Butterfly research centre to come up in Mussoorie

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, October 28

A butterfly collection and research centre will come up at the Hanifl Environmental Centre of Woodstock School in Mussoorie soon.

Peter Smetacek, director of the Butterfly Research Centre (BRC) at Bhimtal, said the work was on to set up a butterfly and moth collection centre at the Hanifl Environmental outdoor centre being run by Woodstock School and the BRC. The BRC would be providing valuable assistance.

Peter said while he was involved with writing work for a Wildlife Organisation, he found that the Zoological Survey of India had the largest number of butterfly and moth collection in the country.

Around 3,800 butterfly specimen were recorded at the FRI National Forest Insect Reference section in Dehradun, 3,200 butterfly species were available at the India Agriculture Research Institute in Delhi while the Bombay Natural History Society has a collection of around 300 species, making the Bhimtal Butterfly Centre with around 2,000 species as the fourth largest collection in the country, said Peter.

The number of butterfly species estimated in the country is around 1,300 and this makes it imperative to open more collection centres around the country.

“The Bhimtal Research Trust that runs the BRC has embarked on the mission to open a number of butterfly centers like the one in Woodstock School so that more specimens could be accounted for in the country,” said Peter.

He added his center’s objective was to use butterflies and moths as bio-indicators of the health of the forests with a view to stabilising rivers. “Most of the water budget of a forest is from the rain-fed region and only 10 per cent is from snow-covered areas. Any change in the level of water availability will reflect in plants in the forest. If the water level reduces, plants will die, ultimately resulting in the death of moths and butterflies dependent on it. Hence, butterflies are indicators of the status of health plants and the water contained in the forest,” said Peter.

He said one could plant saplings but not a forest as a forest would grow on its own. Hence, the Forest Department should concentrate on improving the health of forests instead of planting more trees that has achieved nothing in the past 50 years.

Peter added by studying butterflies one could assess the condition of forests and work towards its rejuvenation so that the level of underground water also increases, thus restricting rivers from drying.