On a hot day in September, a horde of Macaulay Honors College students descended upon the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx for BioBlitz. BioBlitz was a 24-hour program in which groups of college students explored the gardens and collected data. We were given t-shirts and a clipboard and told to document the organisms we found.

I was in the group that documented plants so we headed into the forest and started trying to identify plants. The leader of our group, a man named Steve, was a botanist and was a real plant enthusiast, like, the biggest plant enthusiast in the world. He got really excited anytime a member of the group spotted any nightshade since nightshade was his specialty. I didn’t know there were so many types of nightshade until I met Steve. He also showed us some cool plants; like a tree where you could eat a twig and it tasted like wintergreen, or a plant with spikes that could sting you. This guy really knew his plants and loved every single one, so his enthusiasm was contagious. However, it wasn’t contagious enough for us to get any real data.

To collect data, our group wandered about 1,000 feet into the Native Forest part of the Botanical Gardens. We looked at whatever plants were next to the path that we thought looked interesting. Then, with the help of our handy pant identifying handbooks, we figured out what species each plant was. However, this proved problematic when most of us had no idea how to use these books. Most of the time, we resorted to asking Steve or just using Google. Needless to say, it was a very haphazard way of collecting data. Any scientist would roll his eyes at the horrible inaccurate data we took. I’m not sure how other groups did, but I know our group’s data was a very unreliable source of what was actually in the gardens.

Only so much can go well when you ask a bunch of untrained college students to complete a task, and BioBlitz was no exception. It was a lot of fun to watch people be stung by these plants, but it wasn’t a reliable source of data. After completing our project and realizing there was no correlation between edible plants and birds because of inconclusive data, we realized just how ridiculous it is to base an experiment on data that we know wasn’t collected properly. This was really what BioBlitz taught me. Your experiment is only as good as the data you collect. I hope in future years that some changes are made to BioBlitz in order to collect better, more expansive data. This is really the only way we, as future scientists, can truly trust in our experiment.

For me, its hard to make an unbiased judgement of an event like BioBlitz; my belief in mankind’s collectivist ability to create meaningful work by joining together tempts me applaud the effort despite its clear shortcomings. However, the truth stands as it usually does, unwavering in the face of human yearning to the contrary.

From my experience in the event, it seems that Macaulay’s goals for the BioBlitz were three fold. Firstly, there is data acquisition. With more eyes out in the field, a greater number flora and fauna from New York City’s last remaining old growth forest can be catalogued in less time. Secondly is cross-campus socialization. Most students, due to the distance between CUNY campuses, would otherwise not have much opportunity to meet with their Macaulay counterparts in other colleges. Thirdly (and lastly), is perspective. Since the MHC seminars are geared to expose students to ideas they might not have otherwise considered, it makes sense that the events leading up to the seminars have a similar purpose. With these goals outlined, we can delve deeper and discuss the efficacy of Macaulay’s efforts in attaining them.

The accuracy of the data acquired presents a huge issue, not only because it is the purpose of BioBlitz, but because it supplies students with directive. If it appears to the students that the data they are acquiring is of little use, then the whole Bioblitz experience can easily be discounted as a waste of the student’s time and Macaulay money. Many of the students returning from Bioblitz can recount how their group might have eschewed the data by observing birds in too close a proximity to other bird-watching groups, not recording sightings properly (or at all) through the iNaturalist App, or making a false identifications. These same students will also retain a neutral to negative view of the event.

Of course, the unreliability of the data is expected to a degree, since these are students who have never been trained in the best practices of scientific fieldwork. One way to improve identification could be to print pamphlets for each of the groups so that when they spot something, they can easily compare what they see to a photo and description in the pamphlet. Perhaps the data could also be salvaged by various statistical assumptions or the wisdom of the crowd effect, but if those practices are put into place, students should be made aware of them so that they know their efforts aren’t wasted even if they make mistakes.

