BioBlitz 2009: Brooklyn College Students Collect Specimens in Jamaica Bay to Benefit Wetlands

At first, spending 24 hours in a damp marsh in the rain may not sound like the most pleasant way to spend part of a weekend. But on Sept. 11 and 12, the students who collected specimens of the various birds, reptiles, mammals, insects and other creatures that call the wetland home not only received a hands-on education but also did some good for the marsh and its inhabitants.

Rebecca Boger, an assistant professor of geology who helped organize this year’s third annual Jamaica Bay BioBlitz, held at Gateway National Recreation Area’s Floyd Bennett Field, feels that students truly gained something valuable by the experience. "They benefited by the opportunity to work with scientific experts in the field and to see what resources there are all around us in New York, in the city’s natural environment."

More than 100 students, including 40 from the Brooklyn College School of Education, took part in the event. Also represented were students from Queens College, Baruch College, and Adelphi and Hofstra universities, both of which are located on Long Island.

Events like BioBlitz help the marsh and its resident creatures because collecting and analyzing wildlife advances research into the wetlands environment as well as encourages interest among students to pursue scientific careers. It can also provide officials and scientists responsible for maintaining marshlands with more information that can help them improve management of the area.

This year’s BioBlitz participants were originally scheduled to collect specimens and analyze them in the field from 3 p.m. Friday to 3 p.m. Saturday. However, rainy weather prevented them from remaining outside overnight and forced them to take a break during the hours of darkness.

"The weather this year saw many nocturnal species take shelter against the rain and reduced the number of species that could be collected," Boger explains. Yet, despite the difficulties presented by the rain, Boger says the students managed to gather a total of 123 different species of marsh residents and plants.

Among the species collected were such birds as the Cooper’s hawk, the mallard duck, the great blue heron and the red-tailed hawk, and numerous fish, including shad, striped bass, bluefish and bay anchovy. The volunteers also collected such reptiles and amphibians as the painted turtle, the gray tree frog, the red-backed salamander and the common garter snake, and such mammals as the opossum, the raccoon and the Norway rat.

Collection of both terrestrial and aquatic plant life was well represented, too: poison ivy, white clover, yucca, brown kelp, and green and red algae.

Besides Boger, Brooklyn College Professor John Marra, Assistant Professor Brett Branco and Senior College Lab Technician Guillermo Rocha also organized the event, while Professor of Geology John Chamberlain, a mollusk specialist, provided on-scene supervision.