Last Updated: October 3, 2023 – corrections to some entries, one new species added!

Prior Updates: September 30, 2023 – initial data file posted

Here is the current species and observation lists for the 2023 Macaulay Honors College Prospect Park BioBlitz:

Download (XLSX, 365KB)

The first sheet in the file above is a summary page with our species count (currently at 335 species!), then there is a full species list compiled from data sheets and confirmed iNaturalist observations (as of 9/29/23 at 2:20pm), a list of all data sheet observations (includes multiple observations of the same species), a list of all confirmed iNaturalist observations, and then the individual observation data sheets for each BioBlitz team.

The iNaturalist data will be more current if you download it directly from iNaturalist, as the lists can change as more of the community leaves identifications. You can check out the iNaturalist observations at the project page for this BioBlitz. There is a button on the right side to download a csv file of all of the observations. For step-by-step instructions on downloading iNaturalist data, check out our Data Download Guide. As the iNaturalist community confirms more IDs, it is possible that the species number listed here will change.

Here is a sample of what you can download from iNaturalist (as downloaded on September 29, 2023): Prospect Park BioBlitz ALL iNaturalist observations 09_29_23 and a file that explains the columns: iNaturalist-Observation-File-Help-2023. Remember that these observations are geotagged, so you can map them if you are interested. You can always download an updated list from iNaturalist by going to the project link and clicking on Observations and then “Export observations” to the right of the screen (see the Data Download Guide mentioned above). We recommend only using Research Grade observations for your projects, as these have IDs confirmed by the iNaturalist community.

Prospect Park Alliance and its partners have conducted some surveys on vegetation and wildlife prior to our BioBlitz. You can find a tree database and interactive map of trees in Prospect Park here and an overview of species diversity from 2019 here. Click here to download the BioBlitz map of Prospect Park.

More Data:

The Data menu (left side panel) links you to all previous Macaulay BioBlitz data sets. Click here to see all of those posts together. Please keep in mind that 2020 and 2021 were Remote BioBlitzes and the data were collected differently in those years.

The NYC arm of the global City Nature Challenge, a four-day city-wide public BioBlitz run entirely on iNaturalist, is organized out of Macaulay by Dr. Kelly O’Donnell. The City Nature Challenge: NYC umbrella project will link you to all seven years of CNC:NYC results. Download those data in the same way you would download iNaturalist data for the BioBlitz.

There also have been some non-Macaulay-affiliated BioBlitzes in NYC. Including:

For some historical biodiversity records, check out this 1906 guide to trees and shrubs at the Biodiversity Heritage Library: The Trees and Shrubs of Prospect Park.

iNaturalist Research Grade records get uploaded into the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), an open access global repository for species occurrence data. Students and faculty can visit this site for historical records from Prospect Park. For example, one of our Bee Taxon Leaders, Sarah Kornbluth, downloaded this data set of Hymenoptera in the Park. iDigBio is another source for digital collections.

Other Useful Resources:

  • iNaturalist – a global database and social network for ecological observations
  • NYBG’s C.V. Starr Virtual Herbarium – represents almost 200 years of botanical documentation. All have coordinates if you are interested in mapping the records to see what was found in some previous BioBlitz locations.
  • NYC Open Data – a collection of public datasets collected by the city and its partners. Includes tree censuses, water quality measures, and other environmental data.
  • Natural Area Conservancy Map – a map featuring data on green space and built space across the five boroughs of NYC.
  • Encyclopedia of Life – a curated encyclopedia of every multicellular species on earth.
  • Arctos – this is an access point to a number of online museum collections.
  • eBird – this database features data reported from citizen bird sightings.
  • USDA PLANTS Database – a database kept by the USDA that reports many useful characteristics about plant species, including their status as native or exotic/invasive.