Cross campus communication is important; Macaulay’s graduating class is small as it is and the fact that it is fragmented across 8 CUNY campuses only adds to the difficulty of creating and maintaining networks of friends within Macaulay. For many, the Macaulay events are the only opportunities to meet Macaulay Scholars outside their own campus. For this reason, it is important that the Macaulay staff structure events such that students are more apt to collaborate and communicate with each other. Perhaps framing the Bioblitz as a challenge with a substantial reward at the end of the experience could cajole students into conversation as they move together toward their shared goal.

How students gain perspective is a difficult thing to quantify and therefore it is difficult to optimize. For me, the perspective I gained from BioBlitz came about from my own thoughts. The professors officiating the proceeding did not present me with any insightful ideas about nature or science. I found it very interesting that there were certain species of animal still thriving within minutes of one of the most built up urban environments on the planet, and not only that, but many of these animals go about their days without ever being seen by humans. It is almost as if a wild parallel world exists along side our own populated by white-footed mice, snapping turtles coy wolves and the like. However, I would have liked to know more about how the professors leading us thought about science and the natural world and I could easily see how a student who was not so fascinated by the way these creatures live out their lives, could miss out on the learning experience at hand. What could solve this dilemma is the addition of a thematic element to the BioBlitz proceedings. The professors leading the BioBlitz could be instructed to reflect on their studies, science and the natural world so that they can speak their views and allow the students to benefit from a new perspective.

I applaud Macaulay’s administrative staff for accomplishing the logistical challenge BioBlitz poses year in and year out. Organizing such an event that involves so many students, professors and organizations must take extreme administrative competence. The event itself holds quite a bit of promise for the future, but it certainly needs improvement. As it stands now, BioBlitz gets mixed reviews from students; some absolutely love BioBlitz, while others lack enthusiasm for it. The good news is that engaging students is not terribly difficult if you ask them how they’d like to be engaged and put their ideas into practice.

Before attending Bioblitz, I was skeptical. I did not think I would enjoy this four hour block of time I had to take away from my other responsibilities especially since it was the nighttime session, but I was wrong! I ended up meeting ore new Macaulay peers and learned a lot about moths. Although I did not get to choose which species to study, moths provided an interesting experience. Our group leader was able to identify the species of moth with the slightest glance. He knew everything one could know about moths and was able to guide us through the process of setting up bait and capturing new specimen.

The first method of study we learned about was how to set up bait. Our group leader prepared a jar of bananas, beer, brown sugar, and a splash of wine. This jar of sweetness attracts many insects especially moths, but detracts humans because of the wretched smell. We would go up to a random tree along out path and smear a bunch of this goop on it so that when we come to the tree later in the night we would hopefully discover some incredible moths. Our first destination was the reservoir. We set up a white cloth and shone a bright light and UV light on it in order to see the insects that were attracted to the bait. Many insects were attracted to the cloth and I even witnessed two lady bugs mate. After this stop we continued to smear additional trees with the sweet goo and set up a second cloth site at a picnic table. By setting up in a heavily wooded area rather than a wetland we were able to see other species of insects and moths.

Unfortunately this is all we did in the moth group, I would have enjoyed seeing very large moths, but the largest we captured had a 1.25″ long body and a 2″ wingspan. When we went to the trees we smeared the banana mixture on we only noticed a few small moths and a lot of ants. It was an overall interesting experience to be in the gardens after hours, and exploring areas I have never been to before. I would have preferred to have been at the gardens during the day time to study butterflies (the counterpart to moths). However, it was a great overall experience.

I enjoyed BioBlitz a lot more than I expected.  I did the first shift and was placed in the plants group.  Our leader Bob led us to the Twin Lakes area where we examined and identified plant species around one area for about an hour and a half or so.  He explained the history of the Botanical Gardens and how it contained a huge area of natural growth in the center, which I found really interesting.  I had just learned/become aware of the fact that a lot of natural reserves and parks are not all truly natural areas and most are man-made.  I learned about this in Costa Rica where in one national park, the only section of land that was true natural forest was this little square of land that the old owners had kept as their front yard.

