Over a decade of species discovery with Bush Blitz.

Jo Harding (Bush Blitz); Kate Gillespie (Bush Blitz).

Bush Blitz is Australia’s largest species discovery program. It is a unique multi-million dollar partnership between the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Parks Australia, BHP and Earthwatch Australia to document plants and animals across Australia. There are an estimated 580,000-680,000 species in Australia, with three-quarters of this biodiversity yet to be identified. Forty-five per cent of continental Australia and over 90 per cent of Australia’s marine waters have never been comprehensively surveyed. Since the Program began in 2010 Bush Blitz has undertaken 50 multidisciplinary expeditions supporting the discovery of almost 2,000 putative new species. Through this large body of work thousands of species records have also been added to public databases, increasing scientific knowledge to help protect Australia’s biodiversity for generations to come. Through Bush Blitz research funding the description of thousands of new species has also been supported. As we move into a further 5 years of funding Bush Blitz will expand to incorporate a continuing connection with first nations people to strength research collaborations and on-ground outcomes.