The Great Bioblitz

Last week I spend two days at Pourewa Reserve and Kepa Bush, where the great Bioblitz was carried out.  Many scientist and members of the public were invited to help find and count every species to be found in this area.

Pourewa reserve has recently been returned to the local tribe, Ngāti Whātua, and they would like to restore the Maui (life force) of the land.

The aim of the Bioblitz was to find out what lives there now, at the start of this project, so we can over time find out what has changed in the environment. A large area of the land is currently in use as paddocks, which is a monoculture, and lots of weeds grow in the reserve. Ngāti Whātua would like to plant more native plants to increase the variety of life, and this will over time also help increase the different types of insects, birds and other life forms.

Many kinds of detectives were needed – bird watchers, insect catchers, moss and plant gatherers, and bacteria swabbers.

Most species were identified on site by scientists, but some bacteria had to be “taken home” to be looked at. I will share the results with you as soon as we know the final count.

So many school kids, families and scientists enjoyed themselves and learned about the variety of species that we found in the reserve.

My highlight was to spend some time with our very own Bugman, Ruud Kleinpaste, who helped us find some interesting creatures, and had many stories to tell about them.

If you would like to hear some of his stories go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh6KVhdPHeE

Ka kite ano!

Mrs van de Ven