Bumblebees and butterflies in Norway

Sandra Åström; Jens Åström

doi:10.15468/mpsa4g

Bumblebees and butterflies in Norway

Citation

Åström S, Åström J (2024). Bumblebees and butterflies in Norway. Version 1.8. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/mpsa4g accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-15.

Description

The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (www.nina.no) has conducted area representative surveys of butterflies and bumblebees since 2009, on behalf of the Norwegian Environment Agency (https://www.miljodirektoratet.no/). The monitoring project is designed to provide indicators of bumblebees and butterflies to the Nature Index of Norway (https://naturindeks.no/), which measures the condition of the biodiversity in Norway. The monitoring project is supervised by the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, but the field inventories are done by citizen scientists administered by Sabima (https://www.sabima.no/). More information (in Norwegian) can be found at the project web-page, which also has a rudimentary data display of the projects results (https://www.nina.no/Våre-fagområder/Miljøovervåking-på-land/Humler-og-dagsommerfugler ). The project started in 2009 in the former counties Østfold (now part of county Viken) and Vestfold (now part of county Vestfold and Telemark). Citizen scientists joined the project in 2010, and the project was extended geographically the following year to include also the county Trøndelag. Since 2013, the project also includes the former county of Vest-Agder (now part of county Agder), and county Rogaland. The surveys are currently performed at a total of 52 sites from the Lucas-grid (country covering grid network with 18 km distance between grids) in the lower parts of the regions (i.e. excluding alpine areas). The grid network is made up of square polygons, placed 18 x 18 km apart, where every square is 1.5 * 1.5 km. In each square, a total of 1 km transects (20 transects á 50 m) are placed in suitable environments (approximately evenly distributed between the habitat types open forest- and grassland), where inventories of butterflies and bumblebees are perfomed three times each summer following a standardized protocol. This includes visual identification and sweep netting along the fixed transects. Earlier versions of this dataset contained specific absences of all unobserved taxa within the scope of the study. These are now removed, but can be inferred by the user by adding zeroes for all butterfly species (Papilionoidea) and bumblebee species (Bombus). A recipe for how to download and arrange the data to a more traditional format can be found here: https://github.com/jenast/NBBM_data_export/blob/master/NBBM_GBIF_to_BMS_export.md

Sampling Description

Study Extent

Butterflies and bumblebees are monitored in a total of 52 sites from the Lucas-grid in Norway (country covering grid network with 18 km distance between grids); 17 sites in the region containing former counties Østfold (now part of county Viken) and Vestfold (now part of county Vestfold and Telemark), 18 sites in the county Trøndelag, and 17 sites in the region containing the former county of Vest-Agder (now part of county Agder) and county Rogaland. The sites are selected using a gridded network of 1.5 * 1.5 km squares, placed 18 x 18 km apart. In each square, a total of 1 km transects (20 transects á 50 m) are placed in suitable environments (open forest- and grassland). Butterflies and bumblebees are counted and determined to species. The vegetative cover of flowering plants is also registered during the inventories, as well as weather parameters and the time at the start and end of the recording on the transects. The transects are visited three times during the summer in order to encompass the phenological range of different species, specifically in the spring, mid-summer and late summer.

Sampling

Registration of bumblebees and butterflies are made three times each summer on each transect; in late spring, mid-summer and late summer. The field work is carried out by volunteer personnel instructed to follow a standardized field protocol. The volunteers follow predefined transect lines, which they locate using GPS. To ensure that the counts are standardized as much as possible, transect walks are undertaken between 10.00 and 17.00 and only when weather conditions are suitable for the activity of the monitored insects (above 15 °C, maximum 60 % cloud cover, little wind). During the transect walks, butterflies and bumblebees 2.5 meter to each side and 5 m ahead are registered both in species and number. If necessary, the insects are caught using a sweep net for closer investigation. The total cover of flowering plants (scale from 0-3), weather conditions (temperature and cloudiness), and time is also documented for each transect.

Method steps

These data are collected in a project where butterflies and bumblebees are monitored yearly in three regions of Norway.

Taxonomic Coverages

There are 35 bumblebee species and around 100 butterfly species in Norway. This monitoring project focus on the species that can be found in open grass- and forestland in the regions included in the project, although all species, even the unexpected ones, found on transects are registered. All species of the genus Bombus found are registered (see Norwegian species list of bumblebees on https://artsdatabanken.no/Pages/231205/Oversikt_over_alle_humler_i), and all species of the butterfly families Papilionidae, Hesperiidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae, Nymhalidae, and Zygaenidae found are registered (see Norwegian species list of butterflies on https://artsdatabanken.no/arter-pa-nett/sommerfugler).

Bombus
common name: bumblebees rank: genus
Lepidoptera
common name: butterflies rank: order

Geographic Coverages

Butterflies and bumblebees are registered in the regions containing counties Østfold and Vestfold (now part of county Vestfold and Telemark), in the county Trøndelag, in the region containing the former county of Vest-Agder (now part of county Agder) and county Rogaland, and in the region Vestlandet, containing the county Vestland and Møre og Romsdal.

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

Sandra Åström
originator
position: Research Scientist
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Postboks 5685 Torgarden
Trondheim
7485
NO
Telephone: +4741207869
email: sandra.astrom@nina.no

Jens Åström
originator
position: Research Scientist
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Postboks 5685 Torgarden
Trondheim
7485
NO
email: jens.astrom@nina.no
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6114-0440

Sandra Åström
metadata author
position: Research Scientist
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Postboks 5685 Torgarden
Trondheim
7485
NO
Telephone: +4741207869
email: sandra.astrom@nina.no

Jens Åström
metadata author
position: Research Scientist
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Postboks 5685 Torgarden
Trondheim
7485
NO
email: jens.astrom@nina.no
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6114-0440

Sandra Åström
administrative point of contact
position: Research Scientist
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Postboks 5685 Torgarden
Trondheim
7485
NO
Telephone: +4741207869
email: sandra.astrom@nina.no

Jens Åström
administrative point of contact
position: Research Scientist
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Postboks 5685 Torgarden
Trondheim
7485
NO
Telephone: +4740634121
email: jens.astrom@nina.no
homepage: https://github.com/jenast/NBBM_data_export/blob/master/NBBM_GBIF_to_BMS_export.md
userId: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6114-0440