Biodiversity Challenge 2025
Search, find, and report species! For the third year in a row, SLU is participating in the Biodiversity Challenge, a bioblitz that starts on April 30 and runs until June 27.
Biodiversity Challenge 2025
The Biodiversity Challenge is a bioblitz and a competition between European universities that are members of the Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA). The aim of the challenge is to find and report as many wild species as possible on your campus area between April 30 and June 27. But above all, the Biodiversity Challenge is an opportunity to discover nature. Make sure to take part!
Who can report?
Anyone who wants to can help report species, as long as the observations are made on one of SLU’s campus areas.
What should you look for?
Search for wild plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms. For example, a species planted in a flower bed should not be reported, even if the species can also occur in the wild.
How do you report?
Identify the species you have found and report it to Artportalen (the Swedish Species Observation System). Guidance for species identification and how to report can be found below.
What was reported in 2024?
Last year, 1,958 different species were reported from SLU’s campus areas. One unexpected observation was the Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto), spotted in Umeå. In Sweden, this species is typically found in Skåne, Öland, Gotland, and along the coast from Kalmar to Uddevalla. Other notable finds included the golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus) in Alnarp, rue-leaved saxifrage (Saxifraga tridactylites) in Ultuna, and white-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus) in Skinnskatteberg.
Many of the species found had very few previous reports in Artportalen. One example is the tiny, bright red aquatic mite Limnochares aquatica, with only 14 reported sightings in Sweden! The low number of observations might be due to the species being genuinely rare—or simply overlooked. Another exciting discovery was Massariosphaeria mosana, found on old reed stems. This was likely the fourth record in Sweden, and the first in the province of Uppland.
Of course, many common species were also recorded—and these are just as important to report. You can find the complete species lists from the Biodiversity Challenge 2024 in Artportalen.
Participating universities
18 universities from 14 countries.
- Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague
- University of Reading
- Uni La Salle (campus of Beauvais)
- Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW)
- Hochschule Geisenheim University
- AgroParisTech
- Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy
- University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD)
- National University of Life and Environmental Science Ukraine (NUBIP)
- University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest
- KU Leuven
- University of Latvia
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU)
- Radboud University Nijmegen
- Bordeaux Sciences Agro
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
- Aeres Hogeschool