School of Environmental and Biological Sciences hosts 10th annual Personal Bioblitz event

The annual Personal Bioblitz began on Wednesday at the Chrysler Herbarium and Mycological Collection at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

Lena Struwe, the director of the Chrysler Herbarium at the University and professor in the Department of Plant Biology, said the event's objective is for individuals to identify and record various wild species while helping each other learn about their surrounding environment and living organisms.

This is the 10th year in a row that the event has taken place, and participation is open to anyone with a connection to Rutgers, she said.

Participants need to create and have a free account with iNaturalist, a website managed by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society, to participate and log the species they encounter during the event period, Struwe said.

To participate, people can use their iNaturalist account and join the project titled "Personal Bioblitz 2023," she said. The mobile app allows people to photograph and upload observations directly and instantly to the project.

"We went global. We also don't just compete against each other, but we also try to see as many species as possible together as part of the Personal Bioblitz," Struwe said.

Using iNaturalist is useful because people do not have to worry about being accurate in reporting species, she said. Other naturalists, also known as iNatters, and taxonomic experts from around the world will help confirm and identify the species in people's documentation.

A person can report on a particular species multiple times, on different days, regardless of how rare or common it is, Struwe said.

Unlike regular Bioblitz events, which last one to two days in designated areas, the Personal Bioblitz lasts through May 15 and allows participants to observe and report any species they find regardless of location.

In previous Personal Bioblitz events, there have been anywhere from 100 to 200 people participating, and not all of them were students, she said.

Struwe said the event started at Rutgers as a competition between herself and graduate students in the Rutgers Journal Club in Evolution to compare who can observe and document the largest number of species in a semester.

This event's significance lies in the idea that the public's knowledge and ability to recognize everyday species in life has been declining. Even experts in ecology and evolution may find it challenging to deal with "species blindness," according to the Rutgers Bioblitz informational website.

Each year, the event continues breaking records for the number of observations and recorded species, with the previous year's Personal Bioblitz resulting in more than 70,000 observations and 9,000 recorded species, Struwe said.

"People are curious about what lives around them in our everyday lives, and you don't have to go to the rainforest to see interesting new things," she said. "With the better and better cameras and apps on our smartphones, it is becoming easier and easier to be a community scientist and explorer."

She said that notable discoveries from last year's iNaturalist reports include new species sightings in New Jersey and a surprising discovery of the first photo capturing a yellow-green algae, Neonema, from a water sample at the Rutgers Gardens.

The Bioblitz can be a bit challenging in New Jersey since snow and cold weather makes spring come late, and fewer flowers and insects are found before May 15, she said.

The Personal Bioblitz will continue to be held each year, Struwe said. Even during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, more people than any other year took part in exploring nature and getting involved in the event.

She said that by uploading any photo or sound file observations to the project, participants contribute to the global scientific database. Currently, New Jersey's scientific database already has more than 1 million iNaturalist observations.

Struwe also said this creates a vast and supportive global community of individuals interested in learning about the environment and that with more knowledge comes a greater appreciation and care for the world around us.

"As a naturalist, you never run out of things to find and learn and be amazed by," she said. "We hope to engage more families and do more community events as part of the Personal Bioblitz in the future."