At the Twin Lakes, which Bob told us were natural, were a lot of trees and bush growth, as well as weeds.  He showed us a small weed, spotted spurge, that had a lot of very interesting features when looked at very closely.  We all used hand lens to look closer at the features and then identify them with certain plant manuals specific to the northeast area.

Spotted Spurge through a hand lens.

Avoiding a wasp nest on the ground, we looked at a bush further away from the paved road and near the expanse of trees.  In it were touch-me-nots with intricate yellow flowers and buds that explode on touch when they’re fully grown.  There were also porcelain berries in rich purples, blues, and aquas that are invasive to the area.

Porcelain Berries and Touch-Me-Nots

One of the organisms we picked up was a poisonous berry weed.  Apparently it is a mitogenic species that when consumed by mammals causes an overproduction of white blood cells until they consume the blood system and kill the person.  Scary.  It only take around 3 berries.  I definitely wouldn’t have known this without going to BioBlitz.

In part from Rob’s fascination and close examination of the species, weeds became much more interesting.  There’s a lot more to them then they are given credit.  We found two fuzzy leaved plants that looked similar, but had different amount of fuzz and both were apparently very different species.  The fuzzier one was commonly named lambs wool and the other was named flannel.

After we went into a lab to further examine things we found and learn how to store the species.  We used a flattening system of wooden boards and cardboard like pieces and dry mats to flatten multiple species together.  We learned to flip certain leaves over so that they can be examined in the future.  We also looked closer at the flannel leaf to see the little hairs closer.  See photos.

It was a really interesting experience getting to know more about the botanical garden and the plant species.  Rob’s enthusiasm and knowledge helped a lot to spark our interests.  I really liked learning especially about the specific protective features that evolved in these species, like poison or seed spread methods.  I would like to go back and investigate some more sometime!

I like many other people had never been to the New York Botanical Gardens before Sunday. I enjoyed exploring the garden and seeing how beautiful it was. The day was nice, although it was pretty hot and humid, and the shining sun made it a day that makes you appreciate how gorgeous nature is. I’m looking forward to visiting the Botanical Gardens again whenever I get the chance.

I was in the butterfly and moth group when I was at the Gardens. My group only had 3 people in and we were given butterfly nets so that we could try to catch moths or butterflies when we saw them. Our guide told us that we were the group that saw the most butterflies and moths which was great, although I don’t remember seeing a single moth in sight. I think that in my mind I had imagined seeing a plethora of butterflies, and yes my mind can be a bit over the top sometimes, but I was disappointed that there weren’t that many butterflies or moths to be seen. Even though we saw the most of any of the other groups, I just wish there had been more. I mean the groups that had bees were lucky because the bees were everywhere and I just wish it had been that way with the butterflies.

The butterflies were gorgeous. It was nice to see how the outside wings and the inner wings of a butterfly can be different colors. One of the butterflies had beautiful blue wings with some orange spots on them. I love colors and seeing the different combinations that butterflies can have was great. I think butterflies are beautiful in general and seeing them up close was a bit of a dream come true. (Yes I am still a little kid at heart.) The simple things in life just have a way of making me happy.

My guide definitely knew what he was talking about. I believe he had been fascinated by insects since he was a kid and I could tell that he really loved talking about butterflies. He could tell the names of butterflies by what color they were and he could distinguish whether each butterfly was a male or a female. He knew his stuff and was passionate about it which I really appreciated. I think the coolest part of the day was seeing a butterfly with part of its wings bitten off. Our guide told us that butterflies have also changed to adapt to their environment. In their process of evolution certain types of butterflies have the back of its wings look like another head. In this way if a predator, birds mostly, mistakes the false head as the real ones, the butterfly is able to survive the attack and fly away while the bird is just chewing on the wings. Butterflies are pretty cool.

