Butterfly lovers become citizen scientists by logging sightings on eButterfly

Prudic: There are people who photograph, observe and sometimes chase butterflies for fun. Personally, I find joy in my tiny butterfly neighbors. The thrill of watching them find a flower or court a mate or just bask in the early morning light is just good, plain fun — and probably benefits my well-being.

Prudic: Citizen scientists have contributed about 1 million observations to eButterfly since we started in 2012. We have a variety of data quality control measures in place to ensure correct species identification such as photo verification, mathematical models and expert opinion. One fabulous thing we’ve noticed is, if someone reports seeing something rare, it inspires others to go find it and take a photo to share.

Prudic: Butterflies, and most other insects, are amazing. They do many unnoticed services for people like pollinating and converting plants into protein for other animals like birds, mammals and lizards to eat. Researchers use data from eButterfly to create models describing where butterflies are now and where they might be in the next 10, 20 or 50 years. This information is then shared with land managers to help them make decisions about habitat restoration and conservation, ideally to help butterflies and other pollinators survive and reproduce.

Prudic: We can. Using a programming language called “R,” it’s possible to visualize a migration of, say, monarchs or painted ladies in real time. We are working on making this something you can see on your phones along with your local weather predictions. Sunny with a chance of monarchs!

Prudic: I see citizen scientists being integral to scientific discovery and dissemination. Science has always been collaborative and now it’s democratized to more people. We still follow the scientific method, we still collect data at standards suitable for scientific discovery, we still discover new knowledge. But now we do it better. Conversations with citizen scientists help professional scientists consider a different perspective, which can lead to novel discoveries and innovations. Think of it as the power of intellectual pollination.

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