ITU BioBlitz 2026 was held for the fifth time at ITU Ayazağa Campus, once again documenting the rich biodiversity of our campus. Organized annually since 2022 as part of the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22, this year’s event took place on May 21. Held for the first time in rainy weather, ITU BioBlitz brought together members of the ITU community with expert researchers to observe, photograph, and record the flora, fauna, and fungi on campus on the iNaturalist platform. More than 1,000 observation records, representing over 200 species, were collected during the event, highlighting both the biodiversity on the Ayazağa Campus and the ITU community’s strong interest in nature.

Organized in collaboration with the ITU Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences and the ITU Commission on Biological Diversity and the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Ecosystems, the event enabled participants to explore the campus ecosystem in different working groups. Aiming to identify as many species as possible in a single day, BioBlitz brings scientific observation and citizen science together, making an important contribution to biodiversity monitoring. Through ITU BioBlitz events, the living diversity of Ayazağa Campus is documented regularly, while the data collected provide a strong basis for making the campus's ecological value more visible and for supporting efforts to conserve and sustainably use it.