Bush Blitz team at Kiwirrkurra Indigenous Protected area in the Gibson Desert WA

Bush Blitz is a species discovery program conducting scientific surveys in Australian terrestrial and marine environments to document known and new fungi, plants and animals. The program is a partnership between the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

Sustainable Communities and

Earthwatch Australia Earthwatch Institute is an international environmental charity. Founded as Educational Expeditions International in 1971 by Bob Citron and Clarence Truesdale, Earthwatch supports hundreds of Ph.D. researchers across dozens of countries, conduct ...

. Bush Blitz is managed through

Parks Australia Director of National Parks is a government-owned corporation of the Australian government responsible for the management of a portfolio of terrestrial and marine protected areas proclaimed under the ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Cons ...

and the

Australian Biological Resources Study Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) is a project undertaken by Parks Australia Division of Australia's Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA). Background ABRS was founded in 1973 from the recommendations ...

. The program began in 2010, the

International Year of Biodiversity The International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) was a year-long celebration of biodiversity, biological diversity and its importance, taking place internationally in 2010. Coinciding with the date of the 2010 Biodiversity Target, the year was decla ...

, involving specialist taxonomists, indigenous communities, rangers and landowners, teachers, students and BHP employees. Bush Blitz funds taxonomy and further research based on material collected during Bush Blitz surveys, specifically targeted to assist in the publication of new species and the resolution of problematic groups collected from surveys.

Expeditions

Bush Blitz conducts surveys in Australia's

National Reserve System Australia's National Reserve System (NRS) is a network of more than 10,000 Commonwealth plus state and territory protected areas which, in combination, on a national scale, protect more than , greater than 17% of the continent, of unique biodi ...

, made up of more than 9,000 properties, national parks and reserves. Expeditions have included: * Quinkan, Queensland, 2017 *

Croajingolong National Park The Croajingolong National Park is a coastal national park located in the East Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. The national park is situated approximately east of Melbourne and south of Sydney. The name ''Croajingolon ...

, Victoria, 2016 *

Mallacoota Mallacoota is a small town in the East Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, Australia. At the 2016 census, Mallacoota had a population of 1,063. At holiday times, particularly Easter and Christmas, the population increases by about 8,000 ...

, Victoria, 2016 *

Lake Torrens Lake Torrens ( Kuyani: ''Ngarndamukia'') is a large ephemeral, normally endorheic salt lake in central South Australia. After sufficiently extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the Spencer Gulf. Is ...

, South Australia, 2016 *

Kiwirrkurra Kiwirrkurra, gazetted as Kiwirrkurra Community, is a small community in Western Australia in the Gibson Desert, east of Port Hedland, Western Australia, Port Hedland and west of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Alice Springs. It had a popul ...

IPA Western Australia, 2015 * Judbarra / Gregory National Park, NT, 2015 *

Olkola The Olkolo or Koko-olkola' are an Indigenous Australian people of central and eastern Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. According to Norman Tindale, they are to be distinguished from the Kokangol, higher up on the Alice River watershed ...

Country, Queensland, 2015 * Carnarvon Station Reserve, Queensland, 2014 *

Durack River Durack River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river rises below the Durack Range then flows north, discharging into the west arm of Cambridge Gulf. There are 14 tributaries of the Durack, including Chapman River, ...

and Karunjie Stations, Western Australia 2014 *

Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Flinders Island was the place where the last remnants of aboriginal Tasmanian population were exiled by the colon ...

, Tasmania, 2014 * Five Rivers Reserve and trawtha makuminya, Tasmania, 2014 * Green Carpenter Bee in Quinkan Country far north Queensland

Namadgi National Park ACT and Kosciuszko National Park NSW, 2013 *

Henbury Station Henbury Station is a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. In March 2022 Henbury was purchased by Tim Edmunds for A$32 million, including its 3500 cattle. Description It is situated about south of Alice Springs in the No ...

, NT, 2013 *

Hiltaba Nature Reserve Hiltaba Nature Reserve is located in the north of the Eyre Peninsula on the western edge of the Gawler Ranges, South Australia. It is situated on a former pastoral lease known as Hiltaba, or Hiltaba Station, that had operated as a sheep stati ...

and

Gawler Ranges National Park Gawler Ranges National Park is a protected area lying north-west of Adelaide in the northern Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. It is known for its spectacular rock formations. History The national park originated as the Paney Station pas ...

