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BioBlitz

About the Project

BioBlitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of scientists, volunteers, and community members join forces to find, identify, and learn about as many local plant and animal species as possible. is helping conduct a BioBlitz in a different park each year during the decade leading up to the U.S. National Park Service centennial in 2016.

Follow all the BioBlitz action on our BioBlitz blog.

The 2008 BioBlitz takes place in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area May 29th and 30th in collaboration with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and California State Parks. If you would like to participate, you can register on-site during the event on either day.

In 2007, National Geographic hosted the Rock Creek Park BioBlitz in Washington, D.C. Teams made up of biologists, families, school groups, youth groups, conservationists, and government leaders spent 24 hours combing the city's urban park. They found and identified 661 unique species in the park, plus several more that have not yet been identified.

Project Goals

Project founders organized BioBlitz as a way for communities to learn about the biological diversity of local parks and to better understand how to protect them. BioBlitz events are also an opportunity for adults, kids, and teens to join biologists in the field, participate in bona fide research expeditions, and learn from the experts about biodiversity—both around the planet and in our own backyards.

Did You Know?

Photo: Luna moth

Photograph by Mark Christmas

Moth Lures

Scientists use creative methods to attract organisms to inventory. To collect moths at night, they set up light traps, shining two different types of light against a white sheet or tent to attract the light-loving insects.

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