Announcing Mycoblitz Europe Fall 2022
Do you enjoy observing the nature around you? Would you like to contribute to science during your excursions? We invite you to join us for this event!
What's a bioblitz?
A bioblitz is an inventory of the biodiversity in a given place and during a given period of time, carried out by a group of volunteers. During a bioblitz, species are identified and listed.
Participate
This bioblitz is for everyone, beginners as well as experienced mycologists. Just create an account on iNaturalist and join the Mycoblitz Europe Fall 2022 project. On your cell phone, you can install the iNaturalist application available on iOS and Android to be able to photograph and observe species directly in the field. Observations that match the criteria will be automatically added to the project. Please note that they must be at least roughly identified before they can be detected by the algorithm.
Rules
Eligible taxa must be fungi (including lichens), oomycetes or myxomycetes.
The bioblitz runs from October 3, 2022 to October 18, 2022 (Central European Summer Time). The closing date for posting observations will be October 28, 2022. Results will be announced once the data have been processed.
Only one observation should be created per collection. A collection may consist of multiple specimens.
Observations must include at least one photograph. It is advisable to photograph the fungus from several angles to allow for later identification and validation of the data.
The observations must come from Europe or Macaronesia.
Observation advice
It is advised to all members to try to create one or more observations before the beginning of the event. The organization will be available to assist you but it is possible that it is overloaded during the observation period.
The photographs must allow a correct identification of the mushroom. It is therefore advisable to present several photographs on one observation, showing several details and diagnostic criteria. It is also possible to describe the criteria not visible or difficult to distinguish on the photographs by the description of the observation or its comments (smell, taste, microscopy, ecology, chemical reactions, etc.). Observation fields are also available to integrate recurrent information.
For rare, interesting or unknown species, it is recommended to keep a voucher of the collection (conservation of dried specimens for later study). It is encouraged to include the use of microscopy and details of the literature.
Parasitic species often require identification of the host. If it is known, it is best to include it in the observation. If not, a second observation to identify the host can be created and a mention of this can be added to the observation.
Photographs should preferably be licensed under a Creative Commons license so that they can be used by scientists. The CC BY-NC license allows for free use provided the author is cited for non-commercial purposes, while the CC BY license allows for free use provided the author is cited.
If a species is missing from the iNaturalist database, please contact the organization.
Categories
It is possible to compete in several categories simultaneously. The goal is above all to contribute to science and to learn new things about the environment, but if you or your company would like to sponsor a category, this is entirely possible.
Most species
Members who have observed the most different species.
Most observations
Members who have created the most observations.
Best contributions
The members who have observed the most rare or unknown species.
Best photography
The members who have taken the best photographs (only one photograph per member).
Assistance
If you need assistance, please contact the organization. You can mention @nschwab on iNaturalist or send a message to the same account. It is also possible to contact Nicolas Schwab on Facebook or Messenger.
You can also learn how to use iNaturalist on the Getting Started and Help page. A video tutorial is also available to users.
There is also an iNaturalist forum where members will be happy to help you.
Links
iNaturalist
https://www.inaturalist.org/
Project
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/mycoblitz-europe-fall-2022
Journal of the event
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/mycoblitz-europe-fall-2022/journal