Can you imagine any better way of spending a sunny summer day than walking around in a grassland counting butterflies? No, I did not think so either! That is in fact what I have been doing the entire summer.  Butterflies are not only incredible beautiful, they also have a very interesting way of life. The adult butterfly lay eggs which develop into larva, pupa, and finally new adult butterflies emerge. Butterflies are known to react fast to changes in the environment since these different lifestages often have very specific demands concerning food plants and habitats. This sensitivity makes butterflies to useful indicators when looking at for example environmental conditions, biodiversity and climate change. Sadly enough many butterflies have a hard time surviving nowadays due to the decling amount of suitable habitats caused by changes in land use and agricultural intensification. In order to preserve butterflies we need to find a good way of monitoring changes. Butterflies have different flight periods during the season, and they are also sensitiv to weather conditions during sampling. In my project I have tried to find out more about how butterfly monitoring should be performed.

Many thanks to Stiftelsen Oscar och Lilli Lamms Minne who has supported my project financially.

If you are interested in my project please check out the links to the left for more information.