International Marine Plankton Bioblitz

2024 is the first year that I'm organising an international marine plankton bioblitz! A bioblitz is when a location is surveyed for wildlife to find out what lives there. I thought it would be super interesting to find out what organisms live in the plankton in different parts of the world on the same day!

So, on the 30 March 2024, plankton geeks from all over the world will be sampling from their location, and noting down what they find, along with various data such as water temperature and weather conditions.

Anyone can join in (but do let me know if you're participating) - you can sample with a plankton net, or just use a bucket (make sure to note down your method) and you'll need a microscope to ID your organisms. A thermometer and salinity meter would be useful, but not essential.

Note down all your collected information and organism IDs on this sheet (download it and save it locally, please - don't fill out the shared copy), and join our Discord server to talk to other participants about your ID struggles (the server is already open and discussions are taking place).

Join the bioblitz project page on iNaturalist and add your findings to the database (let me know if this isn't accessible where you are). Send me a copy of your datasheet too, so I log all the sampling information for deeper analysis.

Over the summer I will collate all the information we collate to share with you all so we can see what similarities and differences were seen in our international sampling!

Remember to BE SAFE, BE LEGAL (don't trespass, get permission, have your licenses). The Plankton Project and/or Elizabeth Beston is not responsible for the safety of the participants of the International Marine Plankton Bioblitz 2024. If you take part, you're responsible for your own well-being, safety, and legal status!

You can contact me on Instagram or my Facebook page