Next weekend, May 18-19, Rock Creek Park will host a bioblitz. The National Geographic Society and the National Park Service are organizing the event. The Rock Creek Park BioBlitz is the first of ten bioblitzes that will be conducted at National Parks over the next decade in honor of the service's upcoming centennial.A bioblitz aims to record as many living species as possible within a 24-hour period. The Rock Creek Park BioBlitz will run from noon on Friday to noon on Saturday to include both diurnal and nocturnal species. Teams of scientists and volunteers will spread out through the park to find and identify organisms. All specialties are needed; the bioblitz aims to document vertebrate and invertebrate animals, plants, fungi, and microbes.
This is the third recent bioblitz in the DC area. One bioblitz occurred last June in the Potomac Gorge and another was held in 1996 in Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. Results are available at those links. In an urban park, such as Rock Creek or Kenilworth, a bioblitz highlights the tremendous diversity of life within our cities.
To participate in this year's count, please register here: http://www.ngbioblitz.org/. Participants may register on-site, but pre-registration helps the coordinators with event planning.