How to get involved ?

We recruit school and college interns as well as postgraduates, after screening for genuine interest, for a number of projects involving butterflies. Some of these are as follows.

1. House to house Butterfly Surveys- This is to look at the awareness that people have about butterflies and if they are willing to put efforts to set up butterfly friendly gardens. This would also be used as an opportunity to educate people about butterflies and their importance. The awareness that people have about the butterfly park coming up in Banerghatta National Park will also be gauged during the survey. The survey would be done in different localities in Bangalore.
2. Butterfly Transects- This would be done in different parks and campuses in the city to know about the abundance and diversity of butterflies present in an area in a particular season. Information such as the flowers visited by the butterflies, the species, the colour and shape of flower, nectar concentration etc will also be noted. This can generate much needed information that can have practical implications for butterfly gardening. The study will also be attempted to be published in a reputed journal.
3. Urban Biodiversity Survey- Interns can also get involved by helping out with our urban biodiversity research work at the time of sampling. Sampling is being done 3 times a year for birds, butterflies, ants, dungbeetles, snails, spiders, crickets and other insects. It would be worthwhile for interns to know about the sampling methodology and also get familiar with these creatures in the field.
4. Butterfly Rearing Experiments- Interns can also take up a project to look for the preferred larval host plants of butterflies present in Bangalore. They could collect eggs and larvae and observe the lifecycle of different butterflies by feeding them their food plants on a daily basis. It would also be interesting to check for the preference for feeding of caterpillars between reported larval host plants.
5. Butterfly Rearing Kit- We would also welcome interns in helping us put together a butterfly rearing kit. The intern would be able to get hands on experience in testing out such a kit and its effectiveness. The kit would have a container with a potted plant and a netted structure to allow the caterpillar and butterfly free movement while being protected. However this kit will need to be tested before release. A how- to- do-rearing manual will also be put together for the kit.