India—a megabiodiverse country—is host to a spectacular number of butterflies, many of them endemic. Butterflies of India is a peer-reviewed biodiversity platform that is designed to disseminate comprehensive information on the biology of butterflies, encourage their observation to study natural history, gather population and distributional data in a centralized database, and spread awareness about butterfly conservation. It is developed by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies (“IFoundButterflies”), a group of butterfly biologists and naturalists. It is a model of citizen science, where ordinary citizens participate in gathering scientific data on a free, yet authentic, online platform.
Image credits:
Krushnamegh Kunte
Citizen science and biodiversity informatics for research, outreach and conservation of Indian butterflies
Year of Initiation:
2009
Project Coordinator:
Prof. Krushnamegh Kunte
E-mail Address:
Role in the project:
Chief Editor
Institutional Affiliation:
Indian Foundation for Butterflies, and National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR, Bengaluru
Taxa:
butterflies
Status:
Active
No. of participants:
Above 1000
Geographical spread of project:
ALL INDIA
Run through an umbrella platform:
Biodiversity Atlas - India
Purpose of the project:
(a) To provide a species-based bioinformatics platform that is designed for aggregating, displaying and analysing peer-reviewed data on Indian butterflies, and (b) To build a strong community around research and conservation of Indian butterflies through citizen science and outreach.
Coordinating institution/organisation:
Indian Foundation for Butterflies, and National Centre for Biological Sciences
Location of the coordinating institution/organisation(s):
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Data availability:
Available upon request, without a fee
Participation in language other than English:
No
Appropriate age groups of participants:
All age groups
Citizen participation through:
Website
Why should people participate:
This is an advanced biodiversity informatics platform, home-grown and custom-made to serve native citizen scientists, and hosted in a national research institution. The focus is on collecting data on numerous aspects of butterfly biology and therefore it is helpful in serving long-term goals of research and conservation.
Prior knowledge or expertise required:
No prior preparation or expertise is required, although prior experience will help contributors and users get more out of this platform. Thus, beginning as well as advanced naturalists, nature lovers, students and practicing scientists can participate in this project.