New Zealand Science Teacher

Blitzing for biodiversity

13/02/2015

The Nina Valley EcoBlitz project brings together students, scientists and teachers, working together to discover and document biodiversity.

The EcoBlitz team in action. Students are in orange, and teachers and scientists in yellow shirts. Photo: Sonny Whitelaw.

The EcoBlitz event took place in March last year, giving hands-on scientific experience to secondary school students in North Canterbury’s Nina Valley. New Zealand Science Teacher asked Lincoln University ecologist Tim Curran about the project.

Hi Tim. How did the idea for the event come about, and what’s your role in the project?

The vision for this project came from Tim Kelly, the Head of Science at Hurunui College. He and his students had been working for several years to control pests and release kiwi in the Nina Valley and he was keen to learn more about the biodiversity of the area and to give a wider range of students the chance to experience the Nina Valley. He contacted a range of people from the Department of Conservation, Lincoln University, Environment Canterbury, and Hurunui District Council to form an organising committee and we started meeting about 14 months before the event. My role, along with Jon Sullivan and Cathy Mountier, two colleagues from Lincoln University, was to organise the scientific programme. This involved enlisting the help of ecologists and taxonomists and planning the range of activities for the event.

Gaultheria macrostigmata at Nina Valley Ecoblitz 2014. Photo: Angela Simpson.

The event involved nearly 200 high school students and teachers. How did you recruit the schools and students?

Being a science teacher himself, Tim Kelly contacted his colleagues throughout Canterbury and the West Coast. He also used various networks, such as the New Zealand Science Teachers’ Association to contact teachers. Finally, others on our committee who have worked with schools sent the word out.

We wanted to make it as easy as possible for schools and students to attend so our aim was to ensure that there was no cost to them. Through generous sponsorship from the Canterbury Community Trust, Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust, Lincoln University, Department of Conservation, North Canterbury Women's Institute, Hurunui District Council, Environment Canterbury, MainPower, Farmside Internet, and Westland Milk, we were able to cover all the travel, accommodation and catering costs for all students and teachers.

A ‘Bioblitz’is a similar event- but how is an Ecoblitz different, and what makes it more suitable for students?

Both of these events are citizen science projects aimed at increasing the awareness and knowledge of biodiversity. My colleague, Jon Sullivan, has a great blog on these two types of events. A ‘Bioblitz’ generally runs for 24 hours, and attempts to record as many different species as possible. It is a great vehicle to expose many people to biodiversity and the methods used to survey it. A Bioblitz often turns up some very interesting discoveries. However, this format does not lend itself to monitoring change in biodiversity over time; to do this requires standard, repeatable ecological survey methods (hence the ‘eco’) and extensive follow-up work to identify specimens and curate data. Our ‘Ecoblitz’ attempted to do this so that future surveys could begin to see whether the biodiversity of the Nina Valley has improved or declined.

We designed our EcoBlitz specifically for the high school students and tried to give them as much opportunity to experience most of the different survey approaches. Most participants were there from Friday night to Sunday afternoon and so were able to have a wide range of experiences. Of course, ‘Bioblitzes’ are great events and I would encourage anyone interested in biodiversity to get involved with one.

Can you tell us about the Nina Valley? What makes it a special place to study?

The Nina Valley is a beautiful place and has many of the habitats associated with the Southern Alps; beech forests, kanuka forest, shrublands, grassland, and sub-alpine vegetation. The area is very special to Hurunui College, whose staff and students have been controlling mammalian pests there since 2008 and have worked with the Department of Conservation and others to successfully reintroduce great spotted kiwi. It is also special to Lincoln University staff and students – we have been running a field ecology course there since 2012. Many of New Zealand’s iconic species are still found there: for example, kiwi, whio (blue duck), kaka, and kakariki. It also helps that there is excellent accommodation nearby at the Boyle River Outdoor Education Centre.

Photo: Sonny Whitelaw.

Why is it important that young people have the chance to participate in a citizen science project like this one? What did they get out of it?

There are many reasons. Perhaps the most important is that allows high school students the chance to work alongside scientists and university students and experience the joy we get out of studying biodiversity. Being out in the field is perfect for breaking down any barriers that might exist, so it helps to demystify the science and the scientists. Everyone there had a shared passion for the natural world and a desire to understand it better. They can also directly contribute to collecting data that is needed to conserve New Zealand’s amazing biodiversity. From our feedback it seemed that we have (re)ignited the passion for science in many of the students. They saw some amazing plants and animals that few New Zealanders ever get to see and got hands-on experience with a whole range of techniques used to survey them. Electro-fishing was a particular hit and a personal favourite of mine; I got to see it myself for the first time!

Will you be running another EcoBlitz this year?

We would love to, but they take a lot of organisation to set up, plus a lot of time afterwards to identify the specimens that we have collected. We are running a follow-up workshop at Lincoln University next month to give students another chance to give hands-on help with the specimen identification. We are also looking into some locations for future EcoBlitzes.

Hurunui College teacher Tim Kelly notes that ideally he would like to run an EcoBlitz at least every three years, to allow each new cohort of NCEA students a chance to experience it.

-          See some beautiful images from the 2014 Nina Valley EcoBlitz in this Flickr photo pool.

-          Read more about the Nina Valley EcoBlitz here.

-          Wondering how the students and teachers found the experience? Find some of their feedback here.

-          Tim Curran is a senior lecturer in ecology, and BSc coordinator at Lincoln University’s Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Along with Jon Sullivan and Cathy Mountier he coordinates the scientific component of the Nina Valley EcoBlitz.