Hi Everyone,

We are organizing a bioblitz-like activity at TDWG this year. Rob Stevenson has volunteered to coordinate. Over the course of the week, meeting participants will be encouraged both to post ad hoc observations, and to lead or attend organized observing sessions (e.g. birding outings, moth lighting evenings, etc.). This will culminate in a visit to the Soltis Centre [1], which the organizing committee has arranged for Thursday afternoon.

One goal is to finish the meeting with a nice "biodiversity snapshot of TDWG 2016". Another is to shepherd the data into GBIF. Here are some details, and some requests:

i. We will create an iNaturalist project for the bioblitz, and encourage the use of iNaturalist to make observations. You can browse through some iNaturalist-based bioblitzes at http://www.inaturalist.org/pages/bioblitz+guide. It's straightforward to browse by taxon or by observer, and by observations for which help with identification has been requested.

ii. eBird and Pl@ntNet are also great apps, and we will also support (in the sense described below) their use for recording observations. Steve Kelling (eBird) , and Pierre Bonnet (Pl@ntNet), are participating in the meeting and even though iNaturalist co-director Scott Loarie can not be with us, he has agreed to help us on line. Pl@ntNet's Central American project is not yet public, but Pierre has offered to give us access.

iii. It would be great to have a data team, similar to the one we put together in Woods Hole in 2010, that interacts with the APIs of the observation apps to harvest, integrate, and present/visualize the data. One of the purposes of this exercise will be to gain some insight regarding citizen science app interoperability.

REQUEST 1: Would anyone like to volunteer for the data team?

iv. Rob has compiled a list of taxa and associated experts who will either be at the meeting, or who are resident in Costa Rica, and who may be able to join for bioblitz activities. He's in the process of contacting people on this list. But Rob doesn't know everyone. This brings us to

REQUEST 2: Can anyone volunteer to lead an observing session, or to liaise with a local colleague or guide who can do so? With the exception of the trip to the Soltis Centre, which is on the program, opportunities to observe will need to be carved out of free time in and around La Fortuna (where most of us are staying) and San Carlos (site of the conference).

REQUEST 3: This is for people both attending and not attending the meeting. If you can assist in identifying observations in specific taxonomic groups, please volunteer to do so. You can use iNaturalist to monitor observations of your group, and to weigh in on unidentified or mis-identified images.

v. This is very important. Unless you have a permit, don't collect anything, and don't kill anything.

This email's main purpose is to motivate everyone to start thinking, and some people to start planning. More, better details will follow in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, please chime in with questions and ideas.

On behalf of Rob Stevenson and the TDWG 2016 program committee - All the best, Joel. ---

1. http://soltiscentercostarica.tamu.edu/