ILS - Israeli Lepidopterists’ society

Description

The ILS - Israeli Lepidopterists’ society aims at learning, studying and monitoring the butterflies of Israel and their habitats with the targets to protect butterflies and raise public awareness to their wonderful world. ILS was founded in 1983 by Dubi Benyamini, author of the ”Field Guide to the Butterflies of Israel” together with a group of scientists and naturalists. ILS activities include annual meetings, a Bulletin which publishes (twice a year) a collection of studies on Israel’s butterflies, and tours led by butterfly experts across the country. A range of media activities support ILS’s efforts to mobilize public participation and awareness. ILS has also campaigned for the protection of butterflies and their habitats, leading to the legal protection of 14 butterfly species since 2009. ILS gives special focus to gathering butterfly observation data. The Israeli Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (BMS-IL) was established by members of ILS in April 2009, building on the long tradition and experience gained through over 30 years of systematic butterfly monitoring across Europe, USA and other regions. The BMS-IL is coordinated by Dr. Racheli Schwartz-Tzachor, Dr. Guy Pe’er, Israel Pe'er and Dubi Benyamini. It includes three elements: a) systematic observations along fixed transect ("Pollard walks"), b) collation of opportunistic sightings, and c) targeted observations on rare species. Recently, targeted transect observations have been initiated also for Israel’s National Ecosystem Assessment Programme, the Maarag. Data collection, storage, validation and analysis is supported voluntarily by the SME GlueCAD (owned by ILS-member (www.gluecad.com)), which developed the Israeli Butterfly Observations Portal. Launched in 2011, the Portal facilitates and handles all public/citizen-science sighting reports as well as digitizing older text-records from previous years.

Contacts

POINT_OF_CONTACT
Israel Peer
Telephone: +972-4-8265365
email: israel@gluecad.com

ADMINISTRATIVE_POINT_OF_CONTACT
Israel Peer
Telephone: +972-4-8265365
email: israel@gluecad.com

TECHNICAL_POINT_OF_CONTACT
Israel Peer
Telephone: +972-4-8265365
email: israel@gluecad.com

ILS - Israeli Lepidopterists’ society
Hantke 39
Haifa
3460814
Israel
IL