In 1996, The Ohio Lepidopterists in conjunction with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, the Ohio Biological Survey and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, initiated a volunteer-based long-term butterfly monitoring (LTBM) program. The Ohio Lepidopterists provide expertise to train volunteers. Trained volunteers then walk transects once weekly and count butterflies according to a standard protocol based on Pollard and Yates' successful program in the United Kingdom. Over 40 transects throughout Ohio are now under surveillance and a growing database already indicates trends in numbers. A comparison of malaise-trapping with transect surveillance was initiated in 2001 as a check on the reliability of transect monitoring. Analysis of data from 2001 suggests that monitoring is accurate for large and readily detectable species but not for more secretive or hard-to-identify species.
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA