Biodiversity at the Farm

Insect
Insect at the farm
Shell mushroom
Mushroom at the Farm

 

In 2015, Dr. Mike Benard created a Biodiversity project using the INaturalist application. The goal of this project is to document the biodiversity at Case Western Reserve's Squire Valleevue and Valley Ridge Farms. By February 2020, more than 3,800 observations and over 1,000 species have been reported.   

Previous initiatives to identify the University Farm large diversity of plants and animals included the design of several introductory guides, during the summer of 2005, by Jake Kribel, a student in the Department of Biology,

These introductory guides provide baseline information that is helpful to those who want to learn more about the plants and animals found at the farm. These guides include physical descriptions of the organisms, seasonal changes, habitats and location. Species that are not native to this area are identified in the guides as either introduced or non-native.