Smartphones capture wildlife snapshots during BioBlitz at CSU Channel Islands
Visitors wielding smartphones identified more than 250 species of plants and animals around CSU Channel Islands Saturday as part of a student project to document biodiversity.
The so-called BioBlitz invited students and community members to contribute to a database for current and future research projects. Similar events documenting local flora and fauna have been held around the country since the mid-1990s.
Students at the campus south of Camarillo first hosted a BioBlitz in 2020, intending it to be an annual event. But COVID-19 foiled last year's plans.
"It's a good collaborative effort to get involved in science," said Viviana McKinley, one of three seniors who organized Saturday's event.
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McKinley, along with Cody Johnson and Rocket Friend, coordinated the BioBlitz as part of their senior project in the Environmental Science and Resource Management program.
During the fall semester, the three seniors collected photos and data about plants and wildlife on and around campus.
After working alone last semester, they called on the community to help with Saturday's BioBlitz. A larger group working in a short time frame can provide diversity metrics to better understand the local ecosystem, the students said.
The effort was also a good way to find invasive species that can alter the native system, McKinley said. European starlings, for example, invade native woodpecker nests on campus.
About thirty attendees checked in at Aliso Hall starting at 10 a.m. They walked in small groups around campus and the surrounding property to document whatever caught their interest. Over the next several hours, they took cell phone photos of flowers, insects, birds, lizards, squirrels and other creatures. Even a raccoon made the list.
Participants used a smartphone app, iNaturalist, that identified what they photographed. The app uploads information to a shared database that shows what species were found on campus that day. Information collected through iNaturalist goes into an open-source database that can be accessed by people around the world.
Assistant Professor Dan Reineman and Lecturer Brenton Spies are faculty mentors for the students' senior project.
"It's a good way to contribute to science," Spies said of the BioBlitz as he watched community members check-in.
The environmental sciences program currently has students working on 30 different senior projects ranging from microplastics in beer and fish diets to water quality and other topics.
Cytlalli Salgado is a breaking news reporter for the Ventura County Star. She can be reached by calling 805-437-0257 or emailing cytlalli.salgado@vcstar.com.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Smartphones capture wildlife snapshots at CSUCI BioBlitz
