Author: NBC

Busy Butterfly BioBlitz results have been announced.

With the arrival of summer the butterflies are busy performing their function as pollinators, carrying pollen from plant to plant, helping fruits, vegetables, and flowers to produce new seeds. We want you to take a closer look at these beautiful creatures today. For the month of June 2018 the Bhutan Biodiversity Portal has teamed up with WWF Bhutan  to run the Busy Butterfly BioBlitz!

• Win great prizes. 
• Learn about Bhutan’s amazing wildlife.
• Contribute to Bhutan’s growing repository of biodiversity information.

 

Upload your photographs of butterflies.

For your chance to win one of:

 

• Kaadoo: Explore Bhutan Wilderness (Bhutan’s first wildlife board game!) (3 to be won)
• Set of five fabulous Bhutan invertebrate field guides (3 to be won)
• Cool WWF caps

Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:

• Champion observer – Most number of observations submitted
• Best photograph

Get involved

• Register to the Bhutan Biodiversity Portal at www.biodiversity.bt.
• Select “Contribute” and then “Add observation”. Note, many users find it easier to contribute observations using the Bhutan Biodiversity Portal mobile app.
• Upload your photograph/s of butterflies.
• Select the Arthropods icon to ensure you are in the running for the Busy Butterfly BioBlitz.
• Try to identify the species or select the option for an expert to help.
• Submit your observation.

Further information

For further information please contact Ms. Sangay Dema, Principal Biodiversity Officer at the National Biodiversity Centre, email nbc.moaf@gmail.com or telephone 02 351 417.

Rules for the Busy Butterfly BioBlitz

Competition Period – Start and End Time

The Busy Butterfly BioBlitz will start on 7 June and run until 30th June 2018. Observations must be submitted within this period to be eligible.

Winners will be announced as soon as possible on this website. Winners will be notified using the email address provided upon registering for the Bhutan Biodiversity Portal.

Observations – Eligibility

Observations must be submitted during the competition period.

The Bhutan Biodiversity Portal will accept just about any observation of a living organism. However, we may not accept an observation if we consider it “not suitable” for biodiversity records.

For the protection of wildlife, players are discouraged from disturbing the habitats of any species.

Contributors are also encouraged not to provide the exact location of the observation if the species is deemed threatened or endangered.

Safety

Please stay safe and follow these guidelines:

• Do not use your mobile phone while driving a vehicle.
• Stand still when you are using your mobile phone.
• Do not touch wildlife dead, injured or alive unless you are trained to do so.
• Never feed or lure wildlife with food.
• Do not disturb wildlife or wildlife habitats such as nests.
• Give dangerous animals plenty of space.
• Drink plenty of water.
• Wear a hat and sunscreen.
• Make sure somebody knows where you are at all times.

Prizes

Prizes will be awarded at the discretion of Bhutan Biodiversity Portal staff in the following categories:

• Champion observer – Most number of observations submitted
• Best photograph

A Bhutan Biodiversity Portal user will not be awarded more than one prize. That is, if they are determined, through the rules outlined above, to have won more than one prize category, they will receive the prize that’s total retail value is more expensive, and be deemed ineligible for the other prize(s). The other prize(s) will be awarded to the user(s) who are determined to be next in line.

30^th May 2018: A seminar was conducted at the Samtse College of Education (SCE), Samtse on the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) and the Bhutan Biodiversity Portal (www.biodiversity.bt). The aim of the seminar was to create awareness on the ABS and Bhutan Biodiversity Portal to around 80 students (teacher trainees) and lecturers of the college.

The seminar provided insights into the ABS policy and procedures especially focusing on the academic researches on biological resources of Bhutan. The documentation of Traditional Knowledge associated with biological resources and Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) were highlighted as numerous studies on biological resources are being carried out by the college.

The newly upgraded features of the Portal were demonstrated along with discussions on biodiversity conservation and future collaboration. The upgraded features of the Portal included the inclusion of Dataset Features on aquatic biodiversity, Traits (characteristics of species), Map Module, and Data Upload & Download.

In addition, the impact of Invasive Plant Species were discussed as most areas under the Samtse Dzongkhag was highly infested with the Invasive Plant Species. The college was also provided with pictorial guide book on Invasive Plants of Bhutan among other field guides, in order to help the students identify and study on the invasive plants coming in through the Indian border. The seminar was jointly organized by the National Biodiversity Centre (NBC) and the Samtse College of Education.