surrey-bc_biodiversity's Journal

This project from south of the border is tracking what appears to be dieback issues happening with sword fern.

"What could be more iconic of the PNW than a lush fern understory? Unfortunately, previously healthy stands of western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) have been declining throughout the Puget Sound Region (western U.S.) in the course of the past decade. The cause of the decline is not yet known and we need your help to identify potential sites where sword ferns may be affected."

While there isn't any indication this is an issue here in BC it is good to be on the lookout to identify any possible occurrences.

To learn more about contributing to this project go to
https://inaturalist.ca/projects/sword-fern-health-watch

This project from south of the border is tracking what appears to be dieback issues happening with sword fern.

"What could be more iconic of the PNW than a lush fern understory? Unfortunately, previously healthy stands of western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) have been declining throughout the Puget Sound Region (western U.S.) in the course of the past decade. The cause of the decline is not yet known and we need your help to identify potential sites where sword ferns may be affected."

While there isn't any indication this is an issue here in BC it is good to be on the lookout to identify any possible range expansion sooner rather than later.

To learn more about contributing to this project go to
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/western-sword-fern-decline-in-the-pacific-northwest

National Moth Week (NMW) is held annually worldwide during the last full week of July and celebrates the beauty, life cycles, and habitats of moths around the world.

Moths are often underrated and overlooked for their critical role in pollination. Celebrate these amazing and diverse organisms through National Moth Week!
See how many moth pictures you can get up on iNaturalist.

https://nationalmothweek.org/

Check out this observation by reimond, multi-frame capture of a barred owl sucking up an earthwork like it's a noodle! https://inaturalist.ca/observations/216907827

Just a friendly reminder of the iNaturalist World Bee Day/Week project MAY 17, 2024 - MAY 23, 2024 - go out observe, post and share.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/world-bee-day-week-2024/

Community science project on ground nesting bees.
And check out those pollen pants!
“Help locate and map ground nesting bee sites to support conservation efforts with iNaturalist . Researchers at Cornell are seeking your help to better understand and protect the nests of solitary, gentle, ground-nesting bees. Even though 90% of bees are solitary and 70% of bees nest in the ground, knowledge about solitary ground-nesting bees is lacking. This project will study how factors like soil characteristics affect these bee populations, which will help us learn how to protect and improve nesting habitat for bees that provide crucial pollination services. By promoting nesting sites for native bees, we can enhance ecosystem and agricultural sustainability and resilience."

https://www.gnbee.org/
Project link to join: https://inaturalist.ca/projects/ground-nesting-bees-3e6882c0-a112-4ddb-b043-1da25638ce96

A shout-out to everyone who contributed this year. Some phenomenal observations and image captures that helped Surrey contribute to making Metro Vancouver the national lead at over 14,000 observation, beating Montreal by just over 20!

Metro Vancouver also ranked 33rd in North and South America as part of the international results.

I hope you'll continue to contribute throughout the year. the observations you make are integral to helping the City of Surrey in monitoring local biodiversity. As growth pressures increase and further pressure is put on the City's natural assets, community science efforts are a critical facet in well-informed land use planning.

Simply put, your data counts.

Looking forward to seeing the regulars and new iNaturalist enthusiasts join in again in 2025!

Sincerely,

Pamela Zevit RPBio
Biodiversity Conservation Planner
City of Surrey

It's been a frenetic week. We're getting down to the wire, just edging over 900 observations which is pretty awesome considering we have ~20 less observers than last year and a lot crappier weather this time around. And the ID's are still going strong which is great as having robust data is our real end goal for community science in Surrey.

For those tracking how we're doing regionally and nationally, Metro Vancouver is now leading across Canada, edging out Montreal by a mere 54 observations. Talk about east against west!

But there are still many hours to go, so we won't really know if the 'wet' coast came out on top nationally (for the first time ever) until cutoff tomorrow at 8:59 am.

So enjoy what's left of your Sunday night and stay tuned for the big reveal tomorrow from California.

Hope everyone has been having fun this weekend! We were off to a slow start with the not so nice weather Friday-Saturday, but today and tomorrow are much more welcoming, so we're looking forward to further observations getting added for the coming week. We'll have a bunch of visual and audio uploads from Latimer Park, Keery Park and several local parks in west Cloverdale to add for the City of Surrey's account in the next few days so stay tuned.

Some interesting finds and gorgeous gems this year, proving once again the City Nature Challenge never disappoints!

Woot, hats off to all those keeners out there already contributing , we're already at 46 observations and 33 species!
Here are some reminders as you begin collecting and adding observations:
• If you were out in the wee hours last night gathering owl calls or coyote yips, any observations collected at 12:01 am April 26 OUR TIME are valid as are observations collected by 11:59 pm April 29. Cool fact the CNC starts (and ends) FIRST in New Zealand and start (and ends) LAST in Hawaii.
• Any observations made within the City of Surrey boundary between April 26 and April 29 will automatically be added to our Surrey project and the broader Metro Vancouver Regional project– don't have to join the Surrey or Metro project to have your observations show up, and you don't need to add their observations to these projects to have them show up… you just need to make them and upload them to iNaturalist. *But joining individual projects is a nice way of showing direct support for your city :)
• All observations must be MADE between April 26 & April 29, but they can be uploaded later (but must be uploaded by May 6 at 9am OUR TIME to count)
• Identifications can happen throughout the full City Nature Challenge window, up until everyone's project results are pulled (they can keep happening afterwards of course, they just won’t count for the CNC!)
• PLEASE help us with data curation by:
o Marking non-wild organisms as captive/cultivated when making the observations, and
o If you see observations from our city that are clearly of captive or cultivated organisms, mark them as not wild in the Data Quality Assessment section of the observation – for others helping with identifications please do the same! *the Surrey CNC project is already set up to exclude humans, domestic dogs, domestic cats and most livestock. Please avoid adding house plants or captured images from your computer or TV.
• CNC central will pull every city’s or region's results on 6 May at 9AM our time – so whatever numbers (observations, species, identifiers, observers) are showing in our local project will be our final results. *Reminder for this year Surrey's data will be merged into the Metro Vancouver Regional project and added to national and international umbrella projects. If you want to track how we've done locally, check the Surrey CNC 2024 project, which we're running for local tracking and reporting purposes.