[Pollinator] Bioblitz - volunteers needs in VA/DC/MD

[Kimberly Winter]

Lepidopterists and other entomological specialists are needed for this
survey event.  Please contact Art Evans (information below) if you are
interested in being a team leader of volunteer for this event.

Laura Harris
Head Keeper- Butterflies
Detroit Zoological Institute
248-398-0903 x 3215

-----Original Message-----
From: inverticap at yahoogroups.com [mailto:inverticap at yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Arthur V. Evans
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 8:41 PM
To: inverticap at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [inverticap] Potomac Gorge BioBlitz-call for team
leaders/volunteers-please forward


Greetings all and please excuse the cross-postings!

The Potomac Gorge BioBlitz will be held on June 23-25, 2006 along the
Potomac Gorge, the fifteen-mile river corridor from Great Falls to
Georgetown, including portions of Virginia, Maryland, and Washington
D.C. Despite its location in the D.C. metro region, the Potomac Gorge
is one of the biologically rich natural areas in the eastern United
States, providing habitat to more than 200 recorded rare species and
natural communities. We are currently recruiting taxonomic group team
leaders who will be essential to making the 2006 Potomac Gorge BioBlitz
a success.

The BioBlitz is an extension of the Virginia BioBlitz and is a joint
venture between the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy
and is designed to survey poorly known groups of organisms on NPS lands
along the Potomac River in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of
Columbia. Survey sites include Great Falls National Park, Turkey Run
Park, and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. The
base camp for the event will be located in the heart of the Gorge at
historic Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, Maryland, where survey teams will
be able to spend Friday and Saturday nights and set up specimen
preparation and identification labs. Meals (Friday dinner through
Sunday lunch) will be provided to all participants.

The Potomac Gorge BioBlitz is an intensive 30-hour field survey that
will begin at 9 AM on Saturday, June 24 and end at 3 PM on Sunday, June
25. The goals of the survey include collecting, preparing, cataloguing,
and identifying poorly known taxa at the localities listed above, and
publishing the results in the peer-reviewed journal Banisteria,
published by the Virginia Natural History Society. The data will be
entered into a National Park Service database to maximize information
sharing in the natural history community and to promote effective park
natural resource management.

The BioBlitz will provide an excellent opportunity for professional
biologists, students, and naturalists to work together in the field.
And, in addition to supplying the National Park Service with valuable
information on the organisms living on their lands, the event will help
to raise public awareness of the incredible biodiversity of the Potomac
Gorge. We will seek media coverage and additional project partnerships
to maximize the public education and awareness-raising value of the
BioBlitz, developing parallel children's and family environmental
education programming with the Gorge-based Discovery Creek Children's
Museum.

The National Park Service and Virginia and Maryland Natural Heritage
Programs have extensive survey data for vascular plants and vertebrates
in the region, but taxa such as fungi, algae, and many invertebrate
groups, remain under-inventoried and under-tracked in existing
databases. Therefore, the Potomac Gorge BioBlitz will focus on filling
information gaps for the greatest number of under-surveyed groups for
which survey teams are available.

As BioBlitz Coordinator (and Beetle Team leader), and in accordance
with the desires of the National Park Service, I am seeking qualified
team leaders to field teams during the BioBlitz to survey for the
following taxonomic groups: Bacteria (Kingdom: Prokaryotae); Algae,
slime molds (Kingdom: Protista); Fungi (Kingdom: Fungi); Flatworms
(Phylum: Platyhelminthes, Class: Turbellaria); Phylum Gastrotricha;
Rotifers (Phylum: Rotifera); Nematodes (Phylum: Nematoda); Snails
(Phylum: Mollusca, Class: Gastropoda); Mussels (Phylum: Mollusca,
Class: Bivalvia); Segmented worms (Phylum: Annelida); Spiders, mites,
ticks (Subclass: Arachnida); Crayfish, wood lice, copepods, amphipods,
isopods, water fleas, etc. (Subphylum: Crustacea); Centipedes (Class:
Chilopoda); Millipedes (Class: Diplopoda); Proturans (Order: Protura);
Diplurans (Order: Diplura); Silverfish (Order: Thysanura); Bristletails
(Order: Microcoryphia); Springtails (Order: Collembola); Mayflies
(Order: Ephemeroptera); Dragonflies and damselflies (Order: Odonata);
Cockroaches (Roder Blattodea); Termites (Order: Isoptera); Mantids
(Order: Mantodea); Earwigs (Order: Dermaptera); Grasshoppers, katydids,
crickets (Order: Orthoptera); Stick insects (Order: Phasmida);
Stoneflies (Order: Plecoptera); Earwigs (Order: Dermaptera);
Webspinners (Order: Embioptera); Zorapterans (Order: Zoraptera);
Barklice (Order: Psocoptera); Chewing and sucking lice (Order:
Phthiraptera); True bugs and hoppers(Order: Hemiptera); Thrips (Order:
Thysanoptera); Dosbsonflies, fishflies, and alderflies (Order
Megaloptera); Lacewings, antlions, and owlflies (Order: Neuroptera);
Scorpionflies (Order: Mecoptera); Fleas (Order: Siphonaptera);
Caddisflies (Order: Trichoptera); Butterflies and moths (Order:
Lepidoptera); True flies (Order: Diptera); Ants, bees, wasps, sawflies
(Order: Hymenoptera). Reptiles (Class: Reptilia) and Amphibians (Class:
Amphibia) will also be included to supplement existing inventory
efforts.

Team leaders are needed to scout survey sites, recruit volunteers for
survey teams, coordinate the field surveys, oversee the preparation and
labeling of collections, provide authoritative identifications, and
enter species data into the NPS database. I will post the names and
email addresses of team leaders at
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/vnhs/bioblitz.htm to assist with the recruitment
of volunteers and facilitate the distribution of additional information
and documents, such as permits, data collection sheets, and maps.
Limited funds are available for the purchase of collecting and
curatorial supplies, such as pins, alcohol, and vials. I will
coordinate the NPS collecting permits with all of the team leaders.
Protocols for collection and deposition of specimens collected on NPS
lands will follow. An honorarium of $200 will be paid to team leaders
for compilation of species and other pertinent information for their
sections of the summary publication to appear in Banisteria.

If you or someone you know would like to be team leader or survey
volunteer for one of the taxonomic groups listed above, please contact
me at arthurevans at verizon.net. If you, your institution, or any other
natural history organizations would like to join the National Park
Service, The Nature Conservancy, and the Washington Biologists' Field
Club as a sponsor of this event, we would welcome additional support.

The 2006 Potomac Gorge Bioblitz provides a unique opportunity to survey
an area where the richness of plant life and vegetation communities is
likely to translate into a corresponding richness in animal diversity.
I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely, ART EVANS

Arthur V. Evans, D.Sc.
Research Associate
Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution, and
Department of Recent Invertebrates, Virginia Museum of Natural History

c/o 1600 Nottoway Ave.
Richmond, VA 23227

(804) 264-0488
arthurevans at verizon.net




2006 Bioblitz sponsors:  The Nature Conservancy, the National Park
Service, Washington Biologists' Field Club






~Kim

Kimberly Winter, Ph.D.
Coordinator, North American Pollinator Protection Campaign
E-mail: NAPPCoordinator at hotmail.com
Internet: www.nappc.org
Ph: (301) 219-7030

Mailing Address:
0105"B" Cole Student Activities Bldg
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-1026