I suppose a part that I disliked about the Bio Blitz was that we didn’t really get the chance to capture the butterflies ourselves. Maybe we wouldn’t have been that great at it, but it still would have been fun to try. My group also consisted of only three people and I think in general I don’t think there were a lot of people looking at butterflies. I also don’t know what type of data we were supposed to be collecting. I went to the Gardens and had fun looking at butterflies, but when the time comes to do a research project, I don’t really know how I could do it on butterflies.

Overall I would say it was a nice experience.

After experiencing this past week’s decline into autumn weather, I’m glad to say I signed up for BioBlitz on the last summer day of the season. Having never previously visited the New York Botanical Gardens before, this was a great first.

Once we got off the bus, we were separated into groups; I had Herps/Reptiles. We went into the building where three of us got boots and off we went to catch some lizards, salamanders, and turtles. We walked through the park until we got to the Rock Gardens, where we spotted Italian Wall Lizards of assorted sizes. They were so much smaller than I expected – thinking back on it now, I don’t know why I thought we would be catching something bigger. While we were searching for these brown and green splotched critters, our herpetologist guide had no remorse as he stepped all over the shrubs and succulents planted along the path to catch a lizard, much to the horror of our Botanical Garden representative.

Next, we walked by the stream – completely disregarding the signs saying to keep on the path. It was a very steep and slippery descent and those wearing the boots were thankful for them now. The rocks along the small stream had to be flipped to find the salamanders hiding beneath them. We didn’t find much, but someone who went further down managed to bring back a crayfish and a baby snapping turtle. We passed the little turtle around and its shell was still soft and it hadn’t learned to bite yet.

For the rest of the day, we went around looking for the turtle traps the BioBlitz group set up yesterday. Most of them had turtles in them, one of them was estimated to be around thirty pounds.

BioBlitz was a good time, to say the least. It provided a hands on experience in a place I wouldn’t have otherwise gone and information about things I wouldn’t have otherwise known. Looking back, I’m very thankful for the sunny yet breezy weather because I know I would have hated the day and experience if it was any hotter.

Going into this event, I felt awfully disillusioned and confused, but I came out quite excited and happy with this experience. As soon as I arrived at the Macaulay Building it was was complete chaos, at least for me, I had absolutely no clue what was going on, other students were crowded everywhere and even they did not know what was going on. In addition, many other students complained that the group they previously chose online while registering was already full. They subsequently had to switch into plant or bird groups since the other groups were full. Fortunately, I was already in the plant group, so I did not have to switch groups.

Once we got the the New York Botanical Gardens I was in awe because of the scenery. It was certainly breathtaking to see so much nature so close to the city and as soon as we started we came across a huge Red-Tailed Hawk trying to catch prey. Our guide is a plant taxonomist at the New York Botanical Garden, so he gave us a very interesting look on the plants we found. We commenced our journey into plants between the Two Lakes. Our guide allowed us to use most of our senses to observe the properties of these plants; we were even allowed to pull out plants and crush them in our hands in order to smell them. One plant he told us to break off, crush and smell was Artemesia Vulgaris because it is a relative of the plant used to create absinthe, so it had a similar scent to the drink. Our guide also showed us a plant that is very common in New York, but poisonous to ingest, Phytolacca Americana. This plant, according to the taxonomist, can dangerously increase white blood cell counts to the point that it mimicked the effects of Leukemia. My most favorite plant was Salvia Byzantinum, which is also known as Lamb’s Ear. It is a very hairy plant that feels like a thick piece of felt. When I first encountered it I was fascinated with how it felt and how soft it was. It was like a pair of fleece pajamas! We also came across a similar plant to the Salvia Byzantimum, which was the flannel leaf. We also came across several very peculiar plants such as the porcelain berries.

After picking out plants we were taught how to press the plants in order to preserve and store them. Although it is a very old method of tracking and keeping plant life from France (1400’s), it helps preserve the shape of the plant the best and allows for easy storage in a temperature controlled facility because of its flatness. It’s what works best and stores the most samples of these plants. And of course we were told by the taxonomist that he keeps a journal of some sort detailing color and scents since that information won’t be available once its flatten. Finally, we were free to use the microscopes to look at the plants up close to see the differences between similar plants. Overall the experience was pretty fun and I learned quite a lot about different types of plants in the New York Botanical Gardens and in and around New York City.

