Bioblitz 

Wilsons Promontory is home to an amazing array of wildlife because it has such a diversity of habitats (e.g. coastal, mountain, rainforest, wetland) within such a small area, and so much of it is protected from human disturbances. Indeed, according to the Atlas of Living Australia, more than 6000 species have been recorded at the Prom including over 2000 plants, 89 mammals, 386 birds, 845 fungi (mushrooms), about 200 fish, 36 reptiles, 377 molluscs and almost 2000 arthropods (insects, spiders, crabs etc.); 26 species are found nowhere else and many species are regarded as rare or threatened.

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Despite the large number of species recorded, new discoveries are still being made. In 2023, a population of one of the rarest plants in Australia (a tiny gentian) was found at the Prom for the first time. While so many species have been recorded, we know very little about what habitats they occur in, how common they are or how widely distributed they are.

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Newly available free phone apps like iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/) enable everyone to collect information about biodiversity at the Prom (and elsewhere). Friends of the Prom runs at least one ‘bioblitz’ activity each year where volunteers learn how to use iNaturalist and practice their skills in a variety of habitats. At times we might search for a particular species, like the threatened Strzelecki Gum, which has yet to be confirmed at the Prom. Although we didn’t find the Strzelecki Gum, our bioblitz days have yielded new populations of threatened species, recent records of species not seen at the Prom for many years, and an insect not previously recorded at the Prom.

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The skills our volunteers learn expand their knowledge of biodiversity at the Prom and allow them to collect data on plants and animals whenever they visit.

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Check our Calendar for dates and ParkConnect for further details.

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