By Becky Chalupa, Engagement & Volunteer Coordinator
Bioblitz at Ingrid Graham Historic Hellam Nature Preserve (Photo by Becky Chalupa)
On a hot mid-spring morning, over 30 nature enthusiasts brought their curiosity and their cameras to Lancaster Conservancy’s Ingrid Graham Historic Hellam Nature Preserve with a mission: to observe the natural world around them, in the name of community-led science. The gathering was what is known as a “bioblitz,” which iNaturalist.org (a global biodiversity social network and database for nature-based observations) defines as “a communal effort to record as many species within a designated location and time period as possible.”
Throughout the morning, these community scientists meandered through meadows, stooped among sedges, and crouched along creek beds, photographing and uploading details (known as “observations”) into the iNaturalist app for as many organisms as possible. Their shared goal was to create a biological inventory of the many plants, mammals, birds, fungi, amphibians, reptiles, insects, spiders, and even slime molds that call the preserve home.
Drift fence trap encourages wildlife to pass through an observation chamber (Photo by Becky Chalupa)
Aiding this platoon of nature’s paparazzi were monitoring devices set by local biology researchers Drs. Dan Ardia (F&M College), Aaron Haines (Millersville University), and Aaron Howard (F&M College). Acoustic monitors, set high on poles, captured bird and bat sounds at dawn and dusk. Trail cameras snapped photos of wildlife visiting logs baited with synthetic and natural animal scents. And drift fence traps utilized a metal barrier to encourage wildlife to pass through observation chambers equipped with trail cameras (in lieu of traditional pitfall traps that rely on a catch-and-release technique).
Putting the Community in Community Science
Who were these so-called community scientists? Their backgrounds varied and included retired teachers, recent college graduates, hobby mushroom hunters, casual birdwatchers, native-plant enthusiasts, and nonprofit leaders. A few came from scientific backgrounds, but most did not. What brought them together was a shared interest in nature and data collection through observation.
A unique feature of iNaturalist, and a common reason it is used to facilitate bioblitzes, is that users don’t need to be experts in a scientific field to make meaningful contributions to science. The platform relies on the collective expertise of its global community to identify each observation (photos along with any supporting evidence). Bioblitz participants also benefited from the expertise of designated taxon leaders (taxon being the various categories of organisms – plants, mammals, amphibians, fungi, etc.) who provided guidance on finding and making meaningful, high-quality observations within their assigned taxon.
Bioblitz at Ingrid Graham Historic Hellam Nature Preserve (Photo by Becky Chalupa)
“The conservation and science fields have historically been accessible to people with the economic means to be in this space,” says Keith Williams, Lancaster Conservancy’s Vice President of Engagement and Education. “Community science democratizes this work and makes science accessible to everybody. Anybody can get involved and participate, without a science degree and without financial backing. And in my own experience as an ecologist, when I was studying organisms, I got connected to the organisms I was studying. And they became more than organisms and things. They became beings that we share this planet with, and those connections formed, and then I wanted to protect those beings. So I think that’s another strength of community science – it gets people connected to the life forms we’re trying to protect.”
The contributions made using tools like iNaturalist, eBird, Budburst, and others can document changes in ecosystems, lead to scientific discoveries, and help inform land management and conservation plans.
“They give us data that we don’t have an opportunity to collect on our own,” says Keith. “We’ve got over 10,000 acres that we’re trying to manage, restore, and provide public access to. We just don’t have the in-house capacity to do the monitoring that we really want and need to be doing to look at the effect of our restoration work. Community science, I think, will help fill that gap.”
A Portrait of a Disturbed Landscape
Bioblitz at Ingrid Graham Historic Hellam Nature Preserve (Photo by Becky Chalupa)
The group arrived on scene with low expectations for the amount of diversity it would find. Graham Nature Preserve, as with most developed places, has been heavily disturbed over centuries of human activity. It has, at various times, been used for agriculture, a railway, and a homestead. Remnants of buildings, a floodplain, and a quarry can be found in this preserve’s landscape. As is typical of highly disturbed land, aggressively spreading introduced plant species have created a low-diversity ecosystem dominated by privet, Japanese honeysuckle, and multiflora rose. These plants compete for resources (sunlight, water, and soil nutrients) and easily crowd out others. Less diverse plant habitats often correlate with low diversity in other types of wildlife – birds and mammals, for instance.
But Lancaster Conservancy aims to reverse this trajectory through strategic ecological restoration of the preserve. Those efforts involve removal of invasive plants that crowd the understory; restoring a floodplain pollinator-friendly meadow; and additional potential projects to address streambank erosion and loss of wetland habitat.
“The data collected during the bioblitz will give Lancaster Conservancy a really good baseline of the preserve’s biodiversity before we start heavily working to restore the site,” Keith explains. This baseline acts as a snapshot of a moment in time against which the team can compare data collected years later, during and after the initial restoration efforts.
Unexpected Findings
Graph of species observed during the bioblitz at Ingrid Graham Historic Hellam Nature Preserve from iNaturalist.org
Over 600 bioblitz observations resulted in the identification of more than 250 species. Bioblitz participants were surprised by the number of native plant species they found – Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum), wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia), American jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana), giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida), Canadian meadow garlic (Allium canadense), eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), and Allegheny monkeyflower (Mimulus ringens), among others – despite the apparent monoculture of invasive, non-native plants.
Crystal Schreffler, a bioblitz participant who has been using iNaturalist with her daughter for several years, shared, “Many of the plants we discovered required an observant eye to see them among the large swaths of sedge or grass. And yet, there were so many different species of plants, bugs, and birds. I’m looking forward to seeing how the preserve’s habitat will change and what it will host when some of the invasive plants are removed.”
In addition to plants, nine types of mammals were observed on the preserve, including raccoon, opossum, groundhog, chipmunk, deer mice, voles, and white-tailed deer documented through trail-camera monitoring. Three species of amphibians and two types of snakes (garter and eastern rat snake) have been recorded. Acoustic monitors recorded (and bird audio identification software identified) 79 different species of birds! Despite the impaired habitat, an abundance of critters shelter, hunt, forage, and play at Graham Nature Preserve. Two of those residents – a pileated woodpecker and an eastern rat snake – performed a dramatic show on nature’s stage for bioblitz participants.
Become a Community Scientist
Bioblitz at Ingrid Graham Historic Hellam Nature Preserve (Photo by Becky Chalupa)
Anyone can be a community scientist, with a little curiosity and an eye for observation. While some community science projects, like a bioblitz, are often performed in groups, others can be done alone at home or at a nearby park. Lancaster Conservancy’s phenology project invites participants to notice and record the timing of events in nature, like when trees leaf out and flowers bloom. The Xerces Society offers opportunities to track butterflies, bees, and fireflies. Nature journaling can be a great way to combine creativity with observation. Join a birding class with Lancaster Conservancy or a local bird club. Or download one of the many community science mobile phone apps that make it easy to contribute to science on-the-go.
The Graham Preserve 2026 Bioblitz was a Pennsylvania Master Naturalist service project of Becky Chalupa, Lancaster Conservancy Engagement & Volunteer Coordinator.
Becky would like to thank Dan Ardia (F&M College), Linda Ferich (Lancaster Conservancy), Aaron Haines (Millersville University), Aaron Howard (F&M College), Emily Landis (The Steinman Foundation & Little Conestoga Creek Foundation), John Thomas (Lancaster Conservancy), and Keith Williams (Lancaster Conservancy) for lending their leadership and expertise to the project.