Thank you! (event summary included)

Thank you, everyone, for taking part in the Socially Distant BioBlitz on April 5th! The event was, in a word, inspiring. We experienced some amazing turnout from around the world, with 6 continents and 27 countries represented by 342 participants. The bioblitz spanned an incredible 115 degrees of latitude (Børsa, Norway to Puerto Natales, Chile) and 336 degrees of longitude (Lower Hutt, New Zealand to Honolulu, Hawaii), and at the time of writing, an even 12,400 observations have been submitted, containing nearly 3,000 species! What a great snapshot of earth’s biodiversity recorded in a single day.

Our collective “day” started not far from Melbourne, Australia, where @reiner documented an orange pore fungus (Favolaschia calocera; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/41432413). Observations soon came in from China, India, Israel, and South Africa, before our European contingent put up some impressive numbers. Young @alexis_orion in Germany was the first person to submit >200 observations, and the fun did not stop there! Just a few hours after sunrise over the western hemisphere, nearly 100 bioblitz-ers in Brazil, Canada, and the United States had added to the growing tidal wave of observations. Our species tally climbed higher and higher, as participants in Ecuador, Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii joined in. The bioblitz finished a full 31 hours and 13 minutes after beginning when @masonmaron found a milky slug (Deroceras reticulatum; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/41587126) outside of Seattle, Washington.

We had so much fun organizing this event that a second Socially Distant BioBlitz is planned for May 3rd! Details and new sign-up instructions will be posted to this project page and social media in the coming days. Stay tuned! To help us better plan this next event, please take a minute to complete our short 7-question survey.

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SDB1_Survey

Whether you are a seasoned naturalist or just starting your journey, we encourage everyone to keep exploring. There will always be new species to find, or new locations to see familiar ones in. With iNaturalist in your pocket or on your computer, always know that a global community is ready to help you become a more experienced citizen scientist.

Warm regards,

Steven Lamonde (@slamonde ), Sara Lobdell (@slob973 ) & Michael Nerrie (@mnerrie )

Posted on April 8, 2020 12:25 AM by slamonde