Current Nature: The 2026 Inter-Island BioBlitz - ACK Vs. MV

The first annual Inter-Island Bioblitz has officially concluded. After years of the Nantucket BioBlitz, for the first time ever, Martha’s Vineyard joined Nantucket for some friendly inter-island competition to record life across both islands and see who would emerge as the biodiversity boss!

Using the iNaturalist app and database, island-wide BioBlitzes on Nantucket began in 2020, led by the Linda Loring Nature Foundation and the Nantucket Land and Water Council. Every summer, we set out to engage the community and encourage them to get out in nature and take pictures of what they see! You can see each project and the numbers recorded every year here.

BioBlitzing is a great way to document what’s on the island at this time of year. And because we’re building on years of data, these observations can help us identify trends, changes, and shifts in timing of species present. So while it’s a fun and easy way to get involved, the observations we’re all making are also contributing valuable scientific data!

For 2026, we decided to switch things up and add a little friendly island-versus-island competition to the mix - all in the name of inspiring participants to get out there, make more observations, and document even more species!

The Linda Loring Nature Foundation partnered with BiodiversityWorks’ Martha’s Vineyard Atlas of Life, who led the effort on the MV side. Both organizations found that the friendly competition really helped drive participation, and by the end of the BioBlitz, we were blown away by the number of people who took part, the observations they submitted, and the incredible diversity of species recorded. It was truly a community-wide effort on both islands.

Matt Pelikan, Community Naturalist at BiodiversityWorks, said, “Thanks to the 154 hard-working Vineyard observers whose contributions helped the right island win the first-ever Inter-Island BioBlitz! But I’d also like to congratulate Nantucket on their incredible effort. It’s amazing that after two weeks and hundreds of observer-hours of fieldwork, this event was decided by a difference of less than two percent in the number of species. It’s a tribute to Nantucket’s hard work that, with a smaller island and fewer participants, they compiled substantially more total observations than the Vineyard did.

In addition to being a competition, of course, this event was also a collaborative celebration of the distinctive biodiversity of the Islands Region. In aggregate, we added 16,592 observations to iNaturalist while documenting 2,835 species. A total of 268 observers helped provide this powerful boost to the study of regional biodiversity. In this important sense, both islands won.

We’re grateful to our friends at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation for proposing this fun and valuable project, and we look forward to defending our title in 2027.”

So while Martha’s Vineyard ultimately came out on top for a total species count of 1,698, Nantucket also had an impressive showing of our own. This year, 116 observers joined the Nantucket BioBlitz effort and together recorded 8,390 observations representing 1,675 species across the island. Even though the Vineyard had more species, Nantucket had more overall observations; something that we are very proud of. That’s also more than twice as many observations and species as our previous highest year on Nantucket!

One thing to note about iNaturalist and the numbers reported is that it can still change. While we have declared our winner, based on a set day and time, numbers vary slightly as more observations taken during the BioBlitz get uploaded, and observations in general get identified and upgraded to research grade. The final species number may fluctuate a bit for either island, but in the end, we’re all winners!

We’ve just started digging into the data reviewing more than 8,000 records. Here are a few interesting highlights as of now.

Plants made up the largest group of observations on Nantucket (50%), while insects took the top spot on Martha’s Vineyard (43%). Nantucket led the bird observations with 6% to MV’s 4% of observations. A lot has been made of the fact that MV has many more mammals than Nantucket, but they only observed 16 mammals to our 10, so not overly different. Other categories (arachnids, mollusks, fish, and fungi) were all similar in terms of percentage of observations.

The insect versus plant numbers belie the expertise available on each island. Nantucket has many botanists and even a few experts who happened to be on island during the BioBlitz. Martha’s Vineyard boasts some entomological experts and enthusiasts which is lacking on Nantucket.

Our most observed species was Northern Bayberry, a familiar sight across Nantucket’s coastal landscapes. These differences between the islands could even inspire new areas of focus in future BioBlitzes. Maybe Nantucket’s plant enthusiasts will be encouraged to spend a little more time searching for insects, while Martha’s Vineyard’s insect enthusiasts take a closer look at the plants around them. A little friendly competition might be just the motivation we need to explore something new!

Some exciting submissions for Nantucket were endangered species found here but not on the Vineyard. State-endangered species like our prickly pear cactus (Opuntia cespitosa) and slender marsh pink (Sabatia campanulata) were submitted by conservation professionals. Other interesting finds were marine and estuary species like sandbar sharks, bluefish, black seabass, and american eels which were found on Nantucket but missing from MV. Or maybe we’re just better anglers.

The number of observations also varied across Nantucket geographically. Tom Nevers had the fewest observations this year, as well as Coatue and portions of Nantucket Harbor making these potential areas for more exploration in the future. Who knows what species might be waiting to be found?

But the BioBlitz is about more than keeping score. It’s about getting outside, paying attention to the natural world around us, and realizing just how much life is here on Nantucket. With more than a hundred people contributing observations, we were able to capture a snapshot of the incredible biodiversity that shares the island with us.

So, whether you were out searching for birds, flipping rocks for bugs, photographing wildflowers, or just noticing something interesting on your walk, thank you for being part of this historic inter-island BioBlitz! We’re looking forward to returning the trophy to its rightful home next year…