The Great Southern Bioblitz: 22-25 October 2021
Posted on 19 August, 2021 by Ivan
For several years the iNaturalist citizen science platform has run the City Nature Challenge – a gentle competition between cities and regions around the world to see which location can collect and identify the most sightings of life-forms in their area over a week-long period each March.
In 2020 the Great Southern Bioblitz was born. This is a similar event to City Nature Challenge but held in October (southern hemisphere spring) when more plants are flowering, animals are more active and fungi are still plentiful. This year, the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club is hosting the Great Southern Bioblitz for our region of central Victoria, i.e., the Mount Alexander Shire and the eastern half of Hepburn Shire.
All are welcome and encouraged to contribute. You simply photograph as many plants and animals as you can within the region during the Bioblitz period, 22-25 October 2021, and load your sightings into iNaturalist via your phone or computer. Even if you are unable to record your own sightings you can still contribute by identifying the observations that others have uploaded.
Great Southern hemisphere bioblitz is a chance to engage with nature (photos: Euan Moore)
The Great Southern Bioblitz is not only fun, but an important way of recording the life-forms that are present in our area. Once you add a sighting to iNaturalist, others can help with or verify the identification. Data are then fed into repositories such as Atlas of Living Australia and state biodiversity databases such as Victorian Biodiversity Atlas.
To find out more:
- Visit the Great Southern Bioblitz website – click here
- Check out the 71 groups (10 in Victoria) taking part so far – click here
To download the iNaturalist app to your device or create an account on your computer – click here
The Great Southern Bioblitz is coming from 22-25 October 2021 (photo: Great Southern Bioblitz)
Training workshops
The Great Southern Bioblitz organising team has scheduled some training workshops to help people learn how to use iNaturalist and how to take part in the Bioblitz. This training will be useful beyond the Bioblitz as it will enable you to submit sightings from anywhere at any time.
Register for training at the following links:
- A beginners guide for using iNaturalist
Tuesday 17 August 2021 from 8:30 – 9:30 pm AEST
To register – click here - Advanced tips for using iNaturalist
Tuesday 7 September 2021 from 8:30 – 9:30 pm AEST
To register – click here - A beginners guide for using iNaturalist
Tuesday 28 September 2021 from 8:30 – 9:30 pm AEST
To register – click here
A big thank you Euan Moore from the Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club for the text and photographs for this article. To learn more about Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club – click here
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