Admiral (c) by Ingrid Tschugg

Institution: Blühendes Österreich – BILLA gemeinnützige Privatstiftung

Project lead: Ines Lemberger

Blühendes Österreich
BILLA gemeinnützige Privatstiftung
Schottenring 16/3. Stock
c/o Haus der Philanthropie
1010 Wien

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Go to project website

Current projects

Butterflies of Austria

App for the scientific recording of Austrian butterflies

On behalf of Blühendes Österreich - BILLA gemeinnützige Privatstiftunga, butterfly expert Peter Huemer published a report on the dramatic state of the butterfly fauna in May 2016. In Europe, their number had fallen by half since 1990 and over 50 percent of Austria’s butterflies are acutely threatened with extinction according to the Red Lists. Butterfly habitats have been massively restricted by agricultural intensification, increasing urban sprawl and the drastic loss of species-rich flower meadows in general, and their disappearance, which has received little public attaention to this date, ist described by experts as a clear indication of the imbalance in the entire ecosystem.

Every photo counts

The foundation Blühendes Österreich and the Lower Austrian environmental movement “Natur im Garten" are calling for Austria's first butterfly census with the "Schmetterlinge Österreichs" app.

Whether garden owner or park visitor, farmer, mountain lover or hiker or simply nature lover and butterfly fan - every Austrian can make a contribution to recording the population of Austrian butterflies as a citizen scientist: The app contains around 160 identifiable butterfly species and 32 moths and enables butterfly observations to be reported with just a few clicks and without complicated technical applications. Using an integrated photo function, photos are uploaded to a gallery within seconds and made available to the community and researchers.

Austrian butterfly gallery

Users contribute to the largest Austrian butterfly gallery with their sightings and photos. In less than a second after creating a photo and a sighting report, the data is put online in a gallery and can be shared and discussed with the butterfly community. The gallery is visible in a desktop version as well as on a smartphone. The passion, performance and commitment of each user is made visible and their reports are scientifically evaluated. Making the work of users visible is a major concern for Blühendes Österreich and “Natur im Garten”.

Identification forum

All butterfly lovers are invited to help users of the app with questions about identification or sightings. Blühendes Österreich and "Natur im Garten" seek to establish a lively and communicative butterfly forum with Austrian butterfly lovers. With the smartphone as a constant companion, the direct and simple connection to the community is given.

Citizen Science

By using the app and reporting sightings, each individual user contributes to the valuable recording of Austrian butterfly populations. Blühendes Österreich publishes the sightings as well as an annual evaluation (in cooperation with "Natur im Garten").

The proven experts Dr. Helmut Höttinger, Dr. Peter Huemer and DI Thomas Holzer have been recruited to provide scientific support and advice. Dr. Huemer is also on the board of the Blooming Austria Foundation.

Podcast episode (only available in German)

In November 2022, project coordinator Ines Lemberger was a guest on the Österreich forscht podcast "Wissen macht Leute" and provided many exciting insights into the project - you can listen to the episode here.

Citizen Science Seminar (only available in German)

Ronald Würflinger, secretary general of Blühendes Österreich, gave a lecture on "Austria's Butterflies" as part of the "Citizen Science Seminar" lecture series at BOKU University in 2022: "Of Power of Community, Butterflies and Open Data". You can watch the video recording of the lecture at the bottom of this page.