Bioblitz

NWF is once again urging people to explore their natural areas with Wildlife Watch, to be held during National Wildlife Week, April 19 - 27. So if you're rusty on Blitzin' from last year, check out their website, take some photos and get some practice in for the Blogger Bioblitz in June.

Between upcoming graduation and finals this week, I've been a bit slow to do my share of the final counts from the Blogger Bioblitz (B3), but I finally found some time this morning. First, some meta data: 50 bloggers signed up for the event 32 posted about their bioblitz 17 data sheets for analysis Invertebrate species breakdown: ARTHROPODS: 87+ Insects: 71+ Lepidopterans: 32+ Dipterans: 9+ Odontans: 9+ Hymenopterans: 7+ Hemipterans: 5+ Coleopterans: 3+ Collembolans: 2 Ephemeropterans: 2 Neuropterans: 1 Dictyopterans: 1 Arachnids: 10+ Aranaeans: 5+ Acari: 4+ Opiliones: 1 Diplopods…

From Ontario to Greece to Panama, what are participating bloggers finding out in the field? This thread will be constantly updated throughout the week, blog carnival style, compiling all of the bioblitzes that are being conducted. Please contact me if you have something up; I'll make sure I add it to the list. Don't forget to check out all of the participant's photos at the Flickr group (over 300 photos now). For info about the Blogger Bioblitz, follow the links: Read more about the blitz Visit the forum See submission guidelines Join the Flickr group Find a field guide online Download a…

As my week of bioblitzing was wrapping up, so were my classes. Add to that an eager 6-year-old, who wanted to help with spring preparations by cleaning the pond-with windex-and you can see, I've been busy. I never did get around to counting the flora in my two bioblitz locations, but I have no regrets. This has been a wonderfully enlightening experience for me. While my counts don't show it, I managed to stumble onto one of the richest ecological niches in my area. I've visited site A at Standley Lake regularly since moving to this part of town. Now, I'll be visiting site B (B is for…

From Ontario to Greece to Panama, what are participating bloggers finding out in the field? This thread will be constantly updated throughout the week, blog carnival style, compiling all of the bioblitzes that are being conducted. Please contact me if you have something up; I'll make sure I add it to the list. Don't forget to check out all of the participant's photos at the Flickr group (over 300 photos now). For info about the Blogger Bioblitz, follow the links: Read more about the blitz Visit the forum See submission guidelines Join the Flickr group Find a field guide online Download a…

After the past month of planning, promoting and actually surveying, today is the last day of the Blogger Bioblitz (B3). But that doesn't mean we're quite done. Sara, Jenn and I will be tabulating data over the next week or so, getting a final count of species and shipping the data off to Madhu and Greg for mapping. We're hoping to have everything complete in the first couple weeks. The link list of B3 posts will be updated tomorrow morning, when I'm sure all the posts are in. If I have missed anyone, e-mail me. I owe a debt of gratitude to everyone involved. It started with just one idea and…

The rain finally stopped this afternoon, so I decided to head over to Site A for a 15 minute bioblitz. The lake seemed deserted when I arrived. No other people were interested in climbing around in the mud, and all of the fauna was hiding. Far away, I heard a meadowlark and what sounded like a frog, but otherwise, all was quiet. I walked around a little, and decided I had better mark off a square, and start counting the many clumps of prairie grass along the trail. Unfortunately, in early spring, when it is just sprouting from the ground, prairie grass is notoriously difficult to identify. I…

In theory, conducting a bioblitz was going to be a simple enterprise. I would go to one of my chosen spots, count the organisms as I went along, noting them in my book and, if possible take a photograph. I figured the two places I'd chosen would be relatively barren. In the tall grass prairie (especially one that has been mowed) you expect lots of grass, the occasional shrub or succulent, and the standard plains fauna, mostly passing birds and a profusion of prairie dog mounds. Site A is one of my regular haunts, and I knew I'd spot, at best, some waterfowl or wildflowers there.   I chose…

Today is Earth Day, the perfect holiday to kick off a little Blogger Bioblitzing for National Wildlife Week. All around our bumpy sphere, people are going out and getting intimate with nature. Like many other bloggers, I've been scouting out the perfect places to bioblitz. In Colorado (as everywhere else) ecology depends on the water... and there just isn't much to go around. The earliest humans who lived along the Front Range kept constantly moving, letting the limited natural resources replenish as they went along. Later, fur trappers and miners settled in the region, and eventually…

Well, Heather and I stumbled out of bed this morning around 5:30 (after two alarms, my clock and my cat), sipped some coffee and watched the sun rise. It could have been a typical school day, actually, but this morning we were heading out for our first bioblitz of the week. We decided to leisurely browse our campus arboretum for a couple hours this morning. It's a marshy, three to four acre forest with ample water sources, including a small bog (below), a sizable creek and a pond. Our soccer field, softball field and football fields are in close proximity, which limits the relative diversity…

Over 40 bloggers will be stepping outside for National Wildlife Week, April 21 - 29, field guides, binoculars and seines in hand and pack to catalogue all the species they can find in a local area of their choosing. Early tomorrow morning, I'll be heading out to our campus' arboretum, a small, manageable riparian forest. I'll probably be tackling another area in Western Pennsylvania later in the week. The first post from me should be up be tomorrow afternoon. We have spent the past month refining the process at our forum. Use the following links to access any information you may need. Also,…

Since the announcement of the First Annual Blogger Bioblitz yesterday morning at 8 a.m., we have gone from about six bloggers to 23, thanks to some major linkage from friends and participants (Bora, Bev, Bill, Brian, Dan, river2sea72, Judith, Greg, Madhu, Karmen - let me know if I missed anyone). All correspondence for the event happens through the official Google Group, and everyone is invited to join the group and watch the evolution of the Bioblitz over the course of the next several weeks even if you're not interested (or don't have time) to participate. Jenn will be posting several…

UPDATES: Part I, Part II In honor of National Wildlife Week, April 21 - 29, I am inviting bloggers from all walks to participate in the First Annual Blogger Bioblitz, where bloggers from across the world will choose a wild or not-so-wild area and find how many of each different species - plant, animal, fungi and anything in between - live in a certain area within a certain time. Pick a neat little area that you are relatively familiar with and is small enough that you or the group can handle - a small thicket, a pond, a section of stream, or even your backyard - and bring along some taxonomic…