It’s almost Bioblitz time once again! As many of you know, Bioblitz aims to promote citizen participation in the collection of scientific data and to develop novel ways of using this kind of data to address important ecological questions. But, crucially, it’s also about having lots of fun!
The event starts at 5pm on Friday 2nd of June in the area surrounding the Scottish Oceans Institute by East Sands in St Andrews.  It runs for 24 hours, during which time participants will join in with a series of sampling events to find and identify as many species of plants and animals as possible in. Already scheduled are bird and bat walks, moth trapping, plankton and freshwater sampling, pollinator and butterfly walks, plant surveys, rock pooling and rocky shore ramble, and invertebrate sampling. See the Bioblitz Facebook page for full details and up to date schedule.
Participants will include students (from primary school to postgraduates), volunteers, experts, scientists and anyone interested in nature and outdoor activities.
The dataset generated will be used to study the ‘completeness’ of the species lists produced for different taxa or by different methods. This knowledge will be publicly available and will provide a baseline record that will allow identifying invasive species, and those that might be shifting their ranges north as a consequence of climate change.
If you’re interested in volunteering at the event, whether you’ve one hour free or a whole day, please get in touch with the Bioblitz team at bioblitz@st-andrews.ac.uk.
