Personal Bioblitz
What is a Bioblitz?
A bioblitz is an event in which volunteers and specialists gather in a designated area to complete a rigorous biological survey within a period of 24 hours. The purpose is to create a complete inventory of the species present at that particular time and place. It also functions as a great educational event.
What is a Personal Bioblitz?
We tweaked the concept of the bioblitz by adjusting the time limit and removing the space limit, allowing for a long-term project to encourage people to explore and discover the species that are present in their everyday lives. This new project was founded in 2014 by students and faculty in the Journal Club in Evolution run by Lena Struwe and Siobain Duffy in the Graduate Program of Ecology and Evolution at Rutgers University. It has now grown into a collaborative program with iNaturalist (California Academy of Sciences), who provide the website that participants use to log the species they have observed.
In our Personal Bioblitzes, participants discover, identify (with the help from others), and list species they encounter during an extended period of time. The objective is to record as many unique species as possible per person, and as a group, to discover and identify as many different species as possible. We include all organismal groups (except viruses), and all places on Earth where there are unlabeled species.
More information can be fund on the Chrysler Herbarium website.