A Dozen BioBlitzes Down!

A lot has changed in the Sax-Zim Bog over the last 12 years! Not only do we have a building (The Welcome Center), an addition to that building (Lois King Education Center), and over 25,000 acres preserved in the greater Sax-Zim Bog, but we have also made the BioBlitz a hallmark event of our summer season. From the first event with a small handful of participants and field trip leaders, we have grown to a full event averaging over 13 field trip leaders per event and nearly 70 participants.

This year, we had a total of 84 participants, 14 different field trips, and some excellent weather to explore and learn. Of those participants and field trip leaders, we had 17 folks submit data to our iNaturalist project! We were able to offer a new field trip: Reptiles and Amphibians led by Chris Smith. We added an additional Galls and Leafminers field trip and welcomed back Bill Teft to lead a Gravel Pit excursion looking for Tiger Beetles. This year also had a strong lean toward insect biodiversity, with at least 6 field trips who had this group as their target organism. As far as biodiversity goes, insects make up the largest chunk of global biodiversity. For the greater Sax-Zim Bog, we have documented our more charismatic insects to a high level, but the lesser known and poorly observed species groups need further study.

So, what did we find this year?

While we were missing a few field trips this year due to unexpected cancellations, we were able to document 623 species! This tally is a little below average for our last few bioblitzes, but is understandable based on the missing field trips. However, we were able to crush a new milestone (over 3,700 species documented in the region!) and were able to add 92 new species! This incredible total, unbelievably, is right on or slightly above average for what we expect during BioBlitzes! Here is a quick set of summaries of each field trip offered during the BioBlitz this year:

Total Species Documented: 623 species

Total New Species Documented: 92 species

Moths and More Evening Field Trip (84 species, 6 new)

This year, we set up our moth sheets at the Welcome Center, but also spent a lot of time at Wood Thrush Woods. At Wood Thrush Woods, Kyle Johnson had his major light set up and also ran a moth-bait line along the road at Wood Thrush Woods. There were some excellent surprises seen and it was great to walk through Wood Thrush Woods in the dark! We will learn the full species extent captured by Kyle in his light traps set throughout the Bog, but 84 species was pretty good consider how poor mothing has been so far this season. The 6 new species include a couple of southern species that are prone to vagrancy (Stamnodes gibbacosta for example), one species of underwing (Yellow-banded Underwing), and very excitingly Pitcher Plant Borer!

Birds Field Trip (51 species)

Late August is a tough time for birds in the Sax-Zim Bog, as many of our breeding species have begun to leave the region and it is a little before migration is passing through our area in earnest. However, our birding field trip lead by Greg Cleary did really well for their short time period. Six species of warbler were documented, as well as 2 species of owl (Great Gray and Barred), and smattering of typical breeders and resident species in our area.

Galls, Burls, Leafminers, and Non-metazoan Plant Diseases Field Trip x2 (135 species, 35 new)

With two Galls, Burls, and Leafminers Field Trips the world of the unseen was able to be shared with lots of folks and more importantly, two different trips gave our field trip leads Sam and Jonny, the opportunity to specifically target ecosystems and specific host species. To this, they were able to document a record 135 species, adding 35(!) new species to the Bog Species List! There were plenty of easy to find species that we had not observed on field trips before, as well as a few super exciting finds (many undescribed species and species observed only a couple of times by our field trip leaders!). The world of weird plant bumps and lines is never ending!

Fungi Field Trip (54 species, 21 new)

On a BioBlitz field trip, it is often to the benefit of the field trip to cover ground. The more habitat diversity you encounter, usually the more species diversity you encounter. For fungi, this adage is sometimes not true! The Fungi Field Trip lead by Ariel Bonkoski spent all of their time around the Welcome Center Trails! The trails behind the Welcome Center are pretty diverse and the fungal community is pretty impressive. The field trip documented 54 species, with nearly half of those species being new for the Bog Species List!! That is an incredible tally, especially considering our mushroom list was over 200 species.

Lichens Field Trip (16 species, 1 new)

A big goal of our field trips is to learn. Showcasing the species diversity of our region helps to encourage folks to look closer in their own backyard. While the species total documented during the Lichen Field Trip was not particularly high, the learning that was had by field trip participants more than makes up for smaller diversity! Amazingly, a new species was added to the list, as Haleigh and Tanner were given a specific task to find rock-based lichens during their field trip. Rocks are the limiting substrate in the greater Sax-Zim Bog, with very little exposed rock (outside of cemeteries) in our area. It was nice to have our leaders expertise to share with folks more about lichens and the cool world they occupy.

Insect Based Field Trips (Beetles, Insects, Dragonflies and Damselflies, Gravel Pit Biodiversity) (151 species, 11 new)

It seems a little unfair to lump all of our insect-based field trips together, but it is often the most difficult group of organisms to ID and species reported during the compilation are just guesses at best before the work of ID can be done behind the scenes. The total number of species (and new species documented) will continue to grow as specimens are processed and pinned. Eleven new species scattered across flies, barklice, beetles, and more is really excellent and a few new species have been added to that list in the last couple of days.

Reptiles and Amphibians (9 species)

For the first time ever, we were able to offer an Amphibian and Reptile Field Trip! In fact, this is only the 2nd time we have offered a vertebrate based field trip during a BioBlitz (birds are usually offered and our fish field trips usually also include plants and bugs!). We were very excited to have Chris Smith join us with the exciting goal of finding salamanders! Prior to this BioBlitz, Blue-spotted Salamander has been documented one time (even though they are a very common species in our area). During their field trip, Chris and company found over 20(!!!!) Blue-spotted Salamanders!! Interestingly enough, we did not document any reptiles during our field trips, only amphibians. At the end of the day, this field trip was probably our most successful, documenting over 64% of the reptile and amphibian biodiversity in our region!

Family Friendly Field Trip

For the 2nd consecutive BioBlitz FOSZB Board Chair Lori has led a specific family-based field trip! Not only is this trip a good way to learn a little more about bogs and biodiversity at a slower pace than our typical BioBlitz field trips, it is a good way to enjoy family time along our trails. We were happy to have some good attendance on this field trip for the 2nd year and look forward to expanding our offerings to families in the Sax-Zim Bog!

Other Species of Note During Field Trips (128 plants, mammals, and pteridophytes; 4 new plants)

With loads of folks participating on our field trips, we can often rely on adding a few non-target species to our day list! Mammals, for example, have never had a field trip offered, but during each bioblitz we tend to add a few species here and there to our day list. Excitingly, even without a specific plant-based field trip, we were able to add 4 new plants! Of course, we hope folks pay attention to the target organisms on their field trips, but do appreciate the reports of species outside of their target organisms.

A special THANK YOU goes out to our field trip leaders this year! Without you all, we cannot have such an amazing day. We appreciate the time and effort shared by Kyle Johnson, Kristina Dexter-Nienhaus, Sam Guida, Jonny Tostenson, Tim Craig, Ariel Bonkoski, Haleigh Ziebol, Tanner Barnharst, Emma Ambrosi, Bill Teft, Greg Cleary, Chris Smith, Lori Williams, Jeff Fisher, and Mike Moen!

Until next year!

–Head Naturalist Clinton