Saturday, 22 Aug 2015, I participated in a volunteer effort
to begin documenting the biological diversity of the parks and open spaces of Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness.
A BioBlitz
is a brief (usually one-day) event in which teams of volunteer scientists and
community members work together, in a concentrated area, to find and identify
as many species of plants, animals, microbes, fungi, and other organisms as
possible. This one was organized by Discover
Life in America, an organization that has primarily focused on documenting
the biological diversity of the Great Smoky Mountains.
For me, this counted as a human-powered adventure because I
pedaled my bicycle to and from the meeting place at High
Ground Park. The adventure aspect was pretty tame is this is a very small
park within the urban matrix of Knoxville.
I spent about five hours “leading” a group of volunteers.
They were generally well-versed in plant identification (much better than me).
We used an app called iNaturalist
to document our finds. Here is my favorite (a Northern Slimy Salamander, Plethodon glutinosus)
The scope of a BioBlitz is very much dependent on who participates. To get a truly broad inventory of the biodiversity of a targeted area, the effort must include people with expertise in all major groups of organisms. This particular effort had a heavy emphasis on plants, and was weak in insects and other invertebrate animals (not to mention microbes).
The results of this bioblitz will be combined with other similar efforts throughout the area to gain better understanding of the ecological value of the Urban Wilderness. Basic results are available via iNaturalist
The results of this bioblitz will be combined with other similar efforts throughout the area to gain better understanding of the ecological value of the Urban Wilderness. Basic results are available via iNaturalist
