BioBlitz: daylong series of activities honors Earth Day 2024

One message of BioBlitz, Rowan University's daylong tribute to Earth Day, was that water shaped civilization, and continues to connect people today.

To encourage reflection on the relationship between people and water, Megan Bucknum and a group of Urban Geography students collaborated in a special BioBlitz activity, the "Hydrophilic water walk through Rowan Woods."

"Hydrophilia means an affective connection to water," said Bucknum, a senior lecturer in the Department of Geography, Planning & Sustainability within the School of Earth & Environment (SEE). "We've been looking at how water can have physiological, psychological and perhaps spiritual benefits on a person's life."

Strolling about Rowan Pond, participants took part in various water-related activities. They sat in a rock circle, following prompts to connect with the sensory experience of the environment, and assessed the degrees to which water made them feel calmness, happiness and fear. Participants potted plants and watered them from the pond.

Bucknum said throughout the spring semester, students visited the pond to observe how people use the space and to plan BioBlitz activities.

Throughout the April 24 program (Earth Day was April 22), Bucknum asked students to reflect on water's meaning to them. First year student Ciara Mulligan recalled childhood vacations from Atlantic City to the beaches of Ireland and playing in the creek in her backyard.

"I wanted to stay in the pool from the time it opened until the time it closed," she recalled.

Victoria Basara, a sophomore Community & Environmental Planning major, said she often visits the pond outside Rowan Hall to just look upon the water and talk with friends.

"If no one was there I would still feel a connection with the water, but it's more meaningful with friends," she said.

In addition to activities around the pond, more than 100 attendees captured data for future research by scanning plant and animal species with the iNaturalist app, making nearly 1,000 observations of more than 360 plant and animal species in the nearby woods.

Other BioBlitz activities included a walking tour of native plants around Discovery Hall and a tour of historic trees, a campus tradition that began in the 1960s. Two self-guided activities, a nature walk and an olfactory tour, rounded out BioBlitz events.

"Both the Hydrophilic Water Walk and (the daylong BioBlitz program) were developed to promote self-reflection on the natural world and our role in it," Bucknum said.

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