all of your help, Roman.
I'm very glad to see your contributions acknowledged, Roman! Well done!
@roman_romanov, Roman thanks from Baikal for the great job of identifying all aquatic species, not just algae.
So nice to learn more about Roman. He has helped me many times with identifications. Thank you and congratulations.
So great to have you here on iNat!
Roman, you've been such a great help with all the weird aquatic plants I have no idea where to even start on! It's definitely made me pay more attention to things I wouldn't have documented in the past, thinking it would be too hard to ever figure out what it was. Thank you for all of your IDs!
Congrats and thanks for all the Chara IDs :).
So nice to know more about you, Roman! You are always so helpful and can identify the most obscure observations.
👍👍👍
It was really interesting to learn something about you, your current activity and your childhood. Thank you very much for all your identification .
Congratulations on the spotlight, highly deserved! And thank you for all the identifications of aquatic life from Kazakhstan and Central Asia!
Great job, Roman!
Congratulations sir
Appreciate your ID's, more fully now that I have read this piece about you. My husband and I have been working to get more children involved in nature (beyond manicured parks) and have found that to do that we have had to get their parents interested. And have been working toward forest school experiences and even a forest school option in the early learning years. Your sharing what happened to the specimen you brought home to observe more will be used when we talk to parents about why discovering with their children can lead to lifelong shared interests. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and interests.
Excellent profile on Roman! And thanks for all the careful ID help and enthusiasm in the process! @roman_romanov
Yay! @roman_romanov
@roman_romanov congratulations! And thank you for sharing your story, this really brings hope for the future of nature!
Best regards from Mexico!
I've benefited so much from your expertise. Thank you from San Diego, California, USA.
Great to see the dedicated work on aquatic plants and algae!!
Thank you for your very important contribution to iNaturalist! There are still too few people who deal extensively with such fascinating and important species groups as the Charophyceae.
I appreciate all of the identifications and really enjoy how @roman_romanov 's IDs enable more people to feel that they can look under a microscope and have the potential of identifying these often overlooked, but very important organisms. Thank you for all of your contributions!
@roman_romanov Thanks for your help in identifying freshwater algae. Regards.
Congratulation and thanks for all your IDs.
Roman, congratulations! I am so grateful for your help to ID my microscopic algae too.
congratulations!!
Roman, thank you for your help with Chara and Nitella ids! I had always heard about Stoneworts but hadn't seen one in person.
Congratulations ! We discussed a bit about aquatic plants from Peru.
Роман Евгеньевич, спасибо за то, что научили нас началам альгологии и микологии в НГУ. Мы вас помним и любим!
Thank you Roman!
Hi Roman, glad to see you profiled here, you certainly deserve it. You help me a lot with my Charophyta identifications and you lightened interest in them in me and I presume also in other nature lovers.
Raom, thank you for the ID work.
And thanks to the authors of this blog for recognizing the contributions made by (citizen) scientists around the world!
Thank you Roman for all that you do. It is great to see this well deserved recognition as well.
Thank you, Roman, for all your help. We are really lucky to have you looking at our microscopic things!
thank you Roman
Its nice to know you are helping several people out there with identifican of otherwise very difficult to id posts. Wish you very well. Hats off to you!
Thanks for your help! ;)
I am greatly indebted to Roman's thoughtful analyses and id's, so I am extremely happy to see him and his work celebrated. Thank-you!
I found several spreadsheets from Joop van Raam. I think JB (eindhoven) and EM nat. also has this data. do you want to have it to be sure ? Data could be 1999 Albaniea, Estonia, Lithouwen, Turkey, Greece. Bulgarij, France
It is a bit like this http://natuurreis.scienceontheweb.net/estland/List%20Charophyte%20species%20reported%20Baltic%20Sea.htm
@ahospers Thanks! It would be nice!
You should check
rom: Joop van Raam joop@vanraam.demon.nl
Sent: Tuesday, November 7, 2006 10:54 AM
Subject: kranswierwaarnemingen
Beste Andre,
Bijgaand verschillende bestanden met jullie waarnemingen, + een lijst van friesland, groningenn, drenthe. Als je ook de waddeneilande nodig hebt kan ik die alsnog opsturen.
Groeten
Joop van Raam
Great! I just received it.
Hi all! Thanks a lot for your kind words! I am happy that I can help with ID.
I just got these photos from Tartu, i will not get any closer than this!! (300km From St. Petersburg) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/106262883 (Algae)
Thank you, Roman, for all your contribution and help on here! So glad to see you acknowledged!
I am late to the party, but thank you Roman for your expertise and helping me ID charophytes from halfway around the world - you have provided me with valuable information that I share with others interested in aquatic ecology, including many budding biologists!
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