Diario del proyecto Sarasota-Manatee EcoFlora Project (FL, USA)

Good Evening Ecoflora Hikers!

Tomorrow (November/15/2023) we will be hiking Myakka State Forest and meeting at the parking lot right before the campgrounds at 9am for our monthly bioblitz. To find the site please see the linked directions or take a right onto the Myakka Forest unmarked road from River Road right after Winchester Road which intersects it. If you need to contact me please CALL at 719-439-9755 so I can answer your questions with my car phone as I will be driving down. Bring your phone or camera for photos, boots, bug spray, sunscreen, and anything else you may need. I will have extra water and snacks as needed. Feel free to bring any family or friends who may be interested and let's go have some eco-fun!

See y'all soon!
Sean Patton

Hello Everyone!

The next bioblitz is this Friday at the Robinson Preserve Expansion parking lot and you can sign up on the Selby Gardens website with all future bioblitzes scheduled until December. Each bioblitz is 9am to 12pm and registration is on the website in case we need to reschedule, contact guests, or other issues as well as supply a map.

Bioblitz Schedule 2023
Friday, October 27 Robinson Preserve
Wednesday, November 15 Myakka State Forest
Wednesday, December 13 Terra Ceia State Park

Catchfly Prairie Gentian, Eustoma exaltatum, is a gorgeous fall flowering in the summer and fall in Florida and central America and is found in the lower sandier soils at Robinson Preserve.

Hello Everyone!

The schedule for the rest of 2023's bioblitzes is on the Selby Gardens website with all bioblitzes scheduled until December including one tomorrow at Duette. Each bioblitz is 9am to 12pm and registration is on the website in case we need to reschedule, contact guests, or other issues as well as supply a map.

Bioblitz Schedule 2023
Thursday, September 28 Duette Headwaters
Friday, October 27 Robinson Preserve
Wednesday, November 15 Myakka State Forest
Wednesday, December 13 Terra Ceia State Park

These will be the final bioblitzes that I (Sean) will be leading as the Sarasota Manatee Ecoflora Coordinator, though the Botany department will still be hosting future bioblitzes after 2023. So stay tuned as I have a fern feeling there will be more to come!

Hello Everyone!

Thank you again to those who came out to our very successful conference with 50 people in attendance to discuss local flora, conservation, and citizen science.

While working with Sarasota County to help monitor new parks in the Caspersen Beach area we were treated with some lovel Scrub Jays, Aphelocoma coerulescens, that followed up around! These birds only live in scrub habitat that burns regularly and help spread seeds and control insects of numerous native species of plants. Chapman's Oak, Quercus chapmanii, is a common favorite with this one also having a wasp gall upon the leaves with the jay eating both acorns and galls!

Coming up we have several bioblitzes with one being the Pine Island Paddle this Thursday at 9am through Manatee County and then the Carlton Preserve Bioblitz on July 12th also 9am to noon. Please sign up through the respective links and as always dress for the outdoors in our beautiful and warm habitats.

Hello EcoFlora Project participants and interested parties!

Today is the last day to register for the Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Conference! There will be a free lunch, behind the scenes garden tours, talks by botanists, park managers, and professional educators, and ways we will keep supporting local conservation into the future in Sarasota and Manatee Counties!

One of our ongoing projects is the epiphytes of the United States and Canada which focuses on plants that grow on other plants such as this Tillandsia paucifolia or Potbelly Airplant in Palm Beach County. We focus on our local plants but support research worldwide through the herbarium and iNaturalist!

Hello EcoFlora Participants and Partners!

In celebration of over three successful years, the Sarasota-Manatee EcoFlora project team will be hosting a free conference at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus. We invite you to join our staff and local experts for a series of presentations on the achievements of this project.

The giant airplant Tillandsia utriculata seen here in a massive group along this live oak trunk preparing to flower. One of our longest projects the Epiflora of the United States and Canada focuses on epiphytes like airplants and many orchids.

In addition, we will be recognizing the top participants in the Sarasota-Manatee EcoFlora project. The success of the project would not have been possible without you. To date, there have been over 45,000 observations of 1,195 different species. This will be a great opportunity to meet and reconnect with your fellow EcoFlora participants and learn more about the local impacts of the project.

Orchids are a Selby specialty and they inhabit a wide range of habitats. The Spring Ladies' Tresses Spiranthes vernalis occupies grasslands and open pine flatwoods in Florida and the American South. These species benefit from fire and are short lived bloomers!

