Foxcroft Notebook Foxcroft Hosts First Ever BioBlitz

By Seniors Leyla Akhundova, Farah Alvarez-Miranda, and Elizabeth Parra

Scientists around the world are constantly gathering and analyzing data. This year, students at Foxcroft contributed to the effort with the School’s first annual BioBlitz, inspired by this year’s school theme, “Be Well, Be Green, Belong at Foxcroft.” Led by students from Statistics, Biology, and AP Human Geography classes, the results were remarkable, with 186 new observations and 102 species identified on campus in a single day.

The BioBlitz was the conclusion of a 17-day project wherein students contributed 825 observations and identified 288 species, and the 44 student leaders introduced the rest of the community to an educational and delightful way to identify organisms.

During the week before the BioBlitz, students learned to use the iNaturalist app, a nature database accessible to everyone. In the weeks before the BioBlitz, group captains went around campus photographing flora and fauna and logging their findings in the app. Some of the most popular included different species of spiders, butterflies, and many types of weeds. iNaturalist can correctly identify millions of species of plants and animals. Users can then see what was identified in a specific location and confirm the sighting.

“iNaturalist has a mechanism where if two people confirm an identification, then it becomes research grade,” offered STEM teacher Dr. Lindsay Anderson. “Scientists worldwide can pull that research-grade data out and use it to map species distribution or look for trends in species, disappearances, and even invasive species. We are going to look at [the data] as an example of some statistics, and hopefully, we’re going to do it every year so that we can, over time, use it in classes to look for changes in species composition… Maybe we’ll be able to detect new species on campus.”

Another scientific app used by the Statistics and Biology classes was the Merlin Bird ID application created by The Cornell Lab at Cornell University. This app allowed students to record the surrounding bird songs and identify the names, places of origin, and descriptions of various birds. The app can also identify bird species by photo and allows users to explore birds nearby, showing the latest sightings of birds at their location and regions the birds have traveled from. For instance, one of the groups found that common birds in Middleburg came from Canada, the Southeast, and the Midwest.

On the BioBlitz day, groups of three or four students, each with one leader, were assigned one of three trails to hike: Pink House Trail, Mountville Trail, or Goose Creek Trail. The Pink House and Mountville trails pass by cornfields, while the Goose Creek trail goes down to the creek, where many animals can be seen hydrating or resting. Each hike takes about an hour, but students had two hours to finish, taking photographs along the way. Students in Statistics and Biology searched for interesting plants and creatures to add to the species list at Foxcroft in iNaturalist, while students in AP Human Geography looked for trash, mud, and man-made structures. A total of 133 students participated in the BioBlitz.

“I got to bond with the people in my group,” shared senior Alexa Cuozzo. “It was nice to get a break and be in nature… really healing and rejuvenating for me. I think everyone had a good experience!” Dr. Anderson agreed, “[The students] got fresh air, exercise, and could better connect with the data they were collecting.” Overall, it was a unifying and unique experience and a great start to the school year!