BioBlitz SB 2007
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, May 11-12, 2007
The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden held the first-ever BioBlitz on California's Central Coast. This was an opportunity to discover and celebrate the incredible biodiversity around us. The Botanic Garden was excited to bring BioBlitz Santa Barbara to the community and to involve community members and organizations in such an important event. This was a wonderful opportunity to engage the public in understanding and appreciating the incredible diversity surrounding us, and to emphasize the importance of conservation measures to preserve this diversity. Visitors were able to interact with scientists and enjoy fun, educational activities as we discovered together what this creative concept is all about!
What is a BioBlitz?
BioBlitz is a quick intensive ecological survey meant to catalog as much biological diversity as possible in a concentrated period of time and defined area. Conducted since the mid-1990s, BioBlitzes bring botanists, entomologists, ornithologists, herpetologists, and many other "ologists," together with citizen-scientists to identify and document as many plants, insects, birds, bats, chipmunks, lizards, mushrooms, mice, and even bacteria as possible. A BioBlitz is a fun and engaging scientific and educational event that raises awareness of the incredible biodiversity that exists in our own backyard and the importance of conserving this diversity for a healthy and strong environment.
Why did we do this?
BioBlitzes have been conducted in numerous locations throughout the nation to bring attention to the fact that biodiversity exists not only in exotic places like tropical rainforests and coral reefs, but everywhere. As the most biologically diverse state in the union and one of the world's "hot spots" of threatened biodiversity, California offers tremendous opportunities for such valuable surveys yet few have been conducted here. The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden recognizes the scientific value of BioBlitz surveys and has identified an ecologically important area in the Central Coast that merits this scrutiny — Mission Creek. Measuring the biodiversity of just one small area of this important waterway and riparian corridor illustrated to the public the incredible biological resources that exist in our own community, and emphasized the importance of conservation measures to preserve that diversity. Additionally, we produced a scientifically repeatable survey of a natural area that can be used as a baseline to document future changes (additions or losses) to the diversity of this ecosystem.
Where did we do this?
BioBlitz Santa Barbara surveyed as many species as possible in and around a section of Mission Creek during a 24-hour period. The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is situated near the headwaters of Mission Creek, a stretch of which runs through the Garden grounds. The creek, its bordering riparian zone and the canyon slopes above are relatively unimpacted and offer a natural ecosystem characteristic of the many canyons of the Santa Ynez Mountains. This reach of Mission Creek and the surrounding lands in the Botanic Garden make up approximately 10 acres and served as the study site for BioBlitz Santa Barbara.
Mission Canyon is one of several parallel drainages from the Santa Ynez Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. At one time it provided significant steelhead trout habitat and steelhead can still be found in some of the lower reaches. The headwaters of Mission Creek originate in the Los Padres National Forest and are relatively protected from human impact. However, as the waterway flows through downtown Santa Barbara it increasingly develops the character of an urban water course, including pollution from residential and commercial sources, and channelization for flood control. BioBlitz Santa Barbara will document the surprising biological diversity of this relatively unimpacted reach of Mission Creek.
What will we do with this information?
The results of BioBlitz Santa Barbara have provided us with an inventory of Mission Creek and the riparian corridor's biodiversity that will serve as a baseline for monitoring species change in the years to come. This baseline will provide important information about the riparian ecology naturally occurring in this relatively pristine area, and will be of great value in efforts to restore the creek habitats further downstream and in other Santa Barbara creeks. Through the scientific and educational components of BioBlitz Santa Barbara, the public left with a new appreciation of the diversity of life that makes up their own "personal ecosystem." We will also convey the important message of conservation and how maintaining environmental quality relates to personal well-being.
Educational opportunities
BioBlitzes are a wonderful opportunity to foster awareness among the public. Although scientists and naturalists performed much of the survey, BioBlitz Santa Barbara welcomed the general public. Citizen-scientists were invited to join survey teams and received appropriate training. Educational opportunities included both children and adult programming, as well as materials that will continue to be useful in schools beyond the event. Educational programs included displays, demonstrations, and hands-on activities. We presented the educational messages in diverse ways that were engaging for all ages. These activities ranged from lectures and slide shows to tours and specimen preparation.