The conference will be held on Friday, May 26, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. and coffee will be available. Lunch will also be provided. As part of the event, there will be a behind-the-scenes tour of the gardens so be prepared to be both indoors and outdoors. Please use the conference registration link below or on the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens website. We look forward to seeing you there!

Conference Registration Link

If you are unable to attend the conference or can't get enough EcoFlora and hiking please check out our bioblitzes including the upcoming hike at Crowley Museum and Nature Center May 18th!

This Wednesday 9am-12pm at Shamrock Park we will be leading a bioblitz with Sarasota County! Sign up at the link below!

Sign Up Link: https://selby.org/dsc/youth-family-programs/sarasota-manatee-ecoflora-project/

What better way to celebrate St Patricks Day than going to Shamrock Park! Here is the non-native white clover Trifolium repens a commonly used symbol of the holiday however it is not native to Florida.

The Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Project has officially set an end date which will be December 30th 2023 and bioblitzes will be throughout the year. Marie Selby Botanical Garden’s botany department will continue to facilitate occasional bioblitzes once the project has concluded. The Ecoflora project has added dozens of local species to the Florida Plant Atlas, trained hundreds of citizen scientists, and inspired the public to document over 40,000 plants. With such a major local impact, we want to continue encouraging participation and the project will be online for people to continue adding observations to. To round out the end of our project, we have 10 final Bioblitzes scheduled as well as an EcoFlora conference to highlight the research, achievements, inspirational stories, and the many people who have made this project possible. We will announce the date and location soon!

See the full list of bioblitzes and learn more about the Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Project here!

The coral bean Erythrina herbacea is a wonderful native plant that flowers in the winter months with long red flowers that attract hummingbirds.

While we will not be releasing any new EcoQuests for the remainder of the project period, we have one final goal that we need your help to reach! Our final milestones are 50,000 total observations, documenting 2,000 total species, and having a total of 500 members in our iNaturalist project group. We will also be participating in the 2023 City Nature Challenge so there are plenty of opportunities left to participate!

Thank you to all of our participants and supporters. This project would not have been possible without you. We look forward to seeing you during our last ten events for the Sarasota-Manatee EcoFlora Project! All are 9am to 12pm for times.

Monthly Bioblitzes Sign Up Below!

February 24th 2023 Tom Bennet Park

March 15th 2023 Shamrock Park

April 28th 2023 Moody Branch portion of Little Manatee River Southfork Tract

May 18th 2023 Crowley Museum and Nature Center

June 29th 2023 Pine Island Preserve – paddle trip sign ups through Manatee County! TBA

July 12th 2023 Carlton Preserve

August 25th 2023 Neal Preserve potentially add Perico

September 29th 2023 Duette Headwaters

October 27th 2023 Robinson Preserve

November 15th 2023 Myakka State Forest

December 13th 2023 Terra Ceia

We'd like to thank everyone for supporting us throughout the years and hope that we can finish these last few bioblitzes strong! Let's explore the beauty of our native meadows and habitats together like these meadowbeauties Rhexia mariana.

Hello All,

If you've enjoyed the hikes, bioblitzes, and have learned a thing or two on plants through the Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Project please leave us a review on this performance survey!

Link to Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJbq9Pg8GOqpiQ52iVuJ3QcK0QI9WhFvqWg3vPYSAWc6TFMQ/viewform

We hope you aren't too tied up in Tievine or these surveys to miss our monthly bioblitzes! Remember you can sign up at the Selby Gardens website.

Don't forget to sign up for tomorrow morning's Red Bug Slough Bioblitz at 9am! It's the fall wildflower season so let's see what is blooming? Will we find a beautiful blazing star? A fantastic Fakahatchee grass? Magnificent magnolias perhaps? Colorful crossvines? Or will be be leaping over creeks to find the rare pine lily? Be sure to keep following for more wonderful opportunities to explore Florida's colorful fall season.

Pine Lily or Lilium catesbaei is a rare seasonal lily preferring open pine flatwoods habitat and can be found across the American Southeast. These lilies can bloom over 6 inches across and are highly seasonal only found in September through November blooming in our area. Keep a look out!

Also if you are interested in getting involved outside of EcoFlora, the Serenoa local chapter Florida Native Plant Society is back and has their own hikes. So let's get out there and document our wonderful flora and fauna!