BioBlitzing during the pandemic

How can you BioBlitz during the pandemic? Isn't a BioBlitz all about connecting the community with researchers to observe and identify species at a given location during a specific timeframe? That is partially true.

BioBlitzes have evolved during the pandemic. While organizers had to cancel in-person BioBlitz group events during the early days of the pandemic, they very soon devised new ways to connect communities to the natural world. Especially during the warm summer months, communities engaged with nature and contributed to citizen science in their backyards and neighborhoods through the many backyard BioBlitzes or socially distant events. Citizen scientists worldwide safely observed flora and fauna in their gardens, neighborhoods, and local parks and entered their observations into iNaturalist. Experts then reviewed and verified the observations offline and elevated them to research-grade. Organizers conducted webinars and created online tutorials that showed community members how to make observations and identifications and concluded their events by communicating their results with the community.

During a challenging year, these events provided relief and distraction to offset some of the pandemic woes.