The Samoa Conservation Society (S.C.S.) has undertaken a “bioblitz” at the Malololelei Recreation Reserve in a bid to collate as much data as possible on biological species.

The S.C.S. President James Atherton revealed that the bioblitz methodology of collecting species data was deployed by the society last Saturday and attracted 11 people.

He told the Samoa Observer that there could have been more participants but transport was an issue.

"We got 11 people to work with us on Saturday at Malololelei Recreation Reserve but will entice more people next time by providing transport," Mr. Atherton said. 

Bioblitz Coordinator Teuila Sinclair told this newspaper that the objective of such a methodology is to “find, identify and record” a variety of biological species.

"A bioblitz is an event aimed to find, identify and record as many biological species as possible within a short period of time,” she said. 

“This event was part of an international project called the Great Southern Bioblitz (GSB).

"The GSB is an umbrella project focusing only on areas within the Southern Hemisphere. 

“GSB began in 2020 and is scheduled to take place every year, ideally within the month of October, because this is when the Southern Hemisphere has well entered its spring season.

“Therefore, biodiversity is relatively high for the month of October.”

The GBS had reached out the S.C.S. in Samoa to facilitate such an exercise for Samoa, according to Ms. Sinclair.

"This year the facilitators of GSB reached out to us inviting us to lead a bioblitz event for Samoa," she added.

Ms. Sinclair said they were proud to accept the invitation to put the spotlight on biodiversity and to get local community members involved in science and nature learning. 

“This event was a fun-filled event as we got to learn more about plants, birds and butterflies found within the Malololelei Recreation Reserve," she added.

The participants used an app to identify the different biological species, the Bioblitz Coordinator added, with the exercise enabling the participants to learn more about the locality targeted as well as its geographic features and biological species within it.

"Participants also learned more about the area, and why its geographic features make it an ideal place for rich biodiversity. 

“In addition our participants learned of a free app called inaturalist, an app that helps us to identify and view different types of species found in Samoa and around the world.

"Using the inaturalist as our recorder, within an hour and a half we made over 80 observations with around 42 species.” 

Ms. Sinclair indicated that they have plans to include youth in the future in a similar way so they can form relationships between themselves, the environment and local biological species.

"In the future, we would love to have our youth or students join us in this event because not only will they get to have the chance to see our native species, through learning about them, they can form a relationship between themselves and the environment, strengthening their lotonu'u (heart for country) and understanding why it is important to conserve and preserve of natural environment.”

Mr. Atherton said it was the first time for bioblitz to be used in Samoa and its purpose was to highlight the immense biodiversity spread across the Southern Hemisphere. 

"Thirty per cent of Samoa’s native species are endemic, Samoa’s isolation from other land masses mean that many of the species found here occur nowhere else in the world hence are endemic and their conservation is of particular importance," he said.

"We have the world's smallest spider Patu marplesi found at Afiamalu and more native ferns (around 220) than New Zealand and New Zealand is 85 times bigger than Samoa."