Fw: bioblitzes

[Clay Taylor]

All -

    I think that all that we said recently on this list about the Summer Butterfly Counts can be applied to the "bio-blitz" concept - they certainly are not structured science, but there are any number of good things that can result form them.

    A few years ago, I personally found the first Conn. record of a damselfly species during a bio-blitz conducted in Guilford, CT, and I was just beginning to learn odes at the time.  Had there not been odonate experts on hand, I probably would have passed it up, since I was looking for Leonard's Skipper at the time.   A number of CT bio-blitzes have turned up rare / uncommon species in previously unknown locations within the state, and one found a species that had not been recorded in CT for over 50 years.

    They are also a lot of fun, since 1) we get to play and maybe get on TV, 2) we have an excuse to explore new areas that probably aren't usually searched for birds / butterflies / odes / whatever, and 3) it is an opportunity to meet / go in the field with experts from other disciplines.  I am still amazed at the ingenuity of the parasitologists that identified 4 or 5 species of parasites in the gut of a road-killed opossum at the Danbury, CT bio-blitz that was shown on the National Geographic Explorer show.   Cool stuff.

Blitz on!

Clay Taylor
Moodus, CT
ctaylor at att.net 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Stephen Parshall 
  To: Leps-l at lists.yale.edu 
  Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2003 1:17 PM
  Subject: bioblitzes


  Dear all, 
  I was intending to participate in this weekend's bioblitz at Nachusa Prairie, a reserve near Dixon, IL (Ronald Reagan's home town). However, much to my regret, I had to bow out at the last minute for medical reasons. I would like to get other people's opinion on bioblitzes. A bioblitz, for those unfamiliar with the term is a 24-hour marathon during which taxonomists and interested laypersons collect specimens in a selected area to find out what species occur there. I am aware that a bioblitz is something of a publicity ploy, but I'd still like to get your reactions. 

  Thanks, 

  Steve Parshall, Evanston, Illinois 


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