Spot Invasive Insects BioBlitz starts today!
Happy October 1st everyone! The Massachusetts Spot Invasive Insects BioBlitz starts today. If you cannot get outside on this beautiful fall day, you have between now and October 15 to get outside, finds some trees, and take a bunch of photos of anything in, on, or around those trees!
To get you started, below is a link to our pest blog's guide to tree-of-heaven id. If the area you adopt to make your observations has tree-of-heaven nearby, please be sure to check it for signs of spotted lanternfly! Also, if you have friends who you think would like to participate, there is a link to our BioBlitz blog post below as well:
Happy hunting!
-- Jenn
Comentarios
When you ask for photos of anything in, on, or around a tree, do you want plants, fungi, bacteria, etc., as well as animals? How far away from the trunk - up to the likely extent of the roots, perhaps? How do we link the observations we make to the particular tree we've chosen? Apologies if this all becomes clear when I try to add observations to the project; I didn't get a chance to start on this on the 1st.
Hi Lynn. Since this is our first go around, we are keeping it as unstructured as possible. Anything near the tree is fine, you can decide what near means to you. For folks that want more structure, I would say you can stop at the base of the tree unless roots are showing and you want to include things on those.
We are working on how to link observations to the tree they were on, for now we are asking folks to just mention the "host plant" in the Notes section. Some folks are adding an additional record just for the tree as well.
What trees should I focus on? I know tree-of-heaven is a target, but do you want other pest-associated trees, too, or will that just clutter your data?
@stephanieradner, I went back and read the About section on this project's home page and it says they want to focus on these plant species: grapevines, tree-of-heaven, maple, willow, elm, and birch. It also says to photograph any insects, egg masses, holes, or tunnels you find on those plants, which answers my question about whether they want observations of more than just insects (so, no lichens or mosses, etc., in other words). I hope this helps!
@lynnharper thank you! I read the About section but didn't click on the more link. I'll go out and find some trees and other stuff very soon!
Thank you everyone!!
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