Citizen scientists are uncovering rare animal, plant, and fungi species in areas where they have never been seen before, increasing our knowledge of urban biodiversity and proving the existence of local species long thought extinct. The approach used is called a BioBlitz, a biological census in which citizen scientists contribute photographs or audio of living organisms they can see or hear in a designated area over a particular period, creating a snapshot of an area's biodiversity.
In a recently published article in the journal BioScience, Dr. Esti Palma (University of Melbourne) and colleagues use the 2021 Melbourne City Nature Challenge as a case study to outline best practices for future BioBlitzes. During that effort, citizen scientists observed 135 different animal, plant and fungi species that had never been recorded in their local area. They also found 26 species that had not been recorded in Melbourne for at least 30 years. One rare species rediscovered was the thin strawberry weevil, a tiny species not seen for more than 44 years.
Palma explains that sprawl and population growth mean that it is crucial to understand what native and introduced plants and animals live in urban reserves and across public and private greenspace. "It can be hard for us to notice as we go about our busy lives, but cities are filled with indigenous insects, spiders and plants, as well as birds, frogs, fungi, small reptiles and invertebrates like snails," he said. BioBlitzes are vital to managers, say the authors, because they present "local governments with a cost-effective tool to make informed, evidence-based management and policy decisions, improve education and engagement programs, foster cross-council collaborations, and support a stronger sense of environmental stewardship within the local community."
Coauthor Dr. Luis Mata (University of Melbourne) states that the 2021 evaluation also provided academically rigorous evidence of the benefits of citizen science events, as well as ways to make BioBlitzes even more useful, including conducting them across seasons or at night, with more tools and training to assist participants in collecting high-quality data. "As the citizen science movement grows, there is more potential for them to contribute timely, targeted, and high-quality records to shape local policies, as well as management, education, and research," Dr Mata said.
The City Nature Challenge began in 2016 when staff at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and the California Academy of Sciences conceived a friendly competition between San Francisco and Los Angeles to see which city could record the largest number of species by the largest number of participants over an eight-day period.
This year, hundreds of Victorians used their smartphones or cameras to participate in the 2024 City Nature Challenge urban BioBlitz, which began on Friday, 26 April, across more than 25 councils in metropolitan Melbourne. More than 600 cities worldwide are participating this year.