, SA, 2012 * Wongalara Sanctuary, NT, 2012 *

Fish River Station Fish River Station is a protected area approximately south of Daly River and south of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is bounded to the north and the east by the Daly River, to the west by the Wingate Mountains, and to th ...

, NT, 2012 * Skullbone Plains, Tasmania, 2012 *

Credo Station Credo is a former pastoral lease located about north of Coolgardie in the Goldfields of Western Australia. The station occupies an area of . The pastoral lease was acquired by the Department of Environment and Conservation in 2007 and is no ...

Reserve WA, 2011 * Cane River Conservation Park, Cane River region, WA, 2011 * Lake Condah ( Kurtonitj,

Lake Condah Lake Condah, also known by its Gunditjmara name Tae Rak, is in the Australian state of Victoria, about west of Melbourne and north-east of Heywood by road. It is in the form of a shallow basin, about in length and wide. The lake is locate ...

and

Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected Area Budj Bim heritage areas includes several protected areas in Victoria, Australia, the largest two being Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape and the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape. Within the latter, there are three Indigenous Protected Areas: the ...

s Vic), 2011 *

Neds Corner Station Neds Corner Station is a 30,000 ha nature reserve owned by the Trust for Nature. It is a former sheep grazing property on a pastoral lease abutting the Murray River and the Murray-Sunset National Park in the Mallee region of north-western ...

, Vic, 2010 * Central NSW (Dananbilla, Illunie and Koorawatha Nature Reserves NSW), 2010 * Bon Bon Station Reserve SA, 2010 *

Witchelina Nature Reserve Witchelina Nature Reserve, in South Australia, is situated on a former pastoral lease known as Witchelina that had operated as both a sheep station and cattle station, before being converted into a nature reserve by the Nature Foundation. Th ...

, SA, 2010 * Wet Tropics (Brooklyn, Cloudland and Melsonby (Gaarraay) Nature Refuges, Eubenngee Swamp, Hann Tableland and Melsonby (Gaarraay) National Parks, and Upper Bridge Creek Qld), 2010 * Tasmania (Egg Islands, Flat Rock, Lower Porter Hill and Porter Hill, Murphys Flat, Seventeen Mile Plain and Vale of Belvoir Reserves) Tas, 2010 * Darkwood Reserve, NSW, 2010 * North-western NSW and Southern Qld, 2009–10 *

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

, Kadji Kadji, Karara and Lochada Reserves, WA, 2009

New species

In 2017 Bush Blitz announced it had discovered 1196 new Australian species including 1139 new animals (including a fish, 17 slugs and snails, three scorpions and 92 bees) 27 new plants, 26 new lichens and 4 new fungi species. After the March 2017 Bush Blitz to Quinkan Country in Queensland's Cape York Peninsula the number of new species was put at 1200 after a fruitful expedition "likely to yield the greatest number of new species discoveries" of the 34 expeditions conducted to that time. The new discoveries included more than 50 new species of spiders in Quinkan Country west of Cooktown in northern Queensland, suggesting Cape York Peninsula could be a hotspot for spider diversity in Australia. A peacock spider discovered at Carnarvon Station in western Queensland, in 2014, one of six new species of peacock spider described in 2016 by Barbara Baehr and

Robert Whyte Robert Whyte (born 1955, in Melbourne) is an Australian writer. He was a founding co-owner and director of the Brisbane-based multimedia firm ToadShow. After 2012 he participated in the Australian Government's new species exploration program ...

of Queensland Museum, was named ''Maratus lincunxini'' in honour of Queensland Ballet artistic director

Li Cunxin Li Cunxin (born 26 January 1961) is a Chinese-Australian former ballet dancer turned stockbroker. He is currently the artistic director of the Queensland Ballet in Brisbane, Australia.Queensland Ballet (2012)Li Cunxin returns to the stage a ...

, known for his book ''Mao's Last Dancer''.

TeachLive

Primary and secondary teachers from across Australia join Bush Blitz scientists in the field in BushBlitz TeachLive. Earthwatch Australia developed the educational program TeachLive in 2003. The Bush Blitz TeachLive Project involves the Australian Science Teachers Association. Participants teach 'live' back to their students via the dedicated Bush Blitz TeachLive website. Teachers interact with students via live web forums. They post daily highlights and photos, communicating via Skype and other online tools. Teaching resources as educational units for primary and secondary schools are provided.

References

{{Reflist

External links

TeachLive teacher Shae Nechwatal's blog from the Kimberley Bush Blitz
Environment of Australia

Expeditions

New species

TeachLive

See also

References

External links