These downloadable PDFs include a number of documents that may be useful when making sense of the specimens discovered during your BioBlitz.
Downloads
The Insect ID Flowchart will help your students get to the taxonomic level of order for identification.
Insect Order ID Flow Chart (PDF 806 KB)
The antennae & mouthparts, along with the Insect Characteristics, will be helpful if you try IDing to family or have conversations about important characteristics for invertebrate identification. The tracks sheet will be helpful in deciphering some of the signs that animals might have left behind.
Arthropod Identification Tools (PDF 1.5 MB)
Links
These links offer some useful keys for identification of a variety of arthropods. Identifying down to family is usually adequate for recording results in a BioBlitz, but continuing down to genus and species can be a fun challenge for older students.
Insect Characteristics
entomology.unl.edu/scilit/basic-insect-morphology
Arthropod Order Keys
www.amnh.org/learn/biodiversity_counts/ident_help/Text_Keys/arthropod_keyA.htm
www.amnh.org/learn/biodiversity_counts/ident_help/Text_Keys/arthropod_keyB.htm
www.amnh.org/learn/biodiversity_counts/ident_help/Text_Keys/arthropod_keyC.htm
Arthropod Family Keys
www.amnh.org/learn/biodiversity_counts/ident_help/Text_Keys/heteroptera.htm - Bugs
www.amnh.org/learn/biodiversity_counts/ident_help/Text_Keys/neuroptera.htm - Lacewings
www.amnh.org/learn/biodiversity_counts/ident_help/Text_Keys/orthoptera.htm - Crickets & Grasshoppers
esc-sec.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/AAFC_bousquet1990.pdf - Beetles
Taxonomic Keys to Several Canadian Arthropods (various taxonomic levels)
cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca/ejournal.html
Other Identification Guides
www.entsoc.org/syseb/systematics-resources/keys
keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/botw/
Additional Biodiversity Resources
These additional resources are good for validating identifications of specimens, learning more about biodiversity, and as general research tools for animals, plants, & habitats.
Arthropods
novascotiabutterflies.ca/index.html
Nova Scotia Natural History (Landscapes, Plants, Animals, & Habitats)
ojs.library.dal.ca/NSM/issue/view/349 - Natural History of Nova Scotia: Volume 1
Plants & Trees
ojs.library.dal.ca/NSM/pages/view/Plants - Nova Scotia Plants
novascotia.ca/natr/forestry/treeid/Trees_Of_Acadian_Forest2.pdf - Trees
Birds
www.natureinstruct.org/dendroica/spec.php/Canada