INDIAN DUNES BIOBLITZ RELVEALS PARK'S RICH DIVERSITY (National Geographic)
PORTER, Ind. (May 18, 2009)—After 24 hours of exploration and documentation,
the Indiana Dunes BioBlitz has provided a snapshot of the many species that
call Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes State Park home. Led
by more than 150 scientists from around the country, thousands of amateur
explorers, families and schoolchildren from Illinois, Indiana and Michigan
conducted an inventory of the plants, bugs and other creatures that inhabit
one of the nation's most biologically diverse national parks. The event, from
noon Friday, May 15, to noon Saturday, May 16, was presented by National
Geographic and the National Park Service in collaboration with Indiana
Department of Natural Resources and Chicago Wilderness.
Highlights:
* The species count now stands at 1,200. Over the next few months,
organizers expect this number to increase significantly as state-of-the-art
testing of the collected samples continues.
* BioBlitz participants identified several species of mollusks, fungi and
beetles that had not previously been documented in the park.
* More than 5,000 people of all ages participated in the program during the
24 hours, including more than 2,000 registered school children from the tri-
state area (Illinois, Indiana and Michigan) ...
US $1,280.00