The Nature Conservancy of Canada is holding its fourth annual Backyard BioBlitz on August 1st to 5th. Participants from all over the country will be snapping photos to be used by biologists to track information about plants and animals in different areas.
Engagement manager for the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Kayla Burak says anyone can participate.
“If you're staying home for the long weekend, cool. If you're going out camping or just for a walk in your favourite local park, you can take part. So basically, all you do is take pictures of anything you see, look down, look up, everything matters. And you take pictures, upload them onto an app called iNaturalist, which you will be told how to do when you register.”
Participants do not have to upload photos every day, Burak stresses that all contributions are significant, and information gleaned from the event will be used for years to come, and specifically benefit research for species near you.
“Everything counts. Even if it's common this year, biologists might need to look back on the data in a few years to look at certain areas and why species trends went up or went down and what might be happening there. So, everything's important.”
Twenty-one hundred photos were submitted from Saskatchewan last year. Twelve thousand introduced and invasive species were reported across Canada, an example is baby's breath, which was identified as an invasive species in Saskatchewan.
“If you find a rare or a rare species or an invasive species, that's really important for us to know about right now. But even common species are really important to still capture because in five to ten years, those species might not be common anymore and we need to look back on trends and observations.”
The app is run by a community of scientists who will verify the species of all submissions, so participants don’t have to know what something is in order to submit it.
The event is free to participate in for all ages. Anyone looking to participate can register HERE.