Conservation biology is a field of science that is heavily biased against insects and allied invertebrates, largely due to a data deficiency feedback loop that maintains a cycle of ignorance and inaction. Because many invertebrate groups are, and remain, extremely data poor, it is frequently difficult to conduct even the most basic conservation actions, such as status evaluation, listing, recovery and monitoring of threatened species. Thus, declines and extinctions of invertebrates are frequently undetected and poorly documented. To address this data deficiency, we have developed a new national database – Butterflies Australia – for one insect taxon that integrates citizen science (data collectors) with global, standardised monitoring protocols and emerging tools in technology and biodiversity informatics. The database is created from a platform, which consists of a phone app and website, that offers the potential to rapidly increase data availability on the occurrence of Australian butterflies at a far greater scale than was previously possible, as well as to monitor trends in their distribution and abundance over time. We discuss the attributes and importance of successful citizen science projects and quantitative methods for monitoring butterflies, both from an Australian perspective and in an international context, and then outline the operational aspects of the Butterflies Australia platform. A review of survey methods that have been used for monitoring or inventorying butterflies in Australia over the past 50 years revealed a diverse array of sampling techniques, with little standardisation between studies and wide variation in space (sampling unit) and time (sampling effort). Transect counts, in particular, have rarely followed the international guidelines recommended for standardised global butterfly monitoring. Finally, we discuss the benefits of our new citizen science tool for butterflies and potentially other invertebrates. We envisage that our platform will engender increased community awareness, improved quantity and quality of data collection, better conservation policy and planning, as well as enhanced resourcing and research for the conservation management of butterflies.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚蝴蝶：国家公民科学数据库，用于监视澳大利亚蝴蝶分布和丰度的变化

保护生物学是一个科学领域，对昆虫和相关的无脊椎动物有很大的偏见，这在很大程度上是由于数据缺乏反馈循环导致了无知和无所作为的循环。由于许多无脊椎动物群体的数据仍然非常贫乏，因此即使采取最基本的保护措施，例如状态评估，列出，恢复和监测受威胁物种，也常常是困难的。因此，无脊椎动物的物种灭绝和灭绝常常未被发现，文献记载也很少。为了解决这种数据不足的问题，我们为一个昆虫分类群开发了一个新的国家数据库-澳大利亚蝴蝶（Butterflies Australia），该数据库将公民科学（数据收集器）与全球标准化监测协议以及技术和生物多样性信息学中的新兴工具集成在一起。该数据库是从平台创建的，它由一个电话应用程序和一个网站组成，具有以比以前更大的规模迅速增加澳大利亚蝴蝶发生的数据可用性的潜力，并可以监视其分布和数量随时间变化的趋势。我们从澳大利亚的角度以及在国际背景下，讨论了成功的公民科学项目和定量监测蝴蝶的定量方法的属性和重要性，然后概述了澳大利亚蝴蝶平台的运作方面。回顾过去50年来在澳大利亚用于监视或清点蝴蝶的调查方法，发现了各种各样的采样技术，研究之间几乎没有标准化，而且空间（采样单位）和时间（采样工作量）变化很大。特别是，横断面计数很少遵循推荐用于标准化全球蝴蝶监测的国际准则。最后，我们讨论了新的市民科学工具对蝴蝶和其他潜在无脊椎动物的好处。我们设想，我们的平台将提高社区意识，提高数据收集的数量和质量，改善保护政策和规划，并加强对蝴蝶保护管理的资源和研究。