Younger Lagoon Reserve Bioblitz 2018

Join staff from the UCSC Natural Reserves, Ken Norris Center for Natural History, the California Academy of Sciences, legions of enthusiastic UCSC students & alumni, and members of the Santa Cruz community as we come together for a morning exploring and documenting Younger Lagoon Reserve's incredible biodiversity.

A bioblitz is a community event that brings together a wide variety of people to rapidly inventory the living organisms found in a particular place. Younger Lagoon Reserve's wide variety of habitats and unique geophysical setting have resulted in a great number of species that call the reserve home.

We'll be bioblitzing in the morning from 9 am-12 pm. We'll be using iNaturalist, a citizen science website and app, to photograph and geographically pinpoint our findings and will come back together at the end of the shift to upload our records, share stories, and help each other with identifications.

We hope to grow our reserve's species lists, but most importantly celebrate our fellow creatures and each other!

During this years bioblitz, we will also perform an environmental DNA survey with CaleDNA. CaleDNA is a UC-wide program that aims to address problems in biodiversity monitoring and species distribution by sending citizen scientists into all corners and habitats of California to collect soil samples and associated data. UC researchers then extract DNA from the soil samples YOU collected to assess biodiversity of plants, fungi, microbes and animals. The samples we will collect at Younger Lagoon this year will allow researchers to examine the distribution of biodiversity across a lagoon, and assess how well eDNA can distinguish between closely located distinct microhabitats.

Refreshments will be served at the end of the shift when we gather back together. Smartphones or tablets with the free iNaturalist app installed aren't required, but certainly bring them along if you have them.

The Campus Natural Reserve will concurrently host a bioblitz from 9 am-12 pm.

Register at: http://alumniweekend.ucsc.edu/ less ↑