LA River eDNA Bioblitz!

What lives in the Los Angeles river, and how healthy is it?  Join Protecting Our River (PoUR) on Saturday March 25th as we bioblitz the Los Angeles river, from the San Fernando Valley to the Pacific Ocean, taking the data needed to help answer this question.

What’s a bioblitz?

This is a community science event where people gather to record as much data as they can about what species live in an area.  We’re going to be doing this by taking environmental DNA (eDNA) samples from the river, as well as tagging photos using the iNaturalist app.  Photos of plants and animals tagged on iNaturalist will help us record some of the biodiversity along the river, while the eDNA samples, once sequenced, will help us understand the diversity of everything from bacteria through plants in an area.

Bioblitz information and registration links

What am I going to be doing?

We’re looking for folks to do the following:

• Document the work we’re doing.
• Tagging photos of wildlife using the iNaturalist app.
• Taking eDNA samples from water and sediment along the LA river.

Please contact Levi Simons (alsimons@ucsc.edu) to sign up and ask questions!