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Frank Muller uses his phone to identify local flora. Casey Martin \/ Ithaca Voice<\/p>\nITHACA, N.Y. \u2014 There is no scarcity of wonder when surrounded by nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This weekend, a crowd of nature enthusiasts looked at the underside of a Goldenrod leaf through a magnifying glass and found a cluster of aphids, or small sap-sucking insects. Then they zoomed out and noticed this plant was the only one also carrying a steady march of ants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The relationship between these two insects stumped them. Were the ants feeding on the aphids? A more experienced naturalist jumped into the conversation and suggested the ants were farming the aphids for honeydew, a sugary secretion produced by aphids.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was one of the many observations of the natural world that the crowd made as they gathered at the Ithaca Ecovillage on Sunday to participate in this year\u2019s summer BioBlitz.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The BioBlitz events, organized by the Paleontological Research Institute (PRI), bring the local community together to examine, discuss and document surrounding wildlife. Fitted in a rainbow of brightly colored raincoats to avoid getting wet from the early morning showers, attendees dared pull out their phones in the name of science.<\/p>\n
Frank Muller uses his phone to identify local flora. Casey Martin \/ Ithaca Voice<\/p>\n
They took pictures of plants and animals and uploaded them to iNaturalist, the popular nature identification app. Frank Muller, a self-described amateur naturalist and resident of the Ecovillage, led the Sunday BioBlitz event, teaching attendees about the local wildlife and how to take the optimal photo for identification.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The goal, Ingrid Zabel said, is to get people to observe as many species as possible, while also trying to get them engaged in \u201cbeing aware of what\u2019s around them.\u201d Zabel works as the climate change education manager at PRI.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This will be the institute\u2019s fifth year hosting the BioBlitz, adding to a growing database of living species in Ithaca, Zabel said. The institute has now hosted 22 public BioBlitzes since its first in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs things are changing, the climate\u2019s changing, there\u2019s more development, so habitats being lost, and we don\u2019t necessarily get a comprehensive survey of what\u2019s out there,\u201d Zabel said.<\/p>\n
The official start date of the BioBlitz was Friday and ended Monday, which allowed local schools and other afterschool programs to participate during the weekdays. The BioBlitz wasn\u2019t confined to Ithaca either, rather spanning the whole Eastern Finger Lakes region. Any observation made within the bounds of this region was automatically submitted as part of the BioBlitz.<\/p>\n
Despite the number of BioBlitz events held, five years is still too small for any changes to be noticed, Zabel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d have to look over at least 30 years, I think, to say anything meaningful,\u201d Zabel said.<\/p>\n
The data can also be skewed by who participates in the blitzes. During their winter BioBlitz in January 2024, the database received a significant amount of insect submissions, which was surprising for Zabel. While this could mean that there were more insects that season, it is also likely that BioBlitz just included people who were particularly interested in insects, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo they\u2019re not a really comprehensive view of all the life around us,\u201d Zabel said. \u201cBut still, they are a snapshot of the biodiversity right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the five-day BioBlitz there were 2,946 observations spanning 1,211 species including Sensitive Ferns, Dog Vomit Slime Mold, Spring Peepers, Confused Haploa Moths and of course, Humans. Most observations were submitted from within Tompkins County, but some were recorded as far as Auburn, near the northern perimeter of the BioBlitz region.<\/p>\n