Birds & Science >

What is it?/Background:

A BioBlitz brings together educators, volunteers, and scientists from various organizations and agencies in a race against time to see how many species they can count in a 24-hour biological survey. The public is invited to observe, interact and participate in the sampling activities. Audubon’s “BioBlitz” will be a 24-hour event in which teams of scientists, teachers, volunteers, and community members join forces to find, identify, and learn about as many local plant, insect and animal species as possible. Audubon Wyoming will be using the BioBlitz as a way for communities to learn about the biological diversity of their local lands (public and private ranches) and to better understand how to protect them. Audubon Wyoming plans to hold it’s bioblitz in a remote Sagebrush habitat. We believe the BioBlitz event will give us an excellent base-line inventory within one of our priority IBAs, which encompass several of Wyoming’s species of critical conservation (developed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department) and their related habitats.

In addition to establishing baseline information, the bioblitz event will be an opportunity for teachers, adults, children, and teens to join biologists in the field, participate in bona fide research expeditions, and learn from experts about inventorying and the importance of biodiversity. Audubon Wyoming’s community Naturalists will also host a forum on the last day to discuss ways that teachers might bring this information back into the classroom.

The projects objectives are:

1. Collect baseline presence / absence data on birds, plants, mammals and insects inhabiting a remote area situated within critical sagebrush habitat.
2. Use the baseline information to establish monitoring protocol specific and effective at determining changes to specific wildlife or plant species.
Long-term monitoring plans are necessary to investigate changes in abundance or diversity resulting from habitat enhancement projects (phase 3 of the IBA goal process).
3. Help build a volunteer base for future monitoring and restoration projects within the area.
4. Build awareness in the local communities about the ecosystem that surrounds them and why we should be conserving the habitat and wildlife.
5. Build interest in local schools concerning science programs and the importance of conservation of our natural resources.

For a video about last years BioBlitz, CLICK HERE.