City Nature Challenge 2018: Baltimore Results & Survey

Great job, Baltimore! Of 68 participating cities in the 2018 City Nature Challenge, Baltimore finished 24th for # of observations made, 22nd for # of species identified, and 13th for # of observers–a strong showing for the region’s first City Nature Challenge effort. Baltimore also finished in 10th place for total increase in iNaturalist observers (265 of the 408 iNaturalist users were new users that joined and participated during the challenge). More highlights from Baltimore are listed below.

City Nature Challenge 2018: Baltimore Highlights
o Over 600 people attended in-person events held by the National Aquarium and their partners during the challenge.
o Baltimore participants documented 222 new species not previously documented on iNaturalist in the Baltimore metro area before the challenge began.
o The most commonly reported plant species was the garlic mustard, while the American robin was the most-sighted animal.
o Purple-stem Cliffbrake (Pellaea atropurpurea) was observed. This fern was found in Baltimore City during the challenge by the University of Baltimore and has only been recorded by the Maryland Biodiversity Project twice in the city before.
o Tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) was found in Leakin Park by using echolocation devices. This species was petitioned in 2016 to be listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act due to the impacts of white-nose syndrome.
o 20 threatened species were documented.

If you would like to share feedback with the iNaturalist team about the City Nature Challenge, please complete the brief survey here.

Posted on June 7, 2018 03:20 PM by nationalaquarium