A new documentary is delving into the work done by academics to reveal and manage butterfly populations.

Counting Butterflies, part of KMTV's Kent Thinks Discovers series in collaboration with the University of Kent, airs this evening, and follows two specialists who have developed advanced mathematical models which are now being used to map and manage butterfly populations in the UK and abroad.

Professor Byron Morgan and former student Dr Emily Dennis have spearheaded the research, with the former joining the KMTV crew in Blean Woods, near Canterbury, to film the beautiful butterflies.

The professor said: "There are often banks of conservation data lying around which in many cases are gathering dust.

"You can only really extract findings by doing appropriate analyses which quite often means doing new modelling."

In the short film, Dr Dennis, now the senior ecological statistician at Butterfly Conservation, says this new modelling will prove vital in protecting not just butterflies but other animals as well in the ongoing battle against climate change.

She said: "All good conservation is underlined by solid evidence and that comes from the answers we can gain from our data sets."

The statistician added: "The main impact of the work we do feeds into government indicators. It's really these measures which will contribute to any wide-scale changes, in particular, trying to meet biodiversity targets."

KMTV's editor-in-chief Andy Richards believes viewers will be captivated by Professor Morgan and Dr Dennis's