U of G Leads National Project To Bring Endangered Butterflies Back From Brink

A team of universities, conservation organizations, and government agencies, led by the University of Guelph, is undertaking an ambitious conservation effort to recover three endangered butterfly species and restore some of Canada’s rarest and most threatened habitats. 

Building on a successful butterfly reintroduction in Ontario, Dr. Ryan Norris, ecologist in the Department of Integrative Biology, is working with several national partners to restore healthy populations of the Mottled Duskywing, the Frosted Elfin and the very rare Curiously Isolated Hairstreak.  

By coordinating the recovery of three at-risk butterfly species at once, the team will develop what researchers believe is Canada’s first multi-species framework for insect conservation. 

The project is being funded through a $2.4-million NSERC Alliance–Society Grant and brings together the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, Wildlife Preservation Canada, the Wilder Institute at the Calgary Zoo, Parks Canada, Ontario Parks and other conservation agencies.