Photo provided by eButterfly team
NORWICH, VT – An international team of biologists, software engineers, and computer scientists at e-Butterfly.org released a butterfly monitoring mobile app assisted by artificial intelligence that helps users identify butterflies and share their observations directly from smartphones while out in the field.
The new eButterfly Mobile app makes it easier than ever to record and create lists of butterflies you find and upload them to eButterfly, a global online database for butterfly records used by thousands of enthusiasts worldwide for over a decade. This free app helps you keep track of your butterfly-watching in real-time while making your data available for scientific research, education, and conservation.
The simple and easy-to-use eButterfly Mobile allows you to create and submit lists and counts of butterflies you find on the go. Simply select when and where you are butterfly-watching and add the butterflies you encounter. When you are finished, your butterfly counts, images, and effort are all shared with your account on the eButterfly platform.
“The new e-Butterfly is the perfect long-term monitoring tool for individuals to contribute data on butterfly observations worldwide for decades to come,” said Rodrigo Solis, e-Butterfly Human Network and Data Coordinator. “This will be an essential and wonderful opportunity for people to get involved in science, appreciate nature, and interact with and enjoy biodiversity.”
The new app incorporates artificial intelligence, helping users automatically identify butterfly photos taken with their devices. eButterfly, in partnership with the Montréal Institute for Learning Algorithms (Mila), created an advanced image recognition algorithm that has learned to identify butterflies. This algorithm was trained using millions of butterfly pictures to identify unique patterns and characteristics for each species.
“I am very excited for this new app from eButterfly, using AI to help democratize butterfly observation at a global scale, and in turn opening the door for a wealth of data on butterfly biodiversity from citizen scientists,” says David Rolnick, Assistant Professor and Canada CIFAR AI Chair in the School of Computer Science at McGill University and Mila.
“Changes in butterfly diversity act as early warning signals for habitat degradation, climate change, and other ecological threats,” explains Kent McFarland, director of VCE’s Vermont Atlas of Life and eButterfly. “By collecting observations in its growing open-access database, eButterfly is a powerful resource for naturalists, educators, students, lepidopterists, conservationists, land managers, and policymakers to mitigate the rapid loss of insect biodiversity documented worldwide.”
e-Butterfly.org offers its growing user community lists, photos, and real-time maps of butterflies from a database expected to amass millions of records gathered from tens of thousands of observers. The site allows users to submit and organize their butterfly observations and photos and share them with others. Experts and other users also help with butterfly identification.
“eButterfly is the tool for any butterfly enthusiast, from beginners looking for help with butterfly identification to experts who may want to plan their outings based on what species are active on any date at any particular location,” said Maxim Larrivée, director of the Insectarium | Montréal Space for Life and eButterfly.
To learn more about the app and how to use it, visit e-Butterfly.org and watch the app launch webinar.
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Photos of the app and butterflies are available in this folder. Use of the provided images is protected by copyright and permitted only within stories about the content of this press release. Redistribution or any other use is prohibited without express written permission of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies or the copyright owner. For additional images, please contact .
