re. bioblitzes

[Chris J. Durden]

Maybe I have not yet had the opportunity to participate in a well attended 
bioblitz. The biotic inventory project that was conducted for some years in 
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is to my thinking far more useful.
..................Chris Durden

At 02:12 PM 8/3/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Chris - I disagree with your assessment on the lack of scientific value of
>bioblitzes.  While there is a lot of data missed when doing a one day
>inventory, the value lies in what is found.  If you have a bunch of field
>experts combing an area, populations of all kinds of things are discovered.

I guess I have yet to see a bunch of field experts participating in a 
bioblitz. In my experience 9 out of 10 are novices who need training during 
the bioblitz. This keeps the experts out of the field and in the lab, 
preoccupied with identifications some of which cannot be accomplished the 
same day.

>And one of the first steps for scientific study is finding where the damn
>things are.  For example, on one such blitz in CT, we found a population of
>Cicindela tranquebarica that no one knew about.


Great.

>This is a state listed
>species (although I'm beginning to wonder if it should be).  This is only
>one example of many rare and uncommon species covering many taxa that gets
>turned up in places where no one knew they existed.  How else do we know
>what we have if we don't set out looking for it?

Yes I am all for getting experts out in the field, but on their own schedules.


>The lack of data, data being species, however, is not as important.

Oh yes it is. This is what gives you an idea of the remaining diversity - 
number of species and rank  abundance of the species.

>You
>miss a lot of things when you only sample an area and a weekly sampling, as
>you say, would no doubt be more effective.

Few areas have a significant number of specialists available for even 
monthly sampling. Maybe this could be done in Central Park. Personally I 
would be delighted to sift for soil arthropods in the fenced area in the SE 
corner once a year, but that would destroy its integrity.


>Also, these surveys would not be useful if the locations of the flora and
>fauna were not recorded.  In the blitzes I've participated in, this info is
>painstakingly recorded.

Yes.


>I was lucky to participate in the first bioblitz, held in Concord Mass, and
>the test run a couple seasons earlier in Texas in 1998.  This was the baby
>of Peter Alden who did value the "social" and educational aspect of it as
>well as the information collected.  It's amazing how the idea has taken off
>since!
>
>John
>
><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
>John Himmelman
>Killingworth, CT
>jhimmel at comcast.net
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