Opening the email about Bioblitz really put in a crummy mood that day; finding out that I would have to take 8 precious hours out of my Sunday just to travel to the New York Botanical Garden and go “survey wildlife” was not the best news I could get, especially since I already had so much coursework piling up. However, as it was a required common event, I reluctantly cleared my schedule for what I didn’t expect to be such a pleasant experience.

I had originally chosen to survey Fish, since they were creatures I could physically see move around and maybe get to touch. I am a big animal lover and I was extremely disappointed when I was placed in the Lichen group at the last minute. I didn’t even know what a lichen was! Luckily, the lichen scientists were super friendly and were open to answering all of our questions.

Jessica and Clay had to be the only people I had ever seen who were super excited about lichens. They were always enthusiastic about helping us learn about them and were really adamant when trying to find specimens. They explained what a lichen was in a really thorough way and so now, I can never forget it. Lichens are actually two organisms living together symbiotically: fungi and algae. The alga uses photosynthesis to make food for the fungus while the fungus provides a wet, damp environment for the alga to live on. That way, lichens can grow anywhere, from trees to rocks to fences and anywhere else the lichen may consider habitable. We found lichens throughout the forest in the NYBG, on trees, on large rocks, small rocks, on fences and beyond. Searching for the lichens was also a really fun experience. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt to find all the lichen species in the forest. Though we weren’t excited to be lichen searching in the beginning, by the end of the event, we were all dismayed that the experience was coming to an end. Our amazingly cheerful scientists really helped us to experience a whole new side to science that I didn’t think existed.

The stereotypical view of a scientist’s job is that they sit in a lab and mix chemicals or examine specimens. However, Clay and Jessica have a very different scientific job because they do field research. Their job is actually very exciting because they never know if they will ever find a new species or a variation of an existing species. It’s like a real life scavenger hunt and I was truly appreciative to be able to join them in their jobs for a few hours. Furthermore, learning that there was so much biodiversity in a small place was truly amazing. Besides our lichen findings, we found exotic species like a special mushroom, that some people use in other countries for medicinal purposes.

            I feel like I am more appreciative of nature after this session studying the native species of New York City this past Sunday at Bioblitz. It makes me less fearful of the insects or nature around me because they, like us, are part of this Earth and we should appreciate. I am less hesitant to go into the park near the forest because of this experience. I would really like to thank Clay and Jessica for helping me appreciate their line of work and the nature around.