יומן של Sarasota-Manatee EcoFlora Project (FL, USA)

In a nod to the Roy Lichtenstein exhibit at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Downtown Campus, April’s EcoQuest Challenge is Plants that Pop! We are focusing on plants that spread their seeds through ballistichory. This is the sudden rapid ejection of seed from a fruit by explosive dehiscence. Dehiscence is the process whereby a fruit naturally opens at maturity to disperse its seeds. This may happen slowly, taking hours or days, or may happen in the blink of an eye. The explosive or ballistic “shooting” out of seed gives this mechanism its name. The result of ballistichory is that seeds are flung far from the parent plant, greatly improving seed dispersal. Who will get the most observations or species? Only time will tell with this month's ecoquest as we feature this amazing mechanism in Plants that Pop!

The Beach Croton Croton punctatus is a common beach plant in Sarasota and Manatee growing as a low shrub on back dunes and using ballistichory to launch seeds helping build dunes.

Last Month Ecoquest Winners
We would like to give a big shout out to our top observers and identifiers last month's Check Your Boots Ecoquest with a very heated contest for most species found differing by only one species! Who will find the most popping plants and blow everyone away? We'll announce April's winners on May 1st!

Top Three Observers by Number included: phaynes at 223, Ceherzog at 146, and Carol418 at 57.
Top Three Observers by Species included: Ceherzog at 50, Phaynes at 49, and Carol418 at 21.
Top Three Identifiers included: Jeff 1962 at 201, Jayhorn at 106, and barbaraparris at 37.

Ready for an explosive ecoquest? Join here at Plants that Pop! and upload your dynamite pictures today!

The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is an international effort to get people outside to document their local biodiversity. Over the course of four days, citizen scientists around the world will log as many observations of the natural world as they can. Then experts will help to identify those observations to see how many different species were documented.

CNC takes place in two parts:
April 30 - May 3: Taking pictures of wild plants and animals
May 4 - May 9: Identifying what was found

CNC was started in 2016 by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences as a competition between LA and San Francisco. Since then, it’s grown to include more than 400 cities, in more than 40 countries, across six continents! This is the first year that Sarasota and Manatee counties are participating in CNC, through Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Project. We are partnering with The Nature Conservancy in Orlando to host a friendly competition among several Florida metro areas and we’re calling on everyone to participate!

Who should participate?

YOU! You don’t need to be a professional photographer, botanist, or naturalist to be a helpful citizen scientist. All you need is a smartphone or GPS-enabled camera, a free iNaturalist account, and a willingness to get out and explore! Our team, and the iNaturalist community, will help you with troubleshooting, photo tips, and species identification. Anyone can participate but only observations made in Sarasota or Manatee counties will contribute to this challenge!

Why should you participate?

There is nature all around us, even in our cities! Let’s get to know the plants and animals living around us in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Through documenting the species we have, we’ll discover what we need to protect. When you participate in in the CNC, you will learn more about nature in your area AND make our cities a better place for all species. And let’s not forget, it’s FUN and EASY to participate!

How to Participate

Join the project on iNaturalist, by creating a free account and searching for the City Nature Challenge Sarasota and Manatee Counties project. From April 30 to May 3, log as many observations as you can. Spread the word and encourage others to participate as well. It’s as easy as finding wildlife, taking a picture, and sharing!

Bioblitzes During the Challenge:

Friday April 30th

• Phillipi Estate Park Bioblitz 9AM-12PM hosted by Sarasota County Parks and Services
• South Lido Beach Bioblitz 9AM-12PM hosted by Sarasota County Parks and Services

Saturday May 1st

• Potter Park Bioblitz 9AM-12PM hosted by Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and the Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Project
• Johnson Preserve Bioblitz 9AM-11AM hosted by the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast and Manatee County Parks and Recreation

Sunday May 2nd

• To Be Announced!

Monday May 3rd

• Rye Preserve Bioblitz 9AM-12PM hosted by Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and the Sarasota Manatee EcoFlora Project

Note we will be updating this list daily as more bioblitzes are added so check back soon! Be sure to dress for the weather, and bring water, sunscreen, bug repellant, and any other gear you may need for hiking in nature.

The City Nature Challenge is starting today and going until May 3rd! See the April 16th journal entry for a list of bioblitz dates, times, and locations and we hope to see everyone out there!

There will be prizes ranging from Selby Garden Memberships to native plant pots for the top observers, identifiers, most species, and more so get out there and start finding all the wonders nature has to offer.

You can join the City Nature Challenge here but know all photos are automatically uploaded during the time period of April 30th to May 3rd. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2021-sarasota-and-manatee-counties

You can also get the latest updates, photos and blog postings here: https://selby.org/dsc/youth-family-programs/sarasota-manatee-ecoflora-project/