Monitored global wildlife populations declined by an average of 73 percent in just 50 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report 2024. Habitat loss and degradation, overexploitation, pollution, and climate change are the culprits, according to the W.W.F.
While North America saw an average decline of “only” 39 percent between 1970 and 2020, Latin America and the Caribbean registered a shocking 95-percent reduction, and freshwater species saw an average decline of 83 to 85 percent due to water use, pollution, and damming.
With this in mind, ChangeHampton, an organization that promotes restorative, biodiverse, and sustainable landscaping practices as well as an expansion of pollinator pathways on the East End, will host a Bio-Blitz, a citizen-scientist training initiative, on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Community Pollinator Garden and Native Grassland Meadows on the East Hampton Town Hall campus.
Those attending will be shown how to observe, identify, document, and report on the plant, animal, bird, and insect species in their surroundings. Focusing on a particular location for one day at a time allows a gathering of information that is location, date, and time specific.
To accomplish this, those planning to participate have been asked to download iNaturalist Classic, the original version of the iNaturalist app, with which encounters with biodiversity can be recorded. The app allows users to take a picture of any wild plant, animal, fungus, or other organism anywhere in the world. It instantly suggests an identification, and a global community of naturalists confirms or refines it. The observations become open data used by scientists, conservationists, and researchers worldwide. Through iNaturalist, citizen-scientists contribute to science by identifying species, sharing their observations, learning about biodiversity, and connecting with and learning from other nature enthusiasts.
The goal, said Gail Pellett and Stephan Van Dam of ChangeHampton, is to encourage people of all ages to begin compiling a database of the species living on the East End. “One of our big motivating forces for creating ChangeHampton was our concern about biodiversity collapse,” Ms. Pellett said this week. “This movement comes out of the creation of the iNaturalist app. What this allows is for everybody to become connected — community scientists, citizen-scientists — and it teaches us to see, observe, document, and then we create a database through the iNaturalist app.”
The Bio-Blitz, Mr. Van Dam said, will help to establish a baseline from which efforts to promote biodiversity can be measured. “Anything that brings us closer to nature and an understanding of how we fit into the whole cycle can only be beneficial,” he said. Knowledge, he added, will “hopefully ensure the survival of our species.”
“By creating a baseline with this, we can watch over time what is going on,” Ms. Pellett said.
On Saturday, science teachers from the South Fork Natural History Museum will help with use of the app. The Bio-Blitz will be bilingual, and refreshments will be served. Registration has been requested by email to info@ changehampton.org. The rain date is Sunday, also from 10 a.m. to noon.
“We’re hoping for all ages,” Ms. Pellett said.