DLIA's Biodiversity Days iNaturalist Workshop

Join us for an iNaturalist Workshop
Friday, June 19
Twin Creeks Science Center *
1 pm - 4 pm

iNaturalist is an online social network of people sharing biodiversity information to help each other learn about nature. It’s also a crowdsourced species identification system and an organism occurrence recording tool. You can use it to record your own observations, get help with identifications, collaborate with others to collect this kind of information for a common purpose, or access the observational data collected by iNaturalist users.

Free iNaturalist Training Session Available, Friday, June 19:

Come learn about iNaturalist from Jonathan Carpenter, iNaturalist expert. There will be a short introduction followed by a chance to get outside and use iNaturalist in “the field”. The workshop will then move back indoors so participants can learn about uploading their field observations and other tasks in iNaturalist.

iNaturalist will be utilized in our upcoming two Bioblitzes for 2015:

9 a.m. - 6 p.m., Saturday, June 20 and July 11 – It’s totally FREE and we invite everyone (no experience necessary) to join us to celebrate the importance of biodiversity formally through the BioBlitz! Registration required. Call 865-430-4756 or e-mail heather@dlia.org.

* The Twin Creeks Science and Education Center is located at Great Smoky Mountains National Park Research area about a mile or so up the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail from Gatlinburg, TN.

DLIA’s mission is to discover and understand America’s species through science and education for conservation. DLIA’s flagship project, the ATBI, is a joint effort with the National Park System to identify and record every single species within the Park. To date, DLIA has added an astonishing 8,095 new species to the park’s records, and an even more astonishing 951 species new to science.

Biodiversity Days in the Smokies , June 18 -20 - Biodiversity in practical sense means to preserve the flora and fauna in the ecosystem as we humans are engaged in the process of utilizing the natural resources. Biodiversity Days provides the platform for visitors to have a fresh outlook on the various obscure species and their importance.

What does the area around Great Smoky Mountains National Park have in common with Malaysian jungles? Answer: synchronous fireflies.

Date: June 6 (5th & 7th sold out!) ... Time: from 7:30-11 p.m.
The non-profit organization Discover Life in America is sponsoring events that allow guests to experience and explore the mystery behind the synchronous fireflies. "We know of 19 species of fireflies — actually, they're a unique group of beetles — currently inhabiting the area around the park," says former Smokies curator Adriean Mayor. "There are 12 species that 'flash' and seven species with no 'flash.' This 'flashing' phenomenon is caused by a chemical reaction in the fireflies' lower abdominal organs called bioluminescence."

So why don't fireflies in the average backyard synchronize? What makes the fireflies in the park so special? Those questions and more will be answered at a DLIA fundraising event that also features the firefly. With exclusive access to the property and a firefly expert on site, attendees will be able to learn the answers to questions while enjoying the amazing “flashing” display firsthand.

Make your reservation now while spots are still open! The cost is $100 per person. For reservations or more information, email Todd at todd@dlia.org or call (865) 430-4757.

... and Don't forget about our Future Events:
June 19 - iNaturalist training at Twin Creeks, near Gatlinburg, TN
June 20 – TVA/DLIA Bioblitz: Raven Rock Small Wild Area (NC)
July 11 – TVA/DLIA Bioblitz: Whites Creek Small Wild Area (TN)
September 4 and 5 – Biodiversity Hike and Overnight, Mt. LeConte Lodge

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DLIA’s mission is to discover and understand America’s species through science and education for conservation. DLIA’s flagship project, the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory, is a joint effort with the NPS to identify and record every single species within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. To date DLIA has assisted in adding over 8,095 new species to the park’s records and 951 new to science.

The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation is pleased to announce our upcoming “Biodiversity Days” on April 24th and 25th at Duke University and the Nicholas School of the Environment in Durham, North Carolina.

Discover Life in America's Executive Director, Todd Witcher, will be one of  the speakers at this event.

For more info click on the following web link. http://eowilsonfoundation.org/events/biodiversity-days-events-april-24-april-25-2015/.

Rob Dunn Event in Knoxville. March 21 (TBD) - Biologist Rob Dunn’s book, Every Living Thing, is the story of man’s obsessive quest to catalog life, from nanobacteria to new monkeys. In the tradition of E.O. Wilson, this engaging and fascinating work of popular science follows humanity’s unending quest to discover every living thing in our natural world.

Click Here for more info on Rob.

Click Here for info on the ATBI Conference that precedes this event.

