Submission 2024
| Submitted by: | Leah Jackson |
| Department: | Biological Sciences |
| Faculty: | Science |
I study butterflies, which are highly influenced by their habitat. During my MSc fieldwork, I took photos of every new location I was collecting at. In 2022, while in a bison paddock in Waterton Lakes National Park, I finally caught my goal specimen, a perfectly intact Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly. This butterfly gave me the genetic data to decern how Pleistocene glacial refugia shaped this butterfly’s modern populations. However, I was so caught up in the excitement of catching this butterfly that I failed to notice the large thunderstorm rolling in from the south. As I was running back to my truck, I snapped a picture of the bison paddock so I could include it in my field notes. To my surprise when I checked my photos later that night, I not only captured an important butterfly, but I captured its habitat and the thunderstorm in a single photo.
Was your image created using Generative AI?
No.
How was your image created?
I took this photo with my iphone.