Sax-Zim Bog BioBlitz 13: Lucky Number 13!
It seems like from year to year each BioBlitz impresses us with a new high number of species documented; a pile of new species added to the greater Sax-Zim Bog ecosystem species list; new field trips… the list goes on. The overarching hope of the day is that folks who attend the field trips have fun, learn a lot, and have their eyes opened to the amazing biodiversity of the Sax-Zim Bog. I am proud to say that without exception, each year has offered up something new to visitors and field trip leaders alike! For the 13th wrap-up, be surprised, amazed, and inspired by the amazing things we experience during the BioBlitz!
First things first, we had great attendance to this year’s event! With around 80 folks, we seem to be attracting new folks and keep our returning attendees excited with field trips offered and the excitement of new things to be seen and learned. We were able to offer 15 different field trips this year, with 18 field trip leaders! As with last year, we were able to offer a couple of new field trips: Burying Beetles and Aquatic Macroinvertebrates! The latter field trip was led by three folks, from three states, all excited about aquatic species, which was a real treat for the field trip attendees (and for myself!). The weather for the day was great, after a lot of rain over night, which made things interesting for our nighttime field trip folks!
For our lucky 13th year of BioBlitzes: we smashed our all time species total, found over 100 new species (for only the 3rd time ever!), and were able to learn more about lesser known species groups. Below is a quick look at the species diversity and some quick notes on highlights. If you would like to see more of the species diversity, check out the iNaturalist project for the 13th Annual Sax-Zim Bog Bioblitz! We had a record number of iNaturalist users (18), submitting a record number of observations (945), and documenting an amazing 535 species via this amazing citizen science platform! Now, to notes on the day:
Total Species Documented: 867
Total New Species Recorded: 102
The greatest diversity was documented during the event was found in Plants and Shrubs (192 species), Moths (156 species), and Galls, Rusts, and Brooms (107 species). But, it isn’t always about who finds the most or best species during the day, it is just as exciting to learn new things about the area by folks documenting overlooked organisms.
The Lichen Field Trip (led by Haleigh Ziebol and Tanner Barnharst) not only found a lot of diversity, but high numbers of new species. They found a total of 43 species of fungi and 53 species of lichen and 23% of the fungi and 20% of the lichens they documented were new for our species list! New to the BioBlitz was the Aquatic Macroinvertebrates field trip that was also led by folks new to the Sax-Zim Bog! Daniel Edwards, Shelby Medlock, and Joseph Aubert came from three different states (Iowa, Arkansas, and Texas!) to lead this trip, to a resounding success! Of the 61 species of Aquatic Insects documented so far, 32% of them were new to our list! However, this number could keep growing, as aquatic insect ID is not as straightforward as say trees or frogs and they were able to collect a number of specimens for later identification.
Wrapping up an event like this gets tougher and tougher each year as we add more field trips and document biodiversity to the scale we do over the course of the day. The review of each bioblitz is a great way to keep track year after year of what we are learning and showcasing to visitors to this area. Because the greater Sax-Zim Bog ecosystem is such a large area (over 500,000 acres!), we have endless opportunities to see something new in someplace new. I hope that is why our event is such a success. Even if you have been to the Bog 100 times, there is still something new.
As important as the species we are hoping to learn more about during this event, the educational aspect continues to be exciting, though difficult to document. If you talk with group leaders, you will gain one perspective of the day. You may hear “We had an excellent day, with lots of new stuff!” or “We might not have found a lot, but we found some great species!” or even “The day didn’t go how we expected, but we still had fun!” However, if you ask an attendee to the BioBlitz how things went, you might hear something entire different: “I didn’t know we had more than one species of sparrow, let alone five!” or perhaps “Moss is much more interesting than I could have guessed!” or “I can’t wait to come back next year!”
If you have attended a BioBlitz, thank you! We hope you enjoyed your time with experts and fellow enthusiasts in this amazing place. If you have not attended a BioBlitz, I hope these reports get you one step closer to joining us one day!
A huge thank you to all who attended this year and to our field trip leaders: Kyle Johnson, Kristina Dexter-Nienhaus, Greg Cleary, Haleigh Ziebol, Tanner Barnharst, Joe Walewski, Daniel Edwards, Shelby Medlock, Joseph Aubert, Chris Smith, Jeff Fisher, Kelly Beaster, Jonny Tostenson, Sam Guida, Murphy Steininger (and MPCA Crew!), Lori Williams, and Sparky Stensaas! Without these folks, this event wouldn’t be nearly as fun or educational.
Until next time, we will see you in the Bog!
— Head Naturalist Clinton