Bioblitz was a really interesting and eye-opening experience. We were able to actively participate in on-going ecology research. I was part of the Microbes taxon. The purpose of Microbes was to see the diversity of bacteria that could exist in different types of soil within the Botanical Garden.  In this group, we took samples of soils from different areas of the Botanical Garden and were asked to take pictures of the soil. Then, using the front-facing camera, we were to take a picture of the sky to show the amount of sun exposure/coverage that specific patch of soil had. After recording down the time and taking pictures, we used a plastic tube to take a core of whatever soil we were collecting. We were then asked to describe the soil – coarse, fine, clay, dry, moist. We took samples from the Rose Garden, the old-growth forest, and the new-growth forest.

Our group leader explained the difference between the care of the plants in each of the areas. The Rose Garden is watered and fertilized very often in order to grow the variety of roses. The old-growth forest is essentially a regular forest that has been left alone to grow on it’s own without any human interference, and is over decades old. The new-growth forest is a forest that they tried to bring back and regrow.  This area is generally free of human interference as well, but is still maintained.

A picture of the soil, featuring a little earth worm.

Three soil samples taken from the three different areas

After we collected all our samples, we sat down and our group leader talked about different ways that the diversity of bacteria could be measured. She gave us a sheet that showed data from an actual experiment where the researchers sampled soil just as we did. It was really cool to experience doing field work that ecology researchers did. In addition, our group leader also told us the samples we collected would actually be tested in a lab to identify all the different species of bacteria that were in the soil.

Overall, I really enjoyed BioBlitz and I would love to be able to do it again.

I attended the Sunday 12-4 section of the Bioblitz studying Microbes.

Honestly, I really wasn’t sure what to expect from Bioblitz.  I haven’t taken any science classes in college, and I didn’t really understand what we were doing at Bioblitz or why.  However, our “guide” for the Microbes portion was an awesome professor from Brooklyn college.   In actuality, one of the things I enjoyed the most was just listening to her talk about her career and how many times she changed her focus–yet still ended up doing something she loves.  She transitioned from a path to NASA and astrobiology to the biology of organisms in extreme environments to microbiology and ecology.  She was very personable and a great public speaker.

We ended up walking all over the botanical garden and taking soil samples so that researchers could later extract microbial DNA from the soil samples, categorize them through a computerized sorting system, and determine microbial diversity at the botanical gardens.  It was a little different from other groups, since we didn’t use iNaturalist or actually get to “see” any of the organisms our group was named after.  But, once again, our guide made the trip interesting, fun, and knowledgeable.  I learned a lot about bacteria specifically, which is interesting for me as–even though I haven’t taken science in college–AP Biology was one of my favorite high school classes and I still retain an interest in it.  I thought it was really cool specifically learning that bacteria can actually communicate with each other through a process called “quorum sensing.”  Bacteria use this process to stay dormant en masse and reproduce until they’re sure they have enough individuals to flood their host’s immune system enough for a full-body take-over all at the same time.

Bioblitz wasn’t what I expected, but it was interesting and I had a good enough time to not regret it.

Walking into the Botanical Gardens on Saturday night I was not expecting much. I had signed up for the night session and the bat group believing that would be the most interesting. I was put into a group with a bat specialist and we were tasked with the job to study the way bats “see” with echolocation. To do this we were geared with two devices, one that picked up the high echolocation frequencies and converted it into sound we could hear aloud, and the other that recorded the echolocation sounds, saved them and analyzed them.

The first 20 minutes of the trip was interesting. It was cool to hear the click like noise coming from the bats that was used to guide themselves throughout the air. We walked around the park trying to find areas bats were flying around in so that we may record their sounds, as you can imagine the fascination swiftly faded. Soon I found it more interesting to be walking around a park at night than studying the bats, simply because the noise coming from the machines was the same every time and only sounded like clicks you can make with your mouth. Not only did the trip become monotonous but we were never really tasked with a specific goal, and were not given a way to record and information ourselves. We had a device to record the sounds but as soon as the trip was over it went straight into a room with the staff and we did not get to see or hear any of the information recorded at all.

