1. Butterfly Monitoring
  2. BMS schemes

BMS schemes

 

Butterfly Monitoring Schemes

 

Butterflies are among the best-monitored insect groups thanks to long-term monitoring schemes that have run for decades in some countries. The first Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (BMS) began in the United Kingdom in 1976 (UKBMS), and since then, this methodology has been adopted in many other countries to monitor butterflies. All use the same standardised survey method, designed by Ernie Pollard, of the Monks Wood Experimental Station in the UK (Pollard and Yates, 1983). This vital information is gathered mainly by citizen scientists (volunteers) who have been trained (or are self-taught) to recognise and identify species and to follow monitoring protocols along butterfly transects.

The European Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, or eBMS, as its name indicates, was born as a network composed of national butterfly monitoring schemes from European countries. However, in recent years, eBMS has expanded to include BMSs worldwide, welcoming monitoring schemes from Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Oceania.

The eBMS network currently comprises 50 monitoring schemes distributed across 44 countries and territories worldwide.

In the list below, clicking on each country/territory will redirect you to its dedicated information hub. There, you will find specific contact information, support materials such as local field guides, and more. Some BMSs have different data collection protocols and support materials for citizen scientists, so please check the information provided by your BMS before participating. To request data from the eBMS database, please go to the eBMS data access policy page to read how to do this. 

 

Europe

  1. Albania
  2. Andorra: Link redirects to Spain BMS given that BMSAnd is coordinated under the Catalonia BMS.
  3. Armenia
  4. Austria: This country hosts two separate monitoring schemes: one is the citizen science-based BMS Austrian Butterfly Conservation (ABC), and the other is Viel-Falter, which is led by the University of Innsbruck.
  5. Belgium: The country has two separate monitoring schemes, one for the Flanders region and one for the Wallonie region.
  6. Bulgaria
  7. Croatia
  8. Cyprus
  9. Czech Republic
  10. Denmark
  11. Estonia
  12. Finland
  13. France
  14. Germany
  15. Greece
  16. Hungary
  17. Ireland
  18. Italy
  19. Latvia
  20. Lithuania
  21. Luxembourg
  22. Malta
  23. Norway
  24. Poland
  25. Portugal
  26. Romania
  27. Serbia
  28. Slovakia
  29. Slovenia
  30. Spain: This country hosts the most butterfly monitoring schemes, with four separate coordinated networks. These are Zerynthia Association, the BMS coordinated by the Society for the Conservation and Study of Butterflies in Spain (SOCEME), the Catalan Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (CBMS, which also coordinates monitoring for Andorra), and the Urban Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UBMS).
  31. Sweden
  32. Switzerland: This country hosts two monitoring schemes: one citizen science-based (CHBMS) and the other the Biodiversitätsmonitoring Schweiz (BDM).
  33. The Netherlands
  34. Turkey
  35. UK

 

Africa

  1. Nigeria
  2. Saint Helena
  3. South Africa

 

America

  1. Ecuador
  2. French Caribbean

 

Asia

  1. Japan

 

Oceania

  1. Australia
  2. New Zealand

 

 

 

 

The world map above, extracted from the Explore Online Data tab, displays the locations of data uploaded to the eBMS database, which includes thousands of records from countries and territories not listed above. If you are part of a coordinated butterfly monitoring scheme in a country or territory not listed above, and would like to be an official member of the ever-growing eBMS network, please get in touch with [email protected].