by Rashid Poulson and Bella Ciabattoni
In late summer 2025, Brooklyn Bridge Park (BBP) was thrilled to partner with Macaulay Honors College (MHC) to host a 25-hour species survey, appropriately named The Bioblitz!
Since 2013, Macaulay Honors College partners with one New York City park each year to conduct an annual BioBlitz. An ecological assessment of greenspaces, it provides sophomore students the opportunity to participate in citizen science, providing transformative, real-world experiences and educating them about the science of ecology in the city, by cataloguing as many species as possible within the event time-period.
The Bioblitz brings forth an understanding of the vitality of urban green spaces through showcasing its species diversity, habitat value, and functionality through hands-on interactions. In 2016, Brooklyn Bridge Park hosted its first Bioblitz with Macaulay Honors College, that produced a dataset of 248 species observed and logged across a partially developed park and a juvenile landscape composed of mostly resilient native plants. This past season, nine years later and fully built with established and thriving ecosystems, Brooklyn Bridge Park was the first site to be revisited by the Honors Program!
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Working alongside BBP’s Horticulture and Education Department, nearly 500 students descended on BBP, studying many walks of life in the park like birds, spider, fish, mammals, and even lichen and algae. We were absolutely astonished with a count of 499 species observed across 42 classes of organisms – not including the 2,320 genera of bacteria surveyed from the East River’s marines and BBP’s Freshwater Wetlands, to eventually be added to the final species count once verified.
This event continues to be a victory for NYC greenspaces, as it infers the importance of organic land care practices and stewardship that uplifts ecology through thoughtful plant selection that encourages habitat. At BBP, knowing what organisms are present in the park gives us a stronger guiding light in what to plant and how to manage the landscapes in ways that cause the least harm and foster the healthiest urban habitats possible.
Highlights included finding:
- Palaemon paludosus, Glass Shrimp, found in Freshwater to slight brackish water from Florida to New Jersey native range, now observed in NYC
- Intriguing fungi like Panellus stipticus, which is bioluminescent and develops on deadwood
- Continued evidence of the revitalization of NYC’s estuaries along the waterfront and freshwater ponds interior to BBP with Clamitans, Green Frogs, having year-round resources
- 15 different species of Lichen, that come to the park from trees procured through nurseries in sub-rural areas of the tri-state
- Lasionycteris noctivagans, Silver-haired bats, which seasonally roost in the Park
A big thanks to the dedicated staff at Macaulay Honors College, Brooklyn Bridge Park, field specialists, and partners who made this possible.
Read the full report of our findings – and their exciting implications towards BBP’s ecosystems and significance as an urban greenspace!
Dive into the date by downloading a spreadsheet of our findings here.
To learn more visit Macaulay’s Honors College,The Science Forward Program, The Bioblitz, STEAM Festival. If you are interested in hosting a future Bioblitz, learn more here.
