Diario del proyecto Sarasota-Manatee EcoFlora Project (FL, USA)

Archivos de diario de enero 2022

03 de enero de 2022

Finding Ferns Ecoquest and Upcoming Bioblitzes

The Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora project is kicking off the 2022 New Year with our next EcoQuest, Finding Ferns! Ferns are one of the most diverse groups of vascular plants and there are over 160 different species recorded in Florida. This ecoquest will cover a wide variety of genuses in the Class of ferns Polypodiopsida, ranging from the giant leather ferns, floating aquatic ferns, and even on trees as epiphytes. With their wide range of sizes and shapes the best ways to identify them are to photograph the tops of the leaves, habitat, spores on the underside of leaves, and the rhizomes or roots if showing. While ferns are found in a huge variety of Florida habitats they are most common in shady moist ecosystems like old growth forests or swamps.


Water Spangles or Salvinia minima is an aquatic invasive species in the fern class.

This EcoQuest will take place during January and February. We hope to observe as many local ferns as possible and assist citizen scientists in identifying fern species and exploring fern diversity in Sarasota and Manatee counties.


Toothed Midsorus Fern known as Telmatoblechnum serrulatum is a common fern in shaded wetlands in Florida easily identified by the spore pattern on the underside of the leaf.

If you would like to volunteer and contribute the EcoFlora project and citizen science please email ecoflora@selby.org. The date for our next BioBlitz is January 12th 9am-12pm at the Old Miakka Preserve, where 20 species of ferns have been recorded. February 9th at Lemon Bay Park will be the next bioblitz following that. Registration for this event will be live on our website or by emailing ecoflora@selby.org.

Publicado el enero 3, 2022 06:33 TARDE por sean_patton sean_patton | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

10 de enero de 2022

iNaturalist Year in Review and the Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Project

Happy New Year Everyone!

Thank you all so much for helping support the Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Project! This is a roundup of how we faired this year and improved over previous years. Please enjoy these fun stats, our top contributors, and make sure to come out to Old Miakka this Wednesday Jan 12th, 9am-12noon for our first bioblitz of 2022! For those of you curious as to how the world is using iNaturalist check out the iNaturalist Year in Review and be proud of how much we contributed to the truly global effort!

Photo of the Little Manatee River South Fork bioblitz in Manatee County.

Top 5 Observers during 2021

  1. Chaseyb 3,724 observations of 812 species!
  2. Sean Patton (Sarasota Manatee Coordinator) 1,501 observations of 573 species!
  3. ceherzog 1,210 observations of 550 species!
  4. damonmoore 975 observations of 474 species!
  5. lazynaturalist 956 observations of 277 species!

Top 5 Identifiers during 2021

  1. jayhorn with 5,174 identified species!
  2. Bruceholst (Vice President Botany at Selby) with 1,679 identified species!
  3. jeff1962 with 1,122 identified species!
  4. aliandbrice with 573 identified species!
  5. Sean Patton (Sarasota Manatee Coordinator) with 468 identified species!

Wow those observations and records were all this year! Let's take a look at the stats:
2021 Observations - 18,139 Species - 1,564
Total Observations - 29,000 Species - 1,786

62.5% of all observations since the Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Project in 2019 began were from this year. of the 1,786 species we have observed in the project 87.6% of them were also observed during 2021 showing we have a high rate of continually observing even rare species.

Florida Goldenaster a state listed endangered species found during our Asters All Around Ecoquest being pollinated by a queen butterfly.

How has the project grown and contributed to the local scientific and environmental community? Let's look at some stats and highlights below!
2021 Observers - 166 Identifiers - 548 Members Joining in 2021 - 135
Total Observers - 194 Identifiers - 809 Current Members - 267

Wow we doubled the number of people who have joined the project and have added 32 more regular observers than last year with 261 people now contributing identification help from all over the world! We had 14 bioblitzes with local county, and state parks with over one hundred people attending throughout the year. Over 80 species have been added to local records through our plant vouchers helping to increase the depth of our local plant knowledge. We also participated in over 10 events at schools, parks, environmental groups, and community centers presenting on the project and look forward to being at many more in the future!

Anastasia one of the members of the Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Team posing with the rare and beautiful Pine Lily. As part of the education department at Selby she helps connect the Ecoflora team with local schools and education programs helping anyone become a citizen scientist. If you think your school or community group might be interested contact us at ecoflora@selby.org and we can train you in the art of citizen science and backyard botany!

If you have enjoyed the Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Project, our bioblitzes, and learning about our local plants and ecosystems the best way to help is to participate with your family and friends! Come out to our events, join the project page and help encourage others to come out and participate in our free community science program. We can present to your schools, community, and engage with you to help preserve and become citizen scientists in Sarasota and Manatee.

Thank you all for participating and we hope to see you out there!

Publicado el enero 10, 2022 10:51 TARDE por sean_patton sean_patton | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario