Released: May 11, 2005

CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle Is the First School to Host Connecticut BioBlitz

June 4 Event Expected to Uncover More than 1,500 Species

Students and Scientists to Collect Animals, Insects and Plants Living Around School

www.tworivers.crec.org/bioblitz -- More info on this year’s event.
www.mnh.uconn.edu/BioBlitz -- Background on the BioBlitz, directions and more.

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What’s living in a 2.5-mile radius around the CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School in East Hartford? More than 100 scientists and 30 middle and high school students will scour the area to find out in the 2005 Connecticut BioBlitz, a program of the University of Connecticut’s Center for Conservation and Biodiversity, and the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History. The Science Center of Connecticut is helping to organize the event, and this is the first time the BioBlitz has ever been held at a school.

While the scientific work actually begins on June 3, the public is invited to join the investigation on Saturday, June 4 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School, 337 East River Drive in East Hartford. The school’s Great Hall will serve as the BioBlitz command center and the hub of public activity. Admission is free.

BioBlitz is part contest, part festival, part educational event and part scientific endeavor. Scientists from UConn and other nationally renowned universities and museums gather to see how many species of animals and plants can be identified in 24 hours. On Saturday, the public is invited to watch the scientists’ activities, attend presentations about biodiversity, speak with scientists and naturalists, participate in hands-on activities – such as mammal skull identification – go on nature walks and tours, and join in other exciting nature learning opportunities. For more information, visit the web site: www.mnh.uconn.edu/BioBlitz.

The students and scientists will begin the species survey on Friday, June 3 at 3 p.m. at Great River Park, East River Drive, East Hartford. The surveyors will canvass the habitats found within a two-and-one-half-mile radius of the Two Rivers Magnet school, sampling the Connecticut and Hockanum rivers, floodplains, forests, freshwater ponds, open fields, and even industrial and other human-influenced areas.

As in past BioBlitzes, there will be a strong outreach and educational component. University undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral students from across the Northeast will be among the participants. A statewide effort is currently underway to identify the 30 middle and high school students that will act as junior scientists, collecting specimens, serving as official team counters and presenting to the public. Each will be matched up with professors and other educators heading up this year's quest. Science teachers and educators are especially encouraged to attend the 2005 Connecticut BioBlitz. For anyone with an interest in natural history, this is a must-attend event.

"BioBlitz showcases the rich biodiversity found in Connecticut and underscores the positive impact that parks and open space have on our lives. It is an excellent tool for exciting children and adults about science. We will involve students from CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School and other Connecticut schools as junior scientists in this year's 24-hour survey. The reaction from the students and the general public when they interact with the scientists has been remarkable. Everyone learns something new and shares their enthusiasm," said Leanne Kennedy Harty, Director of the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History.

Participants expect to catalogue more than 1,500 life forms -- all within a stone's throw of the city of Hartford.

"The past five BioBlitzes have yielded a number of scientific discoveries, rare species and new state records for Connecticut. Each BioBlitz generates hundreds of specimens for teaching and research collections in the region. Though far from a rainforest, we will find splendid life forms — everything from eagles and largemouth bass to water bears, ant lions, bee wolves and tiger beetles," said David Wagner, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Co-director of the Center for Conservation and Biodiversity at UConn.

The BioBlitz will be hosted by the CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School, a public magnet school with a science and technology emphasis for students in grades 6 through 8 serving East Hartford, Glastonbury, Hartford, Manchester and South Windsor. Two Rivers is a program of the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC), which secured O,R&L Facility Management as the presenting sponsor of the event. O,R&L's donation will fund permanent, in-class specimen displays and resources.

“The vision of our school is to provide a living laboratory where students investigate and explore our world with a sense of wonder, a passion for inquiry and a vision of the future," said Edmund Smith, one of the school's eighth-grade science teachers and a key organizer in this year's BioBlitz. "During the BioBlitz, our teachers and students will collaborate with the scientists and with students from other area schools during the intensive survey that will begin Friday afternoon. We are planning many dynamic scientific adventures for people of all ages for the public events on Saturday."

"I have participated in the previous five BioBlitzes. This year's blitz, however, places an even stronger focus on education and on connecting middle and high school students and the public with scientists and the animals and plants that they study. If you are fascinated by the study of animals and plants, the 'dream team' of Connecticut biologists will be playing in East Hartford this June," said Hank Gruner, Vice President of Programs and Exhibits at the Science Center of Connecticut.

"A BioBlitz is a 24-hour plunge into life — an unbridled hunt for all of nature's varied forms. During the Connecticut BioBlitz, scientists, top naturalists, amateurs and students work side-by-side to observe, collect and identify as many species as is humanly possible in a single day. Sleep will be in short supply, and time viewed as the greatest enemy. When the main survey commences, scientists and volunteers will begin deploying their traps, seining the river, netting moths and bats, and listening for the songs of frogs and owls. Well before daybreak, the scientists will filter into Two Rivers' Great Hall to begin the Herculean task of sorting and identifying the catches and compiling the night's data. A new dimension to this year's BioBlitz will be the vouchering of Lepidopteran DNA material for subsequent genetic analysis," said Wagner.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2005

CONTACTS:

Carol Davidge, Public Information Coordinator
Connecticut State Museum of Natural History
University of Connecticut
(860) 486-5690

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