Botanists race to record Arboretum species in Seattle's first bioblitz
Bleary-eyed botanists trudged along the trails of Washington Park Arboretum on Saturday in a quest for every tree, herb and escaped garden plant they could find that is not part of the official collection.
Seattle Times staff reporter
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ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
You never know what you'll find in your net as Thomas Garcia, a UW entomology student, collects a leafhopper during bioblitz Saturday at the Arboretum.
Bleary-eyed botanists trudged along the trails of Washington Park Arboretum on Saturday in a quest for every tree, herb and escaped garden plant they could find that is not part of the official collection.
Some participants had been awake most of the night trying to identify samples gathered on Friday, when Seattle's first bioblitz kicked off. A bioblitz is an intense, usually 24-hour effort to identify all the flora and fauna of a particular area. They run all night so that creatures such as night insects and bats can be counted.
At the Arboretum, eagle sightings, salamanders and a rare stinging ant were recorded into handheld GPS devices that tallied up almost 400 species by the end of the blitz Saturday afternoon. Hundreds more entries are expected as scientists identify more spiders and insects that did not make the initial count.
The data will become part of the NatureMapping program, which began in Washington in the early '90s and now includes other states attempting to chart their biodiversity.
Aside from its scientific value, this weekend's bioblitz could help protect parts of the Arboretum from bombardment during construction of a new Highway 520 bridge, said Paige Miller, executive director of the Washington Park Arboretum Foundation, which paid $4,000 to fund the bioblitz.
That cost does not include the time of about 100 volunteers, from high-school students to retired professors, plus 20 employees of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, which includes the Arboretum and the Center for Urban Horticulture.
"We can make sure the state knows about the diversity we have and what's at risk, to do what we can to
Friday, May 21
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Wednesday, May 19
