Citizen scientists collect vital data on butterfly populations

More than 100 volunteers are collecting data to help experts understand how butterfly populations are changing in New Zealand.

The Big Butterfly Count is organised by the Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust, with help from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.

Using the Butterfly Count app, users record the number of butterflies they see within 15 minutes in one location.

The app includes features where you can record the weather and location of the butterfly's environment.

Insect ecologist and emeritus professor Myron Zalucki says long-term citizen science is important in picking up real population trends in butterflies.

“There are trends, there are oscillations and you will never capture what's [really] going on.”

This year, there has been an increase in volunteers compared to previous years.

“The more pairs of hands and eyes you have out looking, counting, and recording data, the better,” Zalucki says.

The majority of volunteers have been based in urban or semi-urban areas, which host mostly cabbage white butterflies and monarch butterflies.

Founding trustee of Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Jacqui King says she feels positive about the Big Butterfly Count’s effects.

“Initiatives like the Big Butterfly Count will help shift the way New Zealanders think about butterflies.”

Volunteer data analyst Kiran Thodiyil says consistent volunteering over several years will create the best results.

“We can't say if the butterfly numbers have been increasing or declining because it's quite a new stage.

“I felt a sense of something larger than yourself, because you're doing something for the nature, you're doing something for the ecosystem, the nature around you, and in turn the people around you,” he says.

Professor Zalucki says it is important there is continued collaboration between experts and volunteers.

“They like to see the data and see what it's being used for, it's not just sort of disappearing somewhere never to see the light of day - so the more sharing that takes place, the better.”

The Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust intends to run to the butterfly count annually.

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AI was used to transcribe audio from interviews for this story.