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uBMS
urban Butterfly Monitoring Scheme
Creaf leader
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The urban Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is a collaborative network of volunteers who join forces to obtain data on butterfly populations in the cities of Barcelona and Madrid. This provides relevant data for evaluating and understanding urban biodiversity and, therefore, management tools that encourage its increase in our cities.
The new global conservation paradigm demands a management of biodiversity beyond the limited protection of threatened species and protected areas. There is a consensus on the potential of cities as a refuge for native biodiversity, and of the need of a new approach for urban planning that facilitates this native biodiversity in the city. Therefore, politicians, scientists and managers around the world propose transforming cities into viable ecosystems for our species.
However, our knowledge about urban biodiversity is still highly limited. Butterflies are one of the best indicators of biodiversity. Given the growing interest of citizens to participate in environmental projects, uBMS proposes to create a network of volunteers who prospect butterflies in two big cities, Madrid and Barcelona. Thus, relevant data will be obtained to evaluate urban biodiversity and we will sensitize the public about its value.
The Observatory is an initiative of CREAF, led by Dr. Yolanda Melero, in collaboration with the Granollers Natural Sciences Museum, the Complutense University of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Madrid. The project is supported by the Fauna Monitoring Group of the Complutense University of Madrid, the Catalan Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (CBMS) and the Spanish BMS, and the European project Butterfly Conservation Europe. It started in 2018 with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment, and is currently funded by the Barcelona City Council.
