Bioblitz 2008 was held on June 6th and 7th at the Grills Preserve in Westerly, RI. A record 1,111 species were documented on the site! Click here to find out more !
So you ask, “What is a BioBlitz?” A BioBlitz is an attempt by scientists and volunteer naturalists to tally as many species of organism as they can in 24 hours on a particular parcel of land. It includes activities for people of all levels of expertise, public programs for adults and kids, and a press briefing. It is designed to increase awareness of the variety of life that surrounds us on even the most mundane-looking land, and of the value of these species to the quality of our lives.
In the first RINHS BioBlitz in June of 2000, 33 volunteers observed 663 species in a highly degraded urban park in Providence, RI. In June 2004, 110 volunteers shared in the discovery of over 1,000 species in a conservation area in West Greenwich, RI. In addition to generating publicity for the issue of biodiversity, BioBlitz yields valuable information on species for the Survey’s databases and has contributed to works in our publication series as well. The land-owning entities of each BioBlitz site benefit from the rapid assessment of their property, identifying sites and species as potential education or conservation targets, and generating publicity for their land conservation efforts. BioBlitz is one of the Survey’s signature programs.
David Gregg analyzed participation and results of past bioblitzes.
See charts and data
