Great Southern BioBlitz 2022 complete! Final results and statistics

It seemed like we wouldn’t, but we did! Despite slightly lower participant numbers than last year in our zone, we managed to increase our sightings from last year for the second time in a row!

As a whole, the third instalment of the Great Southern BioBlitz was once again a great success with improved numbers of both observations and species. More than 6000 participants from 216 regions around the southern hemisphere participated this year, reaching a total of 212 000+ sightings of 23 000+ different species that have been identified so far. All within just 4 days!

As usual, the Coffs and Bellingen region outdid itself and was able to compete with the larger and more populous regions, some with 200-300+ participants each compared to our 42.

A huge thankyou to everyone who participated from our zone, particularly those of you who downloaded and used the iNaturalist app for the first time. We hope that you enjoyed your day(s) exploring local natural environments and hopefully learning a thing or two about the organisms that live there. Please continue to submit any interesting sightings you come across, as they may one day become an important record!

As was the case in previous years, the South African contingent proved too hard to beat, although it was Cape Town’s neighbours this year, the Overstrand, who upset the champions and took the title for the most observations, followed closely by surprise contenders the Huila region in Columbia.

To see some more stats for the event as a whole, click here!

Results for Coffs/Bellingen in overall event:

• Overall position – 6th (7th last year)
• Overall position based on number of species – 5th!! (same as last year)
• Most species for the whole Oceania continent!
• Most observations for the whole Oceania continent!
• 43rd for participation (42nd last year)

Totals for the Coffs/Bellingen Region over 4 day event:

• Total observations – 6922 (4466 & 3413 previous years)
• Total species – 1798 (1590 & 1311 previous years)
• Total participants – 43 (42 & 47 previous years)

To put our region’s achievements into perspective, we are lucky enough to have some visuals provided by Dr Matt Nimbs (@drmattnimbs), who crunched the numbers and analysed the data for the top 20 regions in this year’s GSB.

Most striking is the number of species per observer which is more than double any of the other top 20 regions. This representation emphasises the observational efficiency of our participants and also the diversity of species found in our region.

Our region also excelled in terms of effort, averaging the highest number of sightings per participant:

The final visual could be used as another measure of observational efficiency, showing the number of observations per participant for each ‘new’ species recorded during the event (lower = more efficient). So for approximately every 3.5 sightings made, we found a species which had not yet been observed during the event. Only three of the other top 20 regions had a greater efficiency than Coffs/Bellingen, which says a lot when combined with the statistics already mentioned above.

As you can see, the effort put in by everyone from our region this year was second to none and also highlights the expertise of our people on the ground here. These numbers do not take into account the many observations that have not yet been identified, which I’m sure would only make our numbers look even better. Thanks so much to Matt for putting in all the hard work to make these!

Species stats:

Sighting type stats [Last year’s in brackets]:

• Plants – 3286 sightings of 765 different species [1345 / 571]
• Insects – 1433 sightings of 572 different species [994 / 480]
• Molluscs – 895 sightings of 291 different species [885 / 317]
• Birds – 601 sightings of 132 different species [457 / 125]
• Arachnids - 144 sightings of 59 different species [99 / 45]
• Fish – 61 sightings of 44 different species [98 / 73]
• Crustaceans – 55 sightings of 26 different species [94 / 41]
• Algae –111 sightings of 29 different species [91 / 26]
• Echinoderms (urchins etc) – 53 sightings of 21 different species [57 / 26]
• Fungi – 103 sightings of 25 different species [46 / 16]
• Anthozoa (corals and anemones) – 44 sightings of 18 different species
• Reptiles – 37 sightings of 15 different species [38 / 19]
• Mammals – 32 sightings of 13 different species [29 / 11]
• Myriapoda (millipedes) – 25 sightings of 7 different species
• ‘Worms’ – 24 sightings of 13 different species [41 / 16]
• Sharks and rays - 6 sightings of 5 different species
• Bryozoans - 7 sightings of 3 different species

We more than doubled our plant sightings from last year which was great to see. Unfortunately our stats for marine organisms were down due to the recent heavy rainfall contributing to a lack of visibility which all but put a stop to any snorkelling and diving activities. Apart from that, we were on par with or above our stats from last year’s event.

