The University of Guelph-based Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) will help sponsor Canada’s largest “bioblitz” this weekend, along with the Royal Ontario Museum, the Toronto Zoo and Bird Studies Canada.

The 24-hour event will be held in the Credit River watershed, from Port Credit to the Oak Ridges Moraine, from noon Saturday until noon Sunday.

More than 700 people will take part, including BIO researchers, taxonomic experts, scientists and citizen scientists. Mississaugas of the New First Credit First Nation have endorsed and are participating in the event.

Participants will survey, record and collect specimens of plants, animals and fungi for identification.

Organizers expect to identify more than 2,000 species, information that may be used by local conservation and land management organizations for monitoring of invasive species and species at risk.

BIO is the global headquarters for discovering, identifying and cataloguing species worldwide using DNA barcoding technology developed at U of G. BIO coordinates the International Barcode of Life project, which involves more than 1,000 researchers around the world.