Sud-Ouest Butterfly Community Coalition

#butterfly #caterpillar #EcologicalCorridorSudOuest

What is the Ecological Corridor in the Sud-Ouest?

The Ecological Corridor in the Sud-Ouest project was the winner of the Participatory Budget of the Sud-Ouest Borough in 2021 It was proposed by local groups such as Les Amis d'Angrignon. Designed by the non-profit Nouveaux Voisins, the corridor aims to connect green spaces between Lasalle and the Sud-Ouest, to foster biodiversity and increase public access to nature within the city. This is done by adding more street trees and native plants to existing parks, as well as implementing alternative mowing practices across the Sud-Ouest Borough. More information can be found here.

Why do we need to survey the ecological corridor?

There are many efforts to green our cities and provide better habitat for animals that share our space, with a lot of consideration put into planning and implementation. However, it is important to understand how biodiversity actually interacts with the green spaces we create through continual monitoring, such that we can assess the impact of such efforts and know how to better apply them to other greening projects.

For the Ecological Corridor in the Sud-Ouest, we are interested to know how the different design and management strategies of the project affect biodiversity. Nouveau Voisins designed three types of “Biodiversity Plots” that have different vegetation composition and structure, which could potentially provide more habitat for urban biodiversity.

The researchers at Concordia University were contacted to develop a research project, to help understand how local biodiversity are using the corridor. We developed a monitoring scheme to survey some representative faunal groups in the area, to comprehensively compare the effects of different design and management strategies on biodiversity.

@Nouveaux Voisins

Why survey the corridor with community science?

We decided to use community science methods to survey butterflies, as community science is a great way to engage members of the local community with the natural environment, which not only fosters environmental stewardship of participants but also contributes to scientific research. Especially as one of the design intentions of the Ecological Corridor in the Sud-Ouest is to promote public access to nature, the Sud-Ouest Butterfly Community Coalition serves as an opportunity for participants to be more acquainted with the new neighbors living in the corridor.

Why look at butterflies?

Butterflies may be popular for their colorful wings, but they serve important roles in ecosystems where caterpillars are actually important food for birds and other predators in urban environments. However, as caterpillars have very specialized diets, they can only be found where their host plants are present. Many of the vegetation planted in the surveyed parks are well-known nectar plants that can attract adult butterflies, but some are also host plants that the caterpillars feed on. By surveying both adult and caterpillar diversity of butterflies in the corridor, we will be able to tell how effective the corridor is as a feeding and breeding ground for Montreal’s butterflies. Student researchers are also surveying grasshoppers and spiders in the corridor this summer, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the local biodiversity.

Why Community Science to survey butterflies?

Community science is known to contribute to many important and long-term datasets that help us make important findings about biodiversity patterns, such this study that reported a global yearly 1.6% decline of butterflies observed since 1972. Community science methods are also a great way to engage members of the local community with the natural environment, which not only fosters environmental stewardship of participants but also contribute to scientific research. Especially as one of the design intentions of the Ecological Corridor in the Sud-Ouest is to promote public access to nature, the Sud-Ouest Butterfly Community Coalition serves as an opportunity for participants to be more acquainted with the biodiversity in the ecological corridor.

Many thanks to the 28 participants of the Sud-Ouest Butterfly Community Coalition 2023, who together helped us record 9 species of butterflies in the Ecological Corridor in the Sud-Ouest in it's first year of establishment. We hope to see you again in our future survey events to continually monitor the biodiversity in the corridor!

How else can I help monitor the Ecological Corridor?

Meet the New Neighbors - Sud-Ouest iNaturalist Project

iNaturalist is a community science platform where anyone can upload photos and observations of nature, with experts to help identify observations and add verified records to the research database. We have opened a project to gather observations of biodiversity in the the Sud-Ouest to help us understand who the new neighbors in the corridor are. You can help us monitor the Ecological Corridor in the Sud-Ouest by making observations in the corridor parks! Any observations of fauna of the area are welcome, as long as the time and location of the observation is accurate, it will help us generate a better understanding of the overall biodiversity in the area. Join the project to follow and view observations!

iNaturalist project link:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/meet-the-new-neighbours-ecological-corridor-in-the-sud-ouest
You won't need to join the project to be able to add observation, it will be added automatically
as long as the location is within the Sud-Ouest Borough!

Step 1: Download iNaturalist

Download from
Google Play store
or
Apple App Store

Step 2: Go to the corridor
and observe nature!

The parks involved in the project are

Parc De La Vérendrye
Section between Blvd. Demarchais and Ave. Émard
Parc Springland
Parc D’ Arcy McGee
Parc Clifford
Parc Saint-Paul
Parc Campbell-Ouest
Parc Garneau
Parc Saint-Jean-Bosco
Parc Saint-Jean-de-Matha
Parc Curé-Albert-Arnold
Parc Ignace Bourget

Step 3: Start a new observation

Upload your photo with the location it was taken at, and add some notes!
e.g. Bumblebee gathering nectar in a Biodiversity Plot