BioBlitz

Base camp at a BioBlitz in Auckland, New Zealand.

A BioBlitz, also written without capitals as bioblitz, is an intense period of biological surveying in an attempt to record all the living species within a designated area. Groups of scientists, naturalists and volunteers conduct an intensive field study over a continuous time period (e.g., usually 24 hours). There is a public component to many BioBlitzes, with the goal of getting the public interested in biodiversity. To encourage more public participation, these BioBlitzes are often held in urban parks or nature reserves close to cities.[1]

Features

A BioBlitz has different opportunities and benefits than a traditional, scientific field study. Some of these potential benefits include:[2]

History

The term "BioBlitz" was first coined by U.S. National Park Service naturalist Susan Rudy while assisting with the first BioBlitz. The first BioBlitz was held at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, Washington D.C. in 1996. Approximately 1000 species were identified at this first event. This first accounting of biodiversity was organized by Sam Droege (USGS) and Dan Roddy (NPS) with the assistance of other government scientists.[3] The public and especially the news media were invited. Since the success of the first bioblitz, many organisations around the world have repeated this concept.

Since then, most BioBlitz contain a public component so that adults, kids, teens and anyone interested can join experts and scientists in the field. Participating in these hands-on field studies is a fun and exciting way for people to learn about biodiversity and better understand how to protect it.

In 1998, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson and Massachusetts wildlife expert Peter Alden developed a program to catalog the organisms around Walden Pond. This led to a statewide program known as Biodiversity Days. This concept is very similar to a BioBlitz and occasionally the two terms are used interchangeably.[4]

A variation on the BioBlitz, the Blogger Blitz began in 2007. Rather than gather volunteers and scientists at one location, participant blogs pledged to conduct individual surveys of biodiveristy. These results were then compiled and mapped. The purpose of this blitz is not to survey down to species level across all taxonomic groups, but rather to raise awareness about biodiversity and provide a general snapshot of diversity.

From 2006 through 2016 National Geographic Society and the US National Park Service partnered to put on a Bioblitz in a different National Park each year[5] culminating in a Bioblitz across the National Park Service in 2016 as part of the National Park Service Centennial Celebration.[6] The iNaturalist platform was used as the recording tool for the 2014, 2015, and 2016 Centennial Bioblitzes in this series.[7] The National Park Service and National Geographic hosted the first ever nationwide National Parks BioBlitz with scientists, park managers, and the public serving as citizen scientists making more than 60,000 observations on the mobile app iNaturalist. This endeavor has currently documented nearly 7,000 species, including species that are new to parks’ species lists, and engaged an estimated 80,000 public participants. Check out the iNaturalist results.

Highlights of the 2016 nationwide BioBlitz include:

BioBlitzes by country

Australia

Canada

Active Bioblitz

Inactive and historic BioBlitz

Hong Kong

First HK's BioBlitz was organized by Tai Tam Tuk Foundation from 24-25 Oct, 2015. 50 experts leading 300 secondary students recorded 578 species in 30 hours, covering marine, terrestrial and intertidal habitats, in Tai Tam site of special scientific interest (SSSI). This event comes as part of the ‘Biodiversity Festival 2015’, an Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) lead project that encompasses many events, exhibitions and seminars, and is a major section of Hong Kong’s Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP). Highlights included 2 species of moth that are extremely rare and native to Hong Kong, the first official record of coral in Tai Tam Bay and the first official record of juvenile horseshoe crabs on Hong Kong island. Data are made available through an online platform iSpot.

Hungary

BioBlitz Events in Hungary are organized by the Hungarian Biodiversity Research Society http://www.biodiverzitasnap.hu/ since 2006, starting with the eco-village Gyürüfű and its surroundings in Baranya County. Since then the Society organizes BioBlitz Events (called also Biodiversity Days) every year, sometimes even several events a year, during which 60-80 experts and researchers contribute to a profound momentary inventory of a chosen area in Hungary, and from time to time in cross-border areas in joint-projects with neighbour countries. The Hungarian Biodiversity Research Society invites local inhabitants and the interested public to join their events, and focusses in its outreach to young local and regional pupils and their teachers just like students from Hungary and abroad. The BioBlitz Events are taking place in partnership with the local National Park Directories, Municipalities and Civil Organisations. A rather fresh approach is the involvement of high school students during their obligatory community/voluntary work into research and field work in the topics of biodiversity and nature protection based upon long term co-operation contracts with schools and educational centres. The main goals pursued by the Hungarian Biodiversity Research Society are to promote the correct understanding of biodiversity in its true context, based upon data collection, monitoring, research and expertise, passing on knowledge from generation to generation and outreach to the broader public. It also aims to strengthen national and international networks. The results of the BioBlitz Events are published in print and on-line media and serve mainly as fundamentals for maintenance-instructions for protected areas and for appropriate natural-resource management, but also for educational purposes.

Ireland

Israel

Malaysia

New Zealand

Dr Peter Buchanan, the organiser of the 2004-2008 Auckland BioBlitzes

Poland

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

Taiwan

Trinidad & Tobago

United Kingdom

Bristol Natural History Consortium now host the National BioBlitz Network. (www.bnhc.org.uk)

United States

See also

References

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  2. "Bio-blitz home page". Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.
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  4. "About".
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  6. "National Geographic". https://www.nps.gov/subjects/biodiversity/national-parks-bioblitz.htm. External link in |website= (help);
  7. "iNaturalist". http://www.inaturalist.org/stats/nps_bioblitz. External link in |website= (help);
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  9. "Wheatbelt Bioblitz discovers unique species". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  10. http://www.gettoknow.ca/events/bioblitz/
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  12. http://bioblitz.burnabylakepark.ca/index.html
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  14. "Canadian Biodiversity Institute Online".
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  17. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
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  20. "MY Garden Birdwatch". http://www.mygardenbirdwatch.com/. External link in |website= (help);
  21. Cairns, Lois (19 February 2012). "Mining opponents plan blitz to help protect Coast plateau". Sunday Star Times.
  22. Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
  23. Bioblitz Archived May 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  24. "2016 Croyde Bioblitz". 16 September 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  25. "BioBlitz- University of Connecticut". web.uconn.edu. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
  26. "Connecticut State BioBlitz 2016 | Connecticut State BioBlitz 2016". ctbioblitz.uconn.edu. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
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  28. http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/bioblitz2001/results.php%5B%5D
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  30. http://www.colby.edu/MES
  31. Chandler, D.S., D. Manski, C. Donahue and A. Alyokhin, 2012: Biodiversity of the Schoodic Peninsula: Results of the Insect and Arachnid Bioblitzes at the Schoodic District of Acadia National Park, Maine; Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin 206; 210 pp.
  32. TDWG Techno/BioBlitz
  33. "BioBlitz". Bell Museum of Natural History. October 21, 2013. Archived from the original on 12 March 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  34. "BioBlitz Makes Coastal Species Count - Gateway National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  35. "Atlantic Herald". Atlantic Herald. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  36. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0708_030708_bioblitzresults.html
  37. http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/topic/central-park-animals-2013-9/
  38. Macaulay Honors College BioBlitz website Accessed 2014–9–4
  39. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-03-30. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
  40. "BushBlitz - Uncovering Australia's vast biodiversity". BushBlitz. Retrieved 2017-05-11.
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