SABCA

SABCA (South African Butterfly Conservation Assessment) is a joint project between Lepsoc, ADU (Animal Demography Unit at University of Cape Town) and SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute).  The main aim of the project is to establish a current Atlas of South African butterflies and to determine the Conservation Status of each species in line with SANBI’s overall goal of achieving this for all animals and plants in South Africa.

A specific outcome of the project is the comprehensive conservation assessment of all butterflies given the data available at the end of this phase.  This will also be used to update the latest Red Data book with the most recent information and hopefully will include data from all members making it the most comprehensive analysis done to date.

Lepsoc, as the most intimately involved institution with Lepidoptera, obviously has a major role to play and is specifically contributing existing records to the project as well as performing field work primarily aimed at recording data from blank spots in the current database.  The ADU has taken on the role of project coordinator for which a full time team has been appointed.  This team is responsible for project management as well as managing data collectors to assist with data collection from existing collections.

To date a large number of records have been captured to add to the existing Lepibase.  The field work is also progressing well and a number of existing grid cells as well as new grid cells have been surveyed.  In most cases these have been cursory surveys as they have only been executed once for relatively short periods and not through various seasons.  Nevertheless, this will hopefully establish a good baseline for the first round of analysis which will mark the end of this project.

In addition to the above, Lepsoc also has the role of performing the actual data assessment according to IUCN principles.  To this end a number of members have volunteered additional time and the initial assessments are due early in the new year.  Final assessment of the initial non-‘Least Concern’ species will then commence.

It is envisaged that this project will be continued in the future – if possible with support from ADU and SANBI, if not then by Lepsoc themselves albeit at a lower key.  This is a very important project as it will form the basis of conservation of butterflies in South Africa.

For more information on SABCA, simply click here!