The 11th annual Takayna BioBlitz has concluded after hosting 25 survey leaders and 200 participants from across Australia.
“Bob Brown Foundation is so proud to have hundreds of citizens take action for Takayna at our annual BioBlitz. Science is a central component of our Takayna campaign, including addressing knowledge gaps in the region’s biodiversity records. It’s a globally unique event in a wild, ancient place with outstanding universal values. We are living in the climate and extinction crises, and time is up for the governments who fail to protect Takayna,” said Jenny Weber, Bob Brown Foundation Campaigns Director.
“Australia’s longest-running BioBlitz is a citizen science project that continues to build our knowledge of the extraordinary values of Takayna. Over just two days, we have recorded more than 400 species of plants, animals and fungi. The total will continue to rise as we conduct further surveys today and identify and catalogue all the discoveries from the twelve survey sites we have visited. Our biodiversity surveys show how much more there is to discover in Takayna, so we will continue this important citizen science work to demonstrate just how special and under threat this region is,” said Dr Nick Fitzgerald, co-founder of Takayna BioBlitz.
“In these days of increasing understanding of the extinction crisis, it is ever more important that we come together and call this wilderness refuge home. It is a dream for me to come and see the biodiversity of this region and photograph the micro details of the ancient species, and it has exceeded my expectations and brought a lot of joy to see them and share with participants. It is terrible to think these places are still threatened by interests seeking profit from when they are world heritage value environments that should be protected for future generations,” said Peter Crowcroft, naturalist and ecologist from the University of Melbourne.
“From threatened rainforests to surveying the Takayna coastline, the unique observations greatly contribute to an encyclopedia on one of the last wild places on Earth. Marine surveys at BioBlitz are vitally important since we found a species of algae not seen in Tasmania before, Codium mamillosum. Marine surveys on the Takayna coastline are critical as this coastline must be saved for its vital importance as an intact ecosystem,” said William Marshall-Grey, a conservationist who travelled from NSW to be a survey leader.
“The ancient forests and diverse ecosystems of Takayna are essential habitat for many species, a significant amount found nowhere else on earth. Veteran trees provide critical breeding opportunities for Swift Parrots and the Tasmanian Masked Owl and deserve permanent protection. It is these intact forests that will secure the future for native species, including the endemic birds that inspire me to keep returning to Takayna,” said Todd Burrows, ecologist who led bird surveys over the weekend.
