Spotlight on Karlsruhe's biodiversity

Person identifiziert Wildpflanze mit Smartphone-App in grünem Pflanzenumfeld.Julia Firmbach

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 Center Humans and Technology (MuT) and the Karlsruhe Natural History Museum jointly launched the Bioblitz in the Karlsruhe city district beginning with the KIT Science Week 2025. The campaign was presented in the MobiLab on Friedrichsplatz and was very well received, a successful kick-off for this exciting cooperation.

All citizens in Karlsruhe are invited to take part in this research project until October 2026. Bioblitzes mainly take place in urban areas. As many wild species as possible are documented within a certain period of time.

Participation is simple: register at Observation.org, download the app ObsIdentify app, upload photos of wild species and have them identified with the help of AI. It is important that only wild species are photographed. The observations of all participants are collected here. You can find the full instruction on participating in the BioBlitz Karlsruhe here.

1.2 million species have already been described worldwide, and there are probably up to 8.7 million. Many of these are still undiscovered, perhaps even here in Karlsruhe. The Bioblitz helps to make this diversity visible, discover new species and thus support excellent research in Karlsruhe.

Over the course of the year, further projects are planned to accompany the project. Every observation supports research, nature conservation and our knowledge of Karlsruhe's biodiversity.

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