There are many ways to express love for butterflies, and the way many of us choose is to act and protect them.
There are many ways to protect butterflies and nature, and the scientific way is to act and convince decision-makers, with the help of studies, status reports, and opinions, based on data from the field, and to recommend courses of action to protect them.
Continuous, patient, and long-term activity
Scientific studies on topics such as the state of butterflies in our environment require continuous, patient, and long-term activity of collecting, counting, and accumulating data in the field on their condition, in every place and season. And as the data increases, the scope for researchers to conduct broader and deeper analysis to identify vulnerabilities, impacts, threats, and risk factors will expand.
Scientific foundation in nature conservation research requires the collection of extensive data over a long period of time and across a large geographical area.
Citizen science = the lifeline to the plight of nature conservation research
Threats to biodiversity are increasing and becoming more real, and species extinctions are occurring all the time, to our dismay.
However, the scientific community always operates under constraints and limitations of human resources and budget, and falls short of reaching out and sampling, counting, and collecting data on the required scale, anywhere and at any time, for research and analysis that require the use of statistical models with data-rich databases.
Because how much data can a group of students collect with a given budget, for a given time, in a given area?
But concerned nature lovers of all ages are/travel/work/pass by all year round, every day in almost every place in every country and enjoy reporting observations, for example of butterflies, at every opportunity and without any reward, other than the satisfaction of sharing and contributing in the belief that in this way we can help science for our own sake.
What is citizen science?
Citizen Science (Citizen science ) It is the name given to the process and the remarkable transformation in the public's perception of its ability to contribute to scientific work. It is a huge, worldwide organization and mobilization of nature-loving volunteers who are eager to help the scientific community in the fight to protect nature.
The idea, which grew out of local initiatives in Europe about 20 years ago, quickly developed into civic engagement with hundreds of thousands of community projects around the world and became a lifeline for researchers and nature conservationists.
The most prominent expression of citizen science contribution is in the high-participation volunteering of citizens to contribute their time and skills to field observations, including: Data collection and reporting. This is how we now obtain a rich, time- and geographically continuous data feed of the databases of field observations by nature enthusiasts in every possible geographical space, every day, all year round. This is how a wealth of research data is collected and flows today, which is needed with increasing urgency to establish struggles with decision-makers.
"Citizen science" is a tremendous data source for advancing research and empowering citizens to protect their environment.
Haifa Butterfly Monitoring Community – Completing the Missing Carmel Slot in the Protective Wall The butterflies in our country
With the establishment of the butterfly monitoring community in Haifa this year (2025), Haifa joins the group of monitoring communities of the project. Citizen science The largest in the country 'National Butterfly Monitoring Program' and expands the butterfly protection network. This is a national initiative (project) that currently operates in close cooperation with The Israeli Center for Citizen Science at the Steinhardt Museum of Nature.
It began in 2009 with a few dozen butterfly enthusiasts and experts and continued with hundreds of volunteers throughout the country and a list of energetic butterfly monitoring communities thirsty for knowledge and curiosity in cities and local and regional councils.
In establishing the community, I owe special thanks to the groomsmen who encouraged, pushed, and helped, Inbal Chen Bergev – The powerful initiative of the "For Me Haifa" project Venga and Yaron Carmi – The directors of "Hai Fe" who also invited me to join the writers here and gave us important leverage and access to the audience of Haifa nature lovers.
Before the green turns to concrete
The green Carmel proudly rises above the sea, the coastal plain and the Jezreel Valley and has always been a fortress of nature and a stable ecological corridor. But real estate initiatives and a whole basket of excuses are now eating away at the greenery from all sides.
Haifa is rich in nature lovers but poor in urban nature surveys and updated and current knowledge about the state of nature in Carmel and, apparently, about the significance and scope of the threats to the flora and biodiversity in Carmel.
Thanks to the monitoring program's close connection with research and nature conservation organizations, the butterfly monitoring community in Haifa will act as a right-hand marker for information from the Carmel and to monitor changes through their status.
Monitoring = systematic and repeated counting at fixed sites
Butterfly monitoring is a first-rate measurement tool forTracking changes In the state of the environment. Not only because butterflies are a distinct ecological marker, but also because they serve as an ecological umbrella for many representatives of biodiversity (mammals, reptiles, insects, and plants) that are less visible and still extremely important as part of the fabric of nature around us.
Butterfly monitoring is an experience in nature and a challenge for the monitor.
Monitoring is a fun outing in nature, while counting. It is the pleasure and experience of being in nature combined with contributing data to science. Butterfly monitoring is half an hour twice a month on a fixed route or in a large garden, close to home. During wartime, many saw it as an escape room and a rest for the soul.
The butterfly monitor communities of the monitoring program are enthusiastic and curious groups that share experiences, photos, and frequent consultations among their members in a community WhatsApp group and social media sites, and hold activities such as guided nature tours and Zoom meetings. Monitors receive personal and group training and an open line for rapid telephone assistance.
The most natural question for any new observer is "How do I learn to identify butterfly species?"
