Issue date: 9/5/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Milene Cormier Students participate in a past biology event. Jamaica Bay is the site of BioBlitz, where QC researchers will tally animal and plant life for 24 hours. [Click to enlarge]

Queens College researchers will stage the first BioBlitz Friday and will descend to the wildest reaches of New York City to conduct a round-the-clock tally of flora and fauna for the Jamaica Bay area.

This event, co-sponsored by Queens College, the Jamaica Bay Institute, the CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities, the Gateway National Recreation Area of National Park Service and the North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit, is set to last 24 hours and researchers will be equipped with nets and insect repellents, in addition to their notebooks.

Professor John Waldman from the biology department and professor Gillian Stewart from the earth and environmental sciences department organized this event, which targets thousands of acres within the Gateway National Recreation Area, between the borders of New York and New Jersey.

Although Jamaica Bay may be an urban location, it is rich in wildlife, consisting of red foxes, horseshoe crabs and invasive species such as Western jackrabbits. Jamaica Bay simultaneously serves as a major flyover area for hundreds of migrating visitors such as hawks, ospreys and monarch butterflies.

According to professor Waldman, in an effort to document Jamaica Bay's biodiversity, the researchers are going with a team of different specialists in plants and animals to survey a plot of land. It may be a "quick and dirty look" of what is already there; however, it will enable the scientists to account for a future baseline.

Planners of the event hope that this event will raise awareness of biodiversity. New York City Councilmember James Gennaro, who has played an important role in preserving New York City's water supply, is set to speak at the event. In addition to Gennaro, Barry Sullivan, the superintendent of the Gateway National Recreation Area, and Kim Tripp, the director of the Jamaica Bay Institute will address the participants.

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