About the FBMN

Mission

The Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network (FBMN) is dedicated to promoting biodiversity by surveying the health of butterfly populations throughout Florida.

Background

The Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network (FBMN) is a statewide citizen scientist program that trains public volunteers and directly engages university scientists, zoological institution staff members, and conservation land managers in field-based conservation and education targeting butterflies. Established in 2003 by the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the University of Florida in cooperation with Disney's Animal Programs, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the Butterfly Conservation Initiative (BFCI), the FBMN provides a collaborative vehicle to help protect Florida’s dwindling butterfly populations.

Nowhere is this need more evident than in the state of Florida. Ever-increasing human pressures put an elevated strain on the state’s remaining natural resources, particularly in rapidly growing urban landscapes such as Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Naples, Miami and their surrounding communities.  Impact from land use practices such as agriculture, logging, and urban sprawl continue to degrade and fragment the remaining pockets of suitable natural habitat as well as disrupt access to critical food resources and hinder gene flow.

FBMN participants provide up-to-date information on Florida's diverse butterfly fauna. The data collected will be used to assess the distribution and population trends of both common and imperiled species. This information will facilitate the development of appropriate species’ conservation and management strategies.  In doing so, the program directly addresses the core strategic goal of Florida's Wildlife Legacy Initiative: to "prevent wildlife from becoming endangered and to keep common species common."

As a FBMN citizen scientist, you will help researchers and land managers to:

• Facilitate strategic conservation planning
• Develop recovery or management actions
• Identify potential candidate species for listing
• Identify critical remaining populations
• Track temporal changes in abundance or distribution
• Record tropical vagrant or new colonist species
• Identify potential environmental threats (i.e. pesticide/herbicide applications, habitat loss, habitat degradation, etc.)
• Evaluate catastrophic habitat impacts due to weather-related events such as drought, fire or hurricanes

Since its inception, the FBMN has grown to include partnerships or cooperation between the Miami MetroZoo, Brevard Zoo, Lowry Park Zoo, Central Florida Zoological Park, the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Office of Recreational Services, the Florida Natural Areas Inventory, University of Florida’s Department of Entomology and Nematology (IFAS), and various conservation land areas. Total volunteer and AZA-member institution staff member participation in training and field monitoring during 2004 and 2005 involved more than 135 individuals - some 65 citizen scientists and 70 staff members!

We need your help! The success of the Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network relies on trained volunteers and staff members to collect and submit data from direct observations at various sites across Florida, something a small number of scientists could never easily achieve. The techniques are easy to learn and the field work fun to do. In the FBMN, every participant matters. The data you collect matters. By participating in FBMN, you are helping conserve Florida's butterfly populations. Learn more about how to get involved.