Through the collaborative effort of ANERIS, GUARDEN, MINKE and ECS, the Barcelona metropolitan area joined the 690 regions worldwide which contributed to the City Nature Challenge 2024 between the 26th and 29th of April, aimed at revealing the nature and biodiversity of cities.

This is the second consecutive year in which Barcelona has joined the friendly competition of the urban biodiversity challenge, adopting the local name of the event BioDiverCiutat. 

Coordinated by ICM-CSIC, a total of 3514 observations were recorded on the citizen science observatory MINKA, representing 739 different species, 50% of which were marine. Through the amazing effort of the volunteer participants, Barcelona recorded the highest number of observations among the 15 Spanish participating regions.

A notable finding from the BioDiverCiutat was the discovery of the Atlantic nudibranch (Tergipes tergipes) for the first time on the Barcelona coast. The finding was made by Xavier Salvador - ANERIS partner and member of ICM-CSIC who shares that “it is not common to find this species in the Mediterranean Sea because it feeds only on certain species of hydrozoans and at shallow depths, limiting its presence to very specific locations."

Find more information about the event, findings and results of the competition in the article by ICM-CSIC.