Come join us at an event that joins Gatlinburg Community Business Leaders from the local Chamber of Commerce with Park and Science Professionals.  The event is being hosted by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at their impressive Twin Creeks Science and Education Center from 5:00 to 7:00 PM.  It will be a good time of showing support and appreciation for what makes the Gatlinburg area such a tourist hot spot as well as an ideal science and research destination.

ATBI CONFERENCE, MARCH 19-21 AT THE PARK VISTA IN GATLINBURG ...
with keynote speaker Rob Dunn, scientist, author, and professor.  The Annual ATBI Conference highlights the groundbreaking work of Discover Life in America with presentations from world renowned scientists, field trips, teacher and citizen workshops, and much, much more. Stay tuned! As we continue to build the conference agenda, we will keep updating the web links at the bottom.

Theme:

"Every Living Thing" - named after the title of one of Dr. Dunn's books.

More Conference Information

Researchers from around the world will gather to celebrate the organization’s conservation-based mission, its contribution to the greater scientific community, and its ongoing educational outreach pertaining to the unique biological diversity of GSMNP and beyond. DLIA researchers developed a powerful tool for documenting myriad forms of life within given ecosystems in the 1990s—the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI). Due to interest growing in this tool beyond the GSMNP, organizers expect scientists from around the world to attend the conference.

Scientists consider the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to be one of the most biodiverse places in North America. It is here that DLIA is working to inventory all species that exist in the park. The ATBI seeks to inventory the estimated 60,000 to 80,000 species of living organisms in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The project continues to develop checklists, reports, maps, databases, GIS tools, and natural history profiles that describe the biology of this rich and diverse ecosystem.

Conference participants will present broadly on a variety of topics, including the taxa that comprise GSMNP and other national parks and protected areas; species inventory and climate change; the human impact on biodiversity and community composition; and the use of technology in science.

Keynote Speaker Dr. Rob Dunn

Dr. Rob Dunn helps others grasp the complexity of the living world and of the people who study it. For Dr. Rob Dunn, the world remains a captivating place full of surprises. “Mystery,” the N.C. State University biologist likes to say, “still lurks around ordinary corners.” Exploring those corners through research and writing is perhaps what Dunn does best. An assistant professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Dunn is by training an ant scientist who investigates, as he puts it, “small, strange and sometimes obscure interactions in the living world — but interactions that matter in some bigger way.” Please join us for "A Special Evening with Dr. Rob Dunn" at the East TN History Center (Knoxville) on March 21, 2015.

For more about Dr. Dunn, Click Here.

2015 Conference Info Links

Registration for the Conference - .pdf file - (online)

Call for ATBI Presentation Proposals

Venu: The Park Vista

Field Trips

Teacher Scholarship Application

Business After Hours Event

Conference Presentations Schedule

Great Smoky Mountains Science Colloquium Sessions

Please come visit us at our exhibit table at Wilderness Wildlife Week at the LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  Executive Director Todd Witcher will make a DLIA presentation on Thursday the 30th.

This year's Great Smoky Mountains Salamander Ball will be held at the Knoxville Zoo in Knoxville, TN.
It is a fund-raising event for the whole family!
Details are soon to come.

Please join us for our annual trek and overnight to Leconte Lodge.

Ever wonder what it would be like to stay overnight at the highest inn in the Eastern United States? How about doing so with a guided hike up one of Mount Le Conte’s most scenic trails? Join Discover Life in America for all this and more on our annual Biodiversity Hike to Mt. Le Conte, August 23  and 24, 2014.(cost of $275/person)

Discover Life in America (DLIA) works with scientists and volunteers from around the world to coordinate the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) for Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). The ATBI is one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to document and understand every living species in GSMNP, and it is through events like our annual hike to Mt. Le Conte that we hope to educate anybody interested in the importance of biodiversity to both this great park and the greater humankind.

The trip begins with a guided hike up Alum Cave Trail with an experienced guide giving the natural history, local human history, biodiversity lessons and much more along the way. We’ll be having a picnic lunch on the way up, an evening sunset program on the ATBI at Clifftops, and a chance to meet some new friends while learning a thing or two. You’ll be provided with handmade note cards from DLIA, and lodging with dinner and breakfast. All this for the price of $275 per person, and you will be supporting both DLIA and the Smokies ATBI program.

Reserve your spot now while spots are still open! For reservations or more information, e-mail Todd at todd@dlia.org or call (865) 430-4757. Sleeping arrangements will be shared, so bring or friend or get ready to make a new one!