BioBlitz group outings today

Happy Friday morning everyone! We're up to 200 members in our project this morning. Great turnout everyone and welcome to all who joined in later during the week! Be sure to check out the older posts in the project journal for more info and videos what to do and where to go.

We will have a couple of opportunities today to join one or more group outings to explore off-campus places. (Sorry, no shuttle van today unless you are already part of a class making a trip. Organizing vans with Homecoming and a football game coming up tomorrow proved to be too challenging. If you do not have a car, you can still join the Greenway event by taking the AppalCart to the State Farm stop.)

ASU Farm - 10 AM

Join us this morning at the farm out in Fleetwood! Be aware that GPS can mislead you, so follow the posted directions and check out the video introduction for details how to get there and where to park. The Farm Director will meet us out there for a quick introduction before we start exploring. There will be classes going on as well, so please make sure your BioBlitzing does not interfere with farm or class activities going on. I will be there as well for questions and assistance for those who are not part of a class.

Greenway - 1 PM

Join up with a faculty-led group for some aquatic water sampling along the South Fork of the New River this afternoon! Meeting point will be the covered bridge next to the intermural fields. See the posted event listing for more details and contact info.

Gilley Field Station - 2 PM

For those interested, we will explore the Gilley property in Todd this afternoon. Feel free to join! I've never been there so don't know what to tell you about it yet, but I will be there as well for questions and BioBlitz guidance for those joining who are not in class. Park at Pilot Mountain Church (5635 Castle Ford Rd, Todd, NC 28684) and we will walk over from there.

And one more on-campus activity for today:
Night session at the Webb Rock Garden - 8 PM

Join in on a nighttime observation session at the rock garden just outside Rankin Science to find some nocturnal creatures! See the posted event listing for more details and contact info.

We've blown UNCG out of the water already!

If you are the competitive type, you can check out the cross-campus stats at the Campus Nature Challenge umbrella project. Go AppState! :-)

As of my last check, we had 576 species identified. Our most observed species are two invasive plants, oriental bittersweet and English ivy, followed closely by white-tailed deer. The top three native plants observed are rosebay rhododendron, white pine, and Christmas fern. We have a nice tight race for the top observer and most species spots going on with several students accumulating more than 100 observations total. Currently leading are leighalobelia with runner-ups rivermont, brynnaselah, and emma_nicholson.

Q: I made observations but they aren't showing in the project! What's going on?

A: There are a few possible reasons for this, but the most likely one is that your observations were of stuff planted around campus. Please note that only wild organisms count towards the BioBlitz. Cultivated plants and pets do not qualify, and as folks from the iNaturalist community go through our posted observations to add species suggestions and mark these as 'captive/cultivated', they may drop out of the project. About half of all the observations posted so far were of cultivated plants and have been disqualified already.

You still have time to catch up by refocusing your efforts on things that are wild such as the weeds between the plantings, the bugs on the flowers, birds in the trees, or lichens on rocks, for example!

Posted on Οκτώβριος 28, 2022 1200 ΜΜ by annkatrinrose