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The School of Life Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is leading Hong Kong’s first synchronised butterfly ecological survey involving both secondary school and university participants. The programme covers 28 secondary schools and eight universities across Hong Kong’s diverse urban and suburban districts. The initiative empowers youth as citizen scientists to conduct butterfly observations and recordings around their campuses, collecting valuable first-hand data for local ecological research and conservation efforts. CUHK recently held the “Symposium on Secondary School Butterfly Survey in Hong Kong”, at which participating secondary school students presented the pilot findings of the survey.

The programme is a part of the Research Grants Council (RGC) Research Impact Fund project, “EarthBioGenome Project Hong Kong: Butterflies and the Next Generation of Scientists” . The project is coordinated by Professor Jerome Hui Ho-lam from the School of Life Sciences at CUHK, in collaboration with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, Fung Yuen Butterfly Reserve and seven other local universities. Through collaboration among academia, government departments, conservation organisations and secondary schools, the project promotes a novel framework for biodiversity research, public environmental education and science talent cultivation in Hong Kong through an innovative approach.

Students as co-researchers: building a territory-wide butterfly monitoring network

Hong Kong is home to at least 249 recorded butterfly species, a remarkably rich biodiversity profile for a high-density metropolis in Asia. Butterflies are important pollinators and useful indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem health. However, urbanisation poses increasing challenges to butterfly diversity and their ecological health. To promote the conservation of butterflies and related ecosystems, the project focuses on understudied butterfly genomes while exploring the functional association between butterflies and flowering plants.

To gain a more comprehensive understanding of butterfly distribution and seasonal changes in urban environments, the research team launched Hong Kong’s first synchronised butterfly ecological survey carried out by students and staff in 2025. The programme engaged students to attend research training workshops. Subsequently, following the survey methods outlined in a field guide, student teams conducted systematic weekly observations and recordings around their campuses every Friday. Through a school-based network spanning different districts of Hong Kong, researchers have been able to collect high-resolution, community-level ecological data, providing valuable information on the occurrence, distribution patterns and changes of butterflies in Hong Kong.

Students share their ‘scientist’ observation experiences

At the recent pilot results symposium, secondary school student representatives shared their findings on butterfly species observed at specific times and locations, reflecting differences in butterfly communities observed across different areas of Hong Kong. Across 719 surveys conducted between October 2025 and July 2026 at various locations in Hong Kong, participants have observed more than 6,000 individual butterflies in total. Butterflies from all six families, including Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, Riodinidae, and Hesperiidae were observed. Pieridae was found to be the most abundant/common family, accounting for approximately 40% of all recorded individuals, followed by Lycaenidae and Nymphalidae. These data collected from school campuses and local communities help researchers better understand the distribution of particular species in less-surveyed areas, enriching knowledge of local biodiversity.

Cross-sector collaboration advances biodiversity research

Professor Hui said: “The most valuable aspect of this programme lies in connecting universities, government departments, conservation organisations and secondary schools, bringing scientific research beyond the laboratory. We are very honoured to join hands with different partners to advance complementary research lines in parallel, developing a novel way to understand biodiversity while encouraging more young people to participate in scientific research.”

The research team announced that the next round of training workshops and surveys will begin in September this year, inviting more local secondary schools to participate and expand this educationally and scientifically meaningful programme. CUHK will host a major academic conference early next year to present the survey findings and progress on butterfly genome research, covering topics such as biodiversity evolution under climate change, conservation of endangered species, ecosystem services, and potential applications of new technologies.