Media Release

For Immediate Release

June 6, 2008

BioBlitz of Long Lake Provincial Park begins today

The 24-hour BioBlitz of Long Lake Provincial Park begins today at 3 p.m. Ten teams of scientists will have one day to collect, classify and record as many species as possible in the park. It’s a race between scientific experts to see who can record the most species, but the big winner will be the provincial park.

The race will kick off with an opening ceremony at Exhibition Park (Prospect Room 2) beginning at 2:45 p.m. As part of the ceremony, Robert Cameron, a protected area ecologist for the Protected Areas Branch of the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour will comment on how the information collected during BioBlitz will help in park planning, management and interpretation. Harold Carroll, the Director of Parks and Recreation for the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources; and Dr. Malcolm Butler, Dean of Science, Saint Mary’s University, will also speak at the event.

Tomorrow (Saturday, June 7) from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., a scientific base camp at Exhibition Park opens to the public to learn more about the plants, animals and fungi collected and photographed by the scientists. The public will have the chance to tour the scientific base camp, meet the scientists, see displays, learn about the species collected, and participate in hands-on activities such as a fish touch tank and kid-friendly microscopes.  Admission is free.

According to lead scientist Dr. David Cone of Saint Mary’s University, the scientists participating in the BioBlitz expect to collect and record between 800 and 1,000 biological species in Long Lake Provincial Park (adjacent to Exhibition Park). The main purposes of the event are to document the biodiversity of Long Lake Provincial Park, demonstrate how scientists work, and hopefully, make the public – the human species – more thoughtful about our interaction with the ecosystem that surrounds us.

“From a scientific point of view, this is an opportunity to see the enormous size of the picture,” said Cone. “What we’ll see is a numerical glimpse of the food web that surrounds and runs Long Lake Provincial Park.”

The scientists will use Exhibition Park as a scientific base camp to study what they find in the provincial park. An exhibition hall will be set-up with 10 scientific stations, microscopes and networked computers to classify the various species. And as the scientists work, their findings – images and total numbers – will be displayed on display screens in the exhibition hall, as well as on the BioBlitz website, www.smu.ca/BioBlitz. 

The biological survey will include plants, fungi and lichens, insects, aquatic invertebrates, terrestrial invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. To survey these 10 groups, the scientists will form 10 teams – or twigs – based on their areas of expertise.

Dr. David Cone from Saint Mary’s University will be the lead scientist for the event and head the aquatic invertebrates twig. Dr. David Richardson of Saint Mary’s will lead the lichen and fungi twig, Dr. Jeremy Lundholm of Saint Mary’s will lead the plant twig, Dr. Michael Burt from the University of New Brunswick will lead the terrestrial invertebrates twig, Dr. Doug Strongman from Saint Mary’s will lead the insects twig and Dr. Andrew Hebda from the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History will lead the fish twig. Dr. Todd Smith of Acadia University will be the amphibian twig leader, Dr. Steve Mockford of Acadia University will lead the reptile twig, Dr. Hugh Broders of Saint Mary’s will lead the mammal twig, and Drs. Colleen Barber and Sue Meek of Saint Mary’s will lead the bird twig.

The BioBlitz will be led by Saint Mary's University in partnership with Nova Scotia Youth Experiences in Science (NS Yes), Canadian Red Cross, The Young Naturalists Club, The Museum of Natural History, Environment Canada, The Ecology Action Centre, The Community-Based Environmental Monitoring Network, The Dalhousie Women’s Centre, Sackville Rivers Association, Water Research Associates Inc., Fish Friends and River Rangers, and The Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. 

Sponsors for the event include Saint Mary's University, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Bebbington Industries, Tim Hortons, Life Spa, Bradshaw Pure Esthetics, Halifax Regional Municipality and Green Grocer Inc.

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For more information:

Blake Patterson
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: blake.patterson@smu.ca
www.smu.ca