Nature can be breathtaking, yet most of the time it goes unnoticed.
The first Biological Diversity event (Bio Blitz) was hosted by the Life Science Department on May 22. The goal for this event was to make students aware of nature and the wildlife that inhabit Pierce College.
Life Science Professor Brandon Jones said that it’s important to admire the wildlife that is at Pierce.
“What we’re trying to do is to get people to understand there’s a lot of life here, and there’s a lot of different kinds of life and to kind of appreciate it,” Jones said.
The all-day event had faculty taking students on a tour of different locations around campus.
Jones said that it is this event shows the importance of taking the time to live in the moment.
“A lot of times we get stuck in kind of a rut and we see, things in front of us, but not necessarily the things around us” Jones said. “We see trees, we see people, we see cars, we see concrete. But when you look a little closer you can see the variety. The idea is to find the diversity that we can actually see here on campus”.
Students met with faculty and staff at Building 600 where they had displays of the different types of birds, insects, plants and other animals that are in campus. They also showed pond water from the botanical garden and used a microscope to take a closer look.
Life Science Chair Shannon DeVaney said that the this also educated students on the different types of creatures.
“We hope to get everybody on the campus involved and we’d like to keep doing this in future years” DeVaney said.
Assistant Professor of Anatomy Teak Lee said this is event is crucial because it’s informative.
“This event is important because it gives the campus in general an idea of biology, it exposes the students to the different diversity that’s found on campus in terms of plants, animals, insects and just different organisms that exist,” Lee said.
Lee said the the tours give students a guide of what to look for if they where to go to a specific area by themselves.
“To kind of give the individuals that are participating in this event a specific guided toward these, these walks give them insights into specific parts of the campus,” Lee said.