A recent WWF report has estimated almost 3 billion vertebrates have been impacted by the recent bushfires, but admits the lack of data makes it impossible to fully understand the impact on our invertebrates. The new species of spider wasp was collected from Namadgi National Park, during the ACT Bush Blitz in 2018, by CSIRO’s […]
Backyard Species Discovery Weekly Challenge
In the lead up to National Science Week we are setting 10 weekly challenges to support our Backyard Species Discovery virtual Bush Blitz. Each Wednesday, starting June 10, a new challenge will be posted here as well as on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter channels. The challenge will be open for 1 week and the […]
Backyard Species Discovery – a virtual citizen science Bush Blitz
With expeditions on hold due to COVID-19, the Bush Blitz team has organised a virtual expedition to continue adding to our knowledge of Australian biodiversity while keeping everyone busy at home. While we can’t promise you’ll find a new species, you will discover some amazing plants and animals living in your own backyard, learn to […]
Blitzing Little Desert National Park
Preliminary results from the Little Desert Bush Blitz are very exciting. The spider team were particularly successful, finding a diverse array of eight-legged specimens from large wolf spiders to tiny peacock spiders. They are confident of at least 4 putative new species including a jumping spider that looks like a humbug lolly, a peacock spider […]
The Little Desert Bush Blitz is preparing for some big finds
It’s day one on the Little Desert Bush Blitz in western Victoria! Scientists from Museums Victoria, Melbourne Herbarium, Queensland Museum and the University of NSW are being briefed before they head into the field to begin their first day of collection. They will set up standard pitfall traps to collect reptiles and amphibians, mini pitfall […]
Free teacher workshop – Canberra
School teachers are invited to a free workshop from 4-6pm on Thursday 5 December 2019 at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Bush Blitz and the Australian National Botanic Gardens have put together a suite of engaging activities to help teachers bring topics like classification and biodiversity to life. Teachers will get hands-on experience of activities […]