And the initial answer: You learn very quickly to know the butterflies in your environment like the neighbors next door.
In fact, there are plenty of training materials, computer applications, and apps that are available to volunteers at any time.
How to monitor and count butterflies ?
The subject is fascinating and complex, but based on a simple principle.
If we ask 10 people to count butterflies in an open field, we will, of course, get 10 different answers. Because each person will count for a different amount of time, along a different path and distance, and may also observe and count at different distances.
A count has scientific value if it is done using an agreed-upon and uniform method in a way that allows comparison between the different counts. Therefore, we define A counting method called "protocol", for any type of nature survey that requires scientific counting.
The protocol details the requested data and how the observer should conduct himself during the count.
For example: "Stand still for 15 minutes and record how many individuals you counted of each species of butterfly within a radius of 20 meters in each direction from your location." Results: time, location, number of species, and quantity for each species.
Now we can compare counting results in different places, because everyone counted using the same method.
A protocol allows for comparisons between data measured by different people and reduces dependence on the monitor. It is determined by the goals of the study.
Documentation of monitoring data, how is it recorded and where is it sent?
In each of our little pockets is rocket science technology, in the form of a mobile phone.
The use of mobile applications for monitoring and nature surveys and surveys makes the counting task an experience for citizen science volunteers. Moreover, for information systems professionals (and me among them) and for data management purposes, this is a huge leap forward. Because today, application software allows us to extract a wealth of information from the field. Without any need for technical knowledge or even manual typing on the part of the user.
Monitoring and counting of butterflies are done with the active participation of all program volunteers, and all reports are done using three applications (Israel Peer Development), each application serving a different counting method (protocol).
Butterfly monitoring applications are first and foremost a learning tool with a built-in butterfly wiki that includes a photo gallery for each species to help with identification. They provide guidance on the correct implementation of the counting protocol and even know how to identify and alert on "suspicious" abnormalities in the identification of butterfly species. The reporting applications allow the volunteer to enjoy the experience of discovering, identifying and counting butterflies in the wild, because the application itself can discover and record most of the data necessary for researchers, such as: the name of the monitor, time, walking distances, precise location and altitude above sea level, weather conditions and more.
At the end of monitoring, the data is sent to the observation database with the click of a button and is immediately available for viewing.
How andWhere does butterfly monitoring data flow?
The growth of citizen science in Europe prompted a group of butterfly experts and enthusiasts to begin a citizen science project in Israel in 2009 called the "National Butterfly Monitoring Program" with the goal of collecting and building a scientific database of butterfly observation data to aid in research for their protection.
A monitoring program cannot exist without information management and database infrastructure. The data quickly accumulated and the complexity of the documentation increased. Being a central player in the program and an information systems architect, I volunteered to establish the online scientific database to which all butterfly observation reports are sent to this day. Over the years, I have expanded the system software with a long list of applications, especially reporting applications that I created and which have since managed the flow of all observation data from all volunteers to the observation portal/database that I developed and continue to manage (and fund) today. As mentioned, a personal and family life's work.
The 12 years of butterfly monitoring data collected and managed in this observation database of the 'National Butterfly Monitoring Program' starred (alone) this year in the State of Nature report of the State of Israel with a quarter of a million records that I passed on to the researchers of the web, all of which were reported by The monitoring communities and independent volunteers of our monitoring program.
State of Nature Report (quote from the report)
Reports on the state of nature of the fabric – The National Program for Assessing the State of Nature presents trends and processes in the country's ecosystems and provides a snapshot of the state of nature in Israel. The purpose of the reports is to form a scientific basis for formulating interfaces for the intelligent and sustainable management of open spaces and biodiversity in Israel. The fabric is the National Program for Assessing the State of Nature of the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Israel National Foundation, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (NPA).
A bit about trouble in data paradise
The abundance of citizen science data flowing into databases has given rise to a new situation. An influx of data from the public and from sources that do not have proven knowledge and are not scientifically verified, which has raised questions and even justified doubts about the quality of the data from researchers in the scientific community. For example, how to identify and filter out misidentification and other errors. A dedicated technological field, Biodiversity informatics, has developed and focuses on these complex issues, and it is also one of the main topics in my work as an expert onBiodiversity information management (As the information systems manager of the "National Butterfly Monitoring Program" project).
The topic is fascinating and important to Ein Aruch, and for the sake of brevity I will give just one example to illustrate the way of thinking.
How do we handle (using a software mechanism) the question of whether the monitor correctly identified the butterfly species?
Any information about a butterfly sighting includes its location and time of observation. Since we have the distribution map data and the flight months of every species of butterfly in our country, we are able to identify whether the described species is expected to be seen in the location and month listed in the sighting data and compare them to the information known to us. Based on this pattern, we build a software mechanism (algorithm) that identifies whether the sighting is unusual and generates an appropriate alert. For example, if the monitor selects the 'Hermon Blue' in the application and reports it in January in Ramat Gan, then the sighting will be marked as an anomaly (both geographical and seasonal). An anomaly is not necessarily a mistake, but rather a first step for further testing, such as relying on photography.