BioBlitz is a citizen science activity that brings together experts, families and schoolchildren in order to carry out a biological inventory of an area and thus raise awareness among society of the importance of biodiversity. At the same time as its role of raising awareness, BioBlitz also has the potential to become an excellent tool for evaluating and monitoring biodiversity. However, this use is generally limited due to a lack of comparability between the samples and a lack of knowledge about efficient sampling. Here we propose a solution to this problem, consisting of developing a standardised and optimised sampling protocol that is easy to apply as part of BioBlitz projects and other citizen science activities that are organised around the world. This protocol is called CEBRA which stands for Citizen Educational Biodiversity Rapid Assessment.

This project has three phases:

1. Testing the application of the protocol and designing the sampling method

2. Collecting samples and generating data

3. Optimising and standardising the protocol

The proposed project focuses on the first phase and has the following main objectives:

1. Demonstrate the applicability of a standardised sampling protocol

2. Design the data collection

3. Create a database for the collected data

4. Develop a preliminary CEBRA for BioBlitz-BCN

An international group of researchers with the necessary experience and knowledge will be in charge of running the project based on samples of arthropods and data collected via BioBlitz-Barcelona and BioBlitz-Nottingham.

In short, the purpose of the project is to boost citizen science activities by creating this initial protocol with the aim of making BioBlitz projects more efficient and educational, and increasing the scientific value of the data thanks to greater comparability and quality of the information. It is about turning BioBlitz into an efficient tool for monitoring nature, especially in urban areas, in a global context of biodiversity loss and degradation.