The BioDiverCity Challenge Preliminary Results are in!

Hello iNatters;

Thanks go out to Greg Pohl for taking the time to figure this out!

Saskatoon did really well in the bioblitz; our preliminary results as of midnight Sunday was 46 observers, with 905 observations of at least 239 species. The deadline has passed for uploading observations, but we can continue to get them identified for another 6 weeks before the numbers are final.
We'd set up a friendly competition with 14 municipalities in western Canada, and that "Prairie Division" also competed with 72 municipalities in a "Northern Rockies division" including AK, YT, and counties and municipalities in BC, WA, OR, ID, MT, and WY. Results are as follows:
1a. Highest participation rate (observers per capita, or "Environmental Engagement Index"): Whiteshell, MB (pop. 5000): 0.100% of residents posted observations.

runner-up: NWT (pop. 45515): 0.042% of residents posted observations.
1b. Highest absolute #observers: tie between metro Edmonton and metro Calgary with 145 observers each.
2a. Most observations per capita: Whiteshell, MB (pop. 5000): 0.042 observations/resident.

runner-up: Saskatoon SK (pop. 300000): 0.003 observations/resident.
2b. Highest absolute #observations: metro Edmonton: 2915 observations.

runner-up: Winnipeg, MB: 1565 observations.
3a. PRELIMINARY Most species per capita: Whiteshell, MB (pop. 5000): 0.022 species/resident.

runner-up: NWT (pop. 45515): 0.001 species/resident.
3b. PRELIMINARY Highest absolute #species: metro Edmonton: 690 species.
runner-up: Winnipeg, MB: 337 species.

The top individual observer was @seraphinpoudrier from Winnipeg, MB, with a phenomenal 1265 observations of at least 259 species. That was most of Winnipeg's observations.
If you're a stats junkie and want to dig into the numbers further, check out this umbrella project with all the Prairie Division results:
https://inaturalist.ca/projects/2022-prairie-biodivercity-challenges
Note the number of observers and observations is final now, but the number of species will change over the next 6 weeks as more identifications are done. Obviously a place with a large population is going to do better with overall numbers, which is why we calculated results per capita - those are a much better measure of participation. The competition is just for fun, but we'll keep track and see if more people get involved in future years. Additionally the data will be on iNaturalist permanently, where it will help scientists to track changing species distributions and do other research. Our underlying goals are to get more people engaged with nature, and to generate useful data while they're at it.
The overall winners from among all 86 Prairie and Northern Rocky Mountains municipalities are as follows:
1a. Highest participation rate (observers per capita, or "Environmental Engagement Index"): Clark Co., ID (pop. 827): 0.363% of residents posting observations.

runner-up: Teton Co., WY (pop. 24049) 0.308% of residents posting observations.
1b. Highest absolute #observers: Alaska: 266 observers.
runners-up: metro Edmonton and metro Calgary: 145 observers each.

2a. Most observations per capita: Bear Lake Co., ID (pop 6368): 0.054
observations/resident.

runner-up: Whiteshell Provincial Park, MB (pop. 5000): 0.042
observations/resident.

2b. Highest absolute #observations: metro Edmonton: 2915 observations.

runner-up: Alaska: 1781 observations.

3a. PRELIMINARY Most species per capita: Bear Lake Co., ID (pop. 6368) 0.029
species/resident.

runner-up: Whiteshell Provincial Park, MB (pop. 5000) 0.022 species/resident.

3b. PRELIMINARY Highest absolute #species: metro Edmonton: 690 species.

runner-up: Alaska: 588 species.
Thanks again for participating! I'll send out some information on the final species results in 6 weeks.
Greg Pohl
volunteer bioblitz coordinator

Posted on 22 de junho de 2022, 08:12 PM by saskatoonafforestationareas saskatoonafforestationareas

Comentários

Thanks @saskatoonafforestationareas for this info, and all for your contribution one way or another, including @marykrieger.
Not sure what is more fun : visit different areas of the cities and discover new species and rediscover species seen before, be outside taking pictures knowing many other people are doing exactly the same thing, or see what was observed elsewhere that we have seen here too or never seen yet.
Great blitz, for so many reasons. Bravo.

Publicado por seraphinpoudrier quase 2 anos antes

I totally agree, and you sure look like you have fun going out and about discovering nature! I am blown away by your eye of what you can see when you are out. That is the same way I met @marykrieger, as there is overlap between SK and MB, and yet subtle differences which is also way cool!

MB is sure very lucky to have yourself and @marykrieger taking part in iNaturalist, I have learned a lot from both of you!

My sisters live in Brandon MB and I can hardly wait to go visit them and get them onto iNaturalist also.

Thanks for your comment. And we are lucky that Greg out of Alberta connected up with us for this BioDiverCity Challenge. Now they are talking about an autumn one for comparisons!
Julia

Publicado por saskatoonafforest... quase 2 anos antes

@saskatoonafforestationareas The Westman Naturalists are a friendly group active in Brandon - you might see if they have anything planned when you visit Brandon that you could join in on. It sure is nice to see the iNaturalist community growing across the prairies - these events that @gpohl is pulling together really help to build connections that are so helpful to get us out of our provincial boxes.

Publicado por marykrieger quase 2 anos antes

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