I left Bio Blitz thinking it was a waste of time. I had not gained any specific knowledge except for a few “fun facts” told to us by the group leader. I had also not received any data I could do anything with and thus I fail to see the whole point of the trip. Hopefully in the near future we can receive the data we collected on the device so that something came out of this trip.

I found that the BioBlitz did not meet my expectations. I walked into BioBlitz expecting to study mammals, but it ended up getting filled even though we arrived early. In order for me to be with my friends, we had to join the plants group. I still kept an optimistic outlook even though I was looking forward to studying mammals.

Upon getting there we began to go into the woods, and look at various plants. Our outdoor half of BioBlitz mainly composed of us writing down information of plants as our group leader pointed them out. It was not interactive, and it became very dull after a few of minutes. The people heading it did teach us a few facts about plants, but in the end I felt that I would not end up being able to use it on a daily basis. Our group leader made us log in so many plants that I felt that I ended up focusing more on writing than learning about plants. This part of BioBlitz ended up going on longer than expected, and we ended up having to skip looking at the plants under a microscope.

Because we didn’t have time to do that, we just stood outside for an extra half hour waiting for the bus to pick us up. I felt that plants was definitely a bad fit for me, and upon hearing all other groups activities I grew jealous of the fun I missed out on. Overall, I felt that BioBlitz could have been much better if I wasn’t in the plants section.

The BioBlitz was my favorite Macaulay event so far.

I was in the Bats group in the 7-11 time slot, and was lucky to be placed with a guide named Gabriel. Not only was Gabriel able to provide us with information about bats, but he pointed out interesting facts and information about everything we passed based on what we saw and heard. I learned a lot about all of the different species in New York and also learned to pay more attention to the subtleties going on around me.

My favorite part was when they actually caught a bat and we were able to see it up close. Staff in the garden placed extremely thin nets around that the bats cannot detect using echolocation, and so they fly in and we can observe them. We saw a red bat, which because of its wing span looks huge in the sky, but up close is actually small and rather cute.

I also loved walking around the garden in the dark. I have only ever visited in day light, and all of the plants and scenery looked gorgeous at night. It gave me a new appreciation for the park, and for the wildlife that New York has to offer.

Catching a bat, walking around the gardens after dark, and the things I’ve observed and learned were a once in a lifetime opportunity that I am glad to have experienced.

Having just returned from the Bio Blitz this morning, I am pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the experience. I was placed in the bird group and our task was to walk through the botanical gardens observing the many species of birds and their behavior. When sighting a bird we identified its species using a birder’s journal and recorded its visual characteristics and actions. While I was hesitant at first to spend four hours of my morning bird watching, I found the activity to be rather calming. Walking through the forest trail and looking at the beautiful gardens was very enjoyable.

I found learning about the different species of birds interesting as well. Our guides were extremely knowledgeable and passionate about their field of study. One of our guides was very talented at making various birdcalls, and it was pretty fun, albeit embarrassing, to attempt to copy these noises while walking in the public gardens. As well as being entertaining, my Bio Blitz trip was educational. I learned to properly use a birder’s journal, and was able to identify and observe over 12 different species of birds in detail. By the end of the session, I was able to recognize certain species without the aid of the journal. More importantly, I was able to gain a greater appreciation for the diverse number of animal and plant species in New York City, something I confess I never gave much thought to before today. Because we live in such an urban environment, we tend to disassociate New York City from its various sources of natural beauty. After today’s Bio Blitz, I learned to do the opposite.

How was BioBlitz? What did you learn? What was surprising/fun/odd/unexpected? One of your first assignments in this class will be to write a reflection on your BioBlitz experience. Be sure to use the “BioBlitz” category when posting!