Spotlight on Karlsruhe's biodiversity

Nature is full of surprises, even in the middle of the city. But how many species of animals, plants, and fungi actually live in Karlsruhe? To find out, the KIT-Center for Humans and Technology (MuT) and the Karlsruhe Natural History Museum launched the first Bioblitz in the city of Karlsruhe as part of the KIT Science Week 2025. The campaign was presented at MobiLab on Friedrichsplatz and was very well received, marking a successful start to this exciting collaborative project.

All citizens are invited to participate in this research campaign until October 2026. Bioblitzes mainly take place in urban areas. The aim is to document as many wild species as possible within a certain period of time.

Participating is easy: register at Observation.org, install the ObsIdentify app, upload photos of wild species, and let AI identify them. It is important that only wild species are photographed.

There are 1.2 million species described worldwide, and it is estimated that there are up to 8.7 million. Many of them are still undiscovered, perhaps even here in Karlsruhe. Bioblitz helps to make this diversity visible, discover new species, and thus support the excellent research being done in Karlsruhe.

Further initiatives are planned throughout the year to accompany the project. Every observation supports research, nature conservation, and our knowledge of Karlsruhe's biodiversity.