Image: Louise Docker [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Citizen science project will aid habitat protection and species identification, says award-winning science author
A free mobile phone app that aims to build an improved and updated national database of butterfly species has been developed by entomologists at the Australian National University in Canberra.
The citizen science project follows concerns raised earlier this year by ANU scientist Michael Braby in a submission to a Senate inquiry into challenges facing biodiversity conservation.
In his submission, the award-winning science author stressed the need to involve more Australians in community research projects to identify and track the nation’s insect species.
Braby was involved in developing the Butterflies Australia app for the ANU and much of the detail that it uses is based on his research. He is the author of The Complete Field Guide to Butterflies of Australia, the first comprehensive guide for species occurring throughout the country and on remote islands. The guide was published in 2004 and an updated edition came out in 2016.
Launching the butterfly app in Canberra at the Australian Academy of Science, Braby said the project would contribute valuable data for butterfly conservation and habitat protection.
“There is a critical need to get accurate information on the distribution of butterflies. Such data will assist in conservation planning and decision-making regarding land use,” he said.
“It will also help us assess how species are changing over time, for example, in relation to climate change.”
Australia has more than 400 butterfly species, ranging from large tropical swordtails and swallowtails to brilliantly coloured jezebels and small grass-blue species with wingspans of around 14 millimetres.
The ANU app includes a comprehensive field guide based on Braby’s research and links to a website where details of butterfly sightings can be recorded. The project is coordinated by Chris Sanderson, a researcher with the ANU’s college of science.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to get involved,” Sanderson said in a university statement.
“We’ve got plenty of catching up to do. In the Atlas of Living Australia there are currently less than 250,000 records for butterflies, compared to 40 million for birds.”
The online atlas is hosted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and is a national database for Australian plants and wildlife.