Personal Bioblitz 2022

Hi bioblitzers,

Thanks to Natalie Lemanski for summarizing the data for this year’s Personal Bioblitz, the ninth ever. Here are the results! (Note that the numbers of species on the home page of the project will change, because more species will be identified as we go along. These numbers are the official numbers for this year). Our project page on iNaturalist is: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/personal-bioblitz-2022

Congratulations to the top winners, every species and person, but also to all of the rest of you that together helped us break the record, AGAIN, for most observations and species. Every observation and species is important for the totality of the project and for science. All five of the top species are common in Eastern North America and every sighting counts. We also had things that were rare and only seen by a few.

A few things of note – 4 people managed to see over 1000 species in 2.5 months! Women are overrepresented, and we have some mega-iNaturalist-users in this project. Over 3100 worldwide members on iNaturalist helped to identify species in this project - with user @sadawolk being by far the most prolific with her knowledge – thanks Sandy Wolkenberg!

RESULTS 2022
Total observations: 70,461 (A new record, beating last year’s record of 68,914!)

Total species: 9,197 (Another new record!)

Observers: 113

Some fun facts:

1. Plants win again as the most observed taxonomic group, accounting for 62% of all observations.
2. 26% of observations were from New Jersey, the home location of the Personal Bioblitz (down from last year).
3. Observations came from 23 different countries. We have some worldly naturalists!
4. 3,066 different people helped identify the project observations.

5. An IUCN near-threatened species (Eastern Hemlock) made the top 5 list this year.
   Most observations:

6. Sara Rall (srall) from New Jersey, USA, 10,140 observations (last year’s top observer is on top again! Sarah is also the 4th top observer in the world.)
7. Nick Kleinschmidt (nick2524) from New Hampshire, USA, 6,016 observations
8. Barbara L Wilson (sedgequeen) from Oregon, USA, 5,729 observations
9. Susan Hewitt (susanhewitt) from New York, USA, 4,989 observations (invertebrate specialist, and the 8th top observer in the world.)

10. Misha Zitser (zitserm) from New York, USA, 4,469 observations (an iNaturalist member since 2020, congrats on making the top 5 list!)
    Most species observed:

11. Annika Lindqvist (annikaml) living in Texas, USA, 1,170 species (retaking the top spot again and breaking her record from last year!)
12. Barbara L Wilson (sedgequeen) from Oregon, USA, 1,023 species
13. Alan Weakley (whiteoak) from North Carolina, USA, 1,017 species (another expert botanist joins the top 5 list! No wonder plants rule the Bioblitz 😉)
14. Sara Rall (srall) from New Jersey, USA, 1,001 species

15. Sarah Kelsey (botanylicious) from Georgia, USA, 979 species
    Most species that were not observed by anyone else:

16. Annika Lindqvist (annikaml) living in Texas, USA, 426 unique species
17. Nick Lambert (nicklambert) from Australia, 386 unique species
18. Barbara L Wilson (sedgequeen) from Oregon, USA, 242 unique species
19. Alan Weakley (whiteoak) from North Carolina, USA, 237 unique species

20. Jason Grant (jasonrgrant) from Switzerland, 226 unique species
    Most frequently observed species:

21. American Beech, 814 observations
22. Hairy Bittercress, 519 observations
23. American Robin, 435 observations
24. Red Maple, 433 observations

25. Eastern Hemlock, 374 observations
    And, the number of observations on iNaturalist for New Jersey, just passed 1 million! When the Personal Bioblitz started on iNaturalist, there were 1000 observations in New Jersey. For a list of the most observed New Jersey species ever, look here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=51&subview=table&view=species

Thanks again to all of you, to the leadership team this year who helped curate the project on iNaturalist, and have a wonderful summer (winter in Australia) with lots of new observations and cool finds. See you in 2023 for the 10th Personal Bioblitz, starting at March 1 as usual. Mark your calendars!

Happy bioexploration times!

Lena Struwe, Rutgers University
Founder and organizer of the Personal Bioblitz

PS. Feel free to sign up for our mailing list [https://lists.rutgers.edu/mm3/mailman3/lists/personal_bioblitz.email.rutgers.edu/], and/or join our Facebook group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/407169086112609] to stay informed about next year’s Personal Bioblitz. less ↑