First ABOL BioBlitz 2022 in Vienna
This year, the Biosphere Reserve Wienerwald once again organized a day of biodiversity – on June 10th and 11th – this time in the 16th district of Vienna, Ottakring, with some sites in the 14th district, Penzing. ABOL participated again with a BioBlitz campaign. After a break of several years due to the pandemic, a “Festival of Biodiversity” was celebrated again, with a program for the public, especially for families.
Approximately 80 experts for various groups of animals, fungi and plants took part in this year’s day of biodiversity and tried to detect as many species as possible in the area over the two days. Despite the bad weather on Friday, almost 900 species were recorded over the two days. Some of the species found will be genetically sampled after processing and identification by the experts in the course of the ABOL-BioBlitz and DNA barcodes will be generated, which will ultimately be found as reference data in BOLD (Barcode of Life Database).
The public part began on Friday evening with exciting night tours, where bats and other animals were observed; the Saturday afternoon then offered a varied program with excursions, information stands, a handicraft corner, a micro-theater and culinary delights from the region. ABOL was also represented with an information stand where interested people were informed about the DNA barcoding procedure. So-called biodiversity talks were also held for the first time this year, at which experts discussed hot topics such as the extinction of species and the tension between agriculture and biodiversity.
We would like to thank all participants in the ABOL-BioBlitz and the Biosphärenpark team for the great organization and catering!
