Searching for Butterflies: The West Virginia White
West Virginia White butterfly populations are declining in Vermont due to various factors, including invasive species, deforestation, and forest fragmentation. As VCE’s Spatial Science Intern, I spent my summer working with community science observations from several platforms, such as eButterfly and iNaturalist, to create a species distribution model for the West Virginia White in the state. This model incorporated bioclimatic variables and host-plant distributions to reveal areas within Vermont that may be suitable for these butterflies today and into the future.