Top 5 most observed sightings in our area:

Except for the prolific Caper White, all of our most observed species this year were plants common to the region.

• Caper White Butterfly (Belenois java) - (33 observations)
• Cheese Tree (Glochidion ferdinandi) – (33 observations)
• Sweet Morinda (Gynochthodes jasminoides) – (31 observations)
• Austral Sarsaparilla (Smilax australis) – (28 observations)
• Scentless Rosewood (Synoum glandulosum) – (28 observations)

Threatened Species

We had 97 sightings of 39 different vulnerable or endangered species in our area, including 8 sightings of the threatened Lord Coral (Micromussa lordhowensis) and this sighting of the critically endangered Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus) swimming over the top of a wobbegong, seen by @kcameron:

Another critically endangered sighting worth noting was this Native Guava tree (Rhodomyrtus psidioides) in flower:

Seen by @nicklambert

Participants

Thanks so much to all of our local observers during the event, in particular our top 20 observers:
@nathanael_green, @adrian2370, @drmattnimbs, @quinkin, @profmollusc, @kimwin, @coolduck, @brettvercoe, @bob116, @awilkinson1, @vhandp, @kcameron74, @tom_davis, @fmksandy, @jen94, @clairecottage, @gillik, @merioakwood, @shaunbamford, @nicklambert

Also a huge thank you to our identifiers, all 357 of you, without whom we would have many, many more unknowns and a much smaller species list! Our top identifiers this year were @adrian2370, @quinkin, @nathanael_green, @ben_travaglini, @thebeachcomber, @george_seagull, @wildroo, @cesdamess, @drmattnimbs, @pennywort_man, @dustaway, @quiltedquetzal, @leoncrang, @invertebratist, @scottwgavins, @predomalpha, @cynthia_c, @reiner, @nicklambert

All stats and sightings for the Coffs/Bellingen region can be found on our iNaturalist project by clicking this link:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2022-coffs-harbour-region

It’s important to remember that each of our 6922 observations was photographed, uploaded by one of our 42 participants and identified within the time period. Such an impressive feat from a small number of people and provides a great snapshot in time of our local biodiversity. Hopefully the up-to-date data generated from this event and other local sightings will be of use for future research in the area.

To see a slide show of our regional stats follow this link:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2022-coffs-harbour-region/stats_slideshow

Thanks once again for your participation and we hope to see you all again for next year’s GSB!

We’ll finish with just some of the many highlights:

• A Hermit Crab (Pagurus sinuatus) found by @profmollusc

• A vagrant Magpie Goose (Anseranas semipalmata), rarely seen in our area, photographed by @kimwin
  

• A crazy looking Dragon Springtail (Acanthanura sp.) found by @nicklambert

• This rare and endangered coastal Zieria (Zieria prostrata) found by @quinkin

• A locally uncommon sighting of a Blotched Fantail Ray (Taeniurops meyeni) seen by @tom_davis

• An uncommon visitor, the Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) was spotted by @bob116

• The critically endangered but locally common Giant Barred-Frog (Mixophyes iteratus) was seen by @brettvercoe

• This Macquarie Turtle (Emydura macquarii) was rescued from the road at Karangi by @merioakwood

• A rarely found Sand-dusted Cone Snail (Conus arenatus) was discovered by @profmollusc

• A zombie fungus (Ophiocordyceps dipterigena) was found by @nicklambert

Range of Observations

We used the scope of our zone to the full once again this year while observing during the event. Here are some sightings from the very edges of our area:

• The northernmost observation was Grafton Bush-pea (Pultenaea alea) at Halfway Creek by @adrian2370
• The most southern observation was recorded in Little Newry forest: A Blueberry Ash tree (Elaeocarpus reticulatus) by @nathanael_green
• The westernmost observation was this Pied Currawong seen in Dorrigo by @fmksandy
• While our most eastern sighting of some Paragoniastrea australensis coral came from South Solitary Island and was seen by @kcameron74

Thanks once again for all the hard work and many hours and countless photos. Hope to see everyone back next year. See you then if not before! (Go and make new friends and bring them) (and your old friends too!)

Final observations tally below:

Posted on November 22, 2022 12:48 AM by nicklambert