Title: Bioblitz - Aliens Are Among Us!
Date: 26 - 28 August
Venue: Throughout the Buskett Natura 2000 site
The Interreg Italia-Malta FAST project team would like to invite you to the first ever bioblitz to be held throughout the Maltese Islands, specifically throughout the Buskett Natura 2000 site. This event is in collaboration with Science in the City.
This event is the first of its kind and is happening this weekend at Buskett. It is part of an Interreg Italia-Malta project called FAST, an ongoing EU-funded project aiming to combat the introduction, naturalization and spread of invasive alien species that harm biodiversity, a phenomenon that is particularly important in cross-border areas such as the Maltese Islands.
What's a bioblitz you ask?
A bioblitz is an interactive 'treasure hunt' type activity, where participants (= citizen scientists) will be recording the locations of a number of alien plant species throughout one of 19 areas around Buskett. Alien, or non-native species are those which were introduced by humans in the recent past, and which have the potential to harm local biodiversity.
Records will be kept using a simple mobile phone application (Epicollect 5), and the information generated will be used to build a map showing the locations of these potentially dangerous aliens, which in turn, can be used for subsequent study and removal efforts!
This event is open to anyone with a keen eye and a passion for the natural environment, and participants are free to join (and leave) at any point throughout the three days over which the event will be held. A full explanation -- including how to use Epicollect 5 -- will be given prior to each survey, and a goodie bag containing everything you'll need for the activity, as well as a few other surprises will also be given to each participant.
So if this sounds like something you'd be interested in, , or share it with someone who you think would enjoy it :) let's make history!
N.B. Younger participants must be a least 10 years of age and must be accompanied by a parent/guardian at all times.
