Sustainability Issue #3 June 2010

This is printed from sustainability.formas.se, last updated 5/28/2010 4:44:53 PM

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Butterfly census

Scarce fritillary. On the website www.lu.se/dagfjarilar and on Facebook, the public can become interested in helping in the summer by noting the number of butterflies in different places.  Photo: Bo Söderström

Butterfly census

In the spring of 2010, a nationwide project on butterflies will begin. The help of the public is needed for this. A researcher at Lund University has been commissioned by the Swedish Environment Protection Agency to take charge of the new programme to monitor the butterfly population in Sweden.

There are about 120 species of butterflies in Sweden. But all is not as well as before in the butterfly world: The beautiful swallowtail and several other species appear to have greatly diminished.  New arrivals such as the map butterfly are rapidly speading towards the north. The Swedish Environment Protection Agency is now embarking on a long term project to enhance knowledge of how the situation for Swedish butterflies changes over time.  By surveying a large number of sites year after year, a more reliable picture of the changes in the butterfly fauna is obtained.

Help is needed!

In order to carry out this comprehensive project, the help of the public is necessary.

- Private persons, schoolchildren, entomologists, bird watchers, all are welcome to take part, says Lars Pettersson, researcher at the Department of Biology, Lund University.

He has recently been commissioned to lead and coordinate the project Swedish Butterfly Census. The Swedish Environment Protection Agency wants to run a long term programme according to the same model as Swedish Bird Census which is a similar environmental monitoring project that covers the whole country. The butterfly project has created a website www.lu.se/dagfjarilar and set up a group on Facebook to provide information on the work and create interest in the census. Everybody who takes part in the project is asked to note the number of butterflies on a certain number of occasions during the summer season, either in a certain place such as the garden at home, or along a predetermined route. The results will be used to evaluate Swedish and European environmental goals and also for scientific purposes.

Responsible for this page: Birgitta Bruzelius

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