Mayo schoolchildren participate as ATU hosts Tree Bioblitz

Atlantic Technological University (ATU) are today hosting Tree Bioblitz at five of its campuses across the west and northwest, bringing together schoolchildren, their teachers and ATU staff to record and celebrate the beauty of trees on university grounds.

Gaelscoil Raifteirí in Castlebar (Mayo), Renmore National School (Galway), Ballyrainens National School (Letterkenny), St. Brendan’s National School (Sligo) and Letterfrack National School (Galway) are all participating in this inspiring biodiversity endeavor.

As part of the EU GREEN University Alliance, these young learners are discovering their native trees while also contributing to a European-wide biodiversity citizen science project.

Children across Europe are joining hands to record the trees in EU GREEN university campuses located in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Poland, Romania and Germany.

Professor Frances Lucy, EU GREEN lead for ATU, commented: “In the autumn trees are at their most colourful, and ATU designed this citizen science event together with our alliance partners to share our biodiversity knowledge with local communities.

“One of the main aims of EU GREEN is to engage with our regions to promote sustainability and when children learn citizen science skills from events like this, they become environmental champions for life.”

The combined tree results will be recorded using a biodiversity app, and EU GREEN will produce an open source report which will be freely available.

The success of Tree Bioblitz week demonstrates the power of collaboration and the importance of engaging with local communities to drive sustainability initiatives.

ATU and its EU GREEN partners look forward to more opportunities for such initiatives that connect people with the environment and contribute to the preservation of biodiversity. Further details on EU Green are available at http://atu.ie/eugreen.