Event

Bioblitzes take part all over the world as a way to engage people with their local biodiversity while also contributing valuable data on the distributions of species. They usually involve experts, students and the public intensively surveying a particular area for biodiversity over a 24hr period. Together with the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists’ Club, the Department of Life Sciences has run a Bioblitz in T&T for 10 years now. The last two Bioblitzes were held virtually due to the pandemic, but were enormously successful events focused on documenting the species in our homes and gardens. Amazingly, more than 1,300 different species were documented during the 2020 virtual event alone and the observations from these projects can be viewed via the following links: Trinidad & Tobago Backyard Bioblitz 2020 and the Trinidad and Tobago Bioblitz 2021. To celebrate our 11^th year, we are excited to be teaming up with partners in Barbados and Jamaica for the first ever Inter-Island Bioblitz!

To mark the 11th year, the Trinidad & Tobago Bioblitz is expanding its reach to Barbados and Jamaica, by partnering with colleagues at sister campuses Cave Hill and Mona, as well as with a number of environmental NGOs on each island, for the first ever ‘Inter-Island Bioblitz’. After the weekend, the 2022 findings will be compared with those from our last two backyard Bioblitz events held in 2020 and 2021 to get a more comprehensive look at Trinidad and Tobago’s backyard biodiversity. Excitingly, for the first time this year comparisons can be made between the backyard species found across islands – which island has the most species? How many species are shared between the islands, and how many are unique? It is hoped that this event will be the first of many collaborations between the campuses and the islands when it comes to understanding and protecting our precious Caribbean biodiversity. On the 3-4 December 2022 nature lovers in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica will come together virtually for 24hrs to document the biodiversity of the region and raise awareness of its importance.

Taking part is easy - you just need to sign up to iNaturalist.org for free, and join the project “Inter-island Bioblitz 2022”. This will allow you to upload your photos during the event and contribute to the overall species totals! 

Interested? Here’s how you can get involved: 

1)    Follow T&T Bioblitz on social media for updates and info 

2)    Create your iNaturalist account now and practice using it to upload observations 

3)    Spread the word among friends, family and colleagues – all are welcome to join in! 

For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/TandTBioblitz/.