Autumnal ABOL BioBlitz in the Karawanks
On September 19 and 20, the GEO Day of Biodiversity, originally scheduled for July, took place on the northern flank of the Mittagskogel in the Karawanks. For many species groups, the peak in species abundance is certainly already over by this time, but others, such as fungi, benefit from this, or different species are found than in summer. This enabled the approximately 50 experts to record over 1,000 species for the study area in 24 hours.
In wonderful weather and equipped with various trapping and mapping tools, the experts fanned out. iNaturalist was also used to report species: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/geo-tag-der-artenvielfalt-mittagskogel. On the first day, we focused on the lower elevated, relatively near-natural mixed beech forests. Despite the late season, a few flying insects were observed in the sunny spots along the road. On the second day, the higher elevations were explored, starting from the Bertahütte. Some ambitious researchers even made it to the summits. In the late afternoon, everyone met again at the base in Finkenstein for a final debriefing and an assessment of the species found over coffee and cake.
For ABOL, it is always a benefit to participate in these events – in addition to our own collecting activities, it is especially the conversations with “old” partners and new contacts that are enjoyable and strengthen and expand the ABOL network in Austria. We would like to thank the organizers, especially E.C.O. and the Ökoteam, for allowing us to participate again, and for the successful event overall!
Impressions (Photos: M. Sonnleitner):
