This project aims to analyze butterfly richness and abundance variances between urban, suburban, and rural areas. Together with other information such as air quality data and data collected by partner institutions, we hope to use butterflies as an indicator species of general environmental health. Butterflies are sensitive to many factors and can indicate shortcomings in environmental health which also plays a role in human health. We hope to identify factors that make an environment butterfly-rich and butterfly-abundant to therefore identify factors that must be improved upon in different environmental types to best serve the community and wildlife.
Butterfly abundance and richness in urban, suburban, and rural environments