Turkey became a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1996. As located on 3 different climatic zones, 3 biogeographical areas and 2 bird migration routes, Turkey is home to over 12.000 plant species, around 19.000 invertebrates and over 1.500 vertebrate species,and with its 5.9 million hectares of protected areas,it has great importance for the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity carries.
Istanbul Medeniyet University City and Regional Planning Department have planned the BioBlitz series to introduce the flora and fauna they share in the urban area, and to convey the importance of biodiversity to the citizens who are increasingly estranged from natural life. Our Urban and Regional Planning Department Res.Asst. Ayça ÇELİKBİLEK, wildlife biologist/ ornithologist Nuh KUBILAY and geological engineer Gökhan SAPMAZ will be the coordinators of the workshop, which will be held in 4 different seasons in Validebağ Grove, one of the most important examples of community-based conservation, which has been declared a protected area as a 1st degree natural site. It was aimed to record and map the biodiversity of the land by determining the living species in the area through the workshop.
The first workshop of BioBlitz events, which was held on 19 December 2021 as a winter observation, was held with the participation of 7 observers. A total of 428 photographic observations were made during the workshop and supplementary observations made by the workshop coordinators afterwards. With the support of 87 people who made descriptions through photographs, 670 identifications were made and 147 species were identified. After the identification study, the identified species were explained to the participants and the citizens were provided with information on how to recognize and protect these species. In addition, detailed information was provided on focus species such as Jerusalem artichoke, stone pine and invasive species such as green parrot observed in the area.
Spring observation, the 2nd Workshop of BioBlitz IMU, will be held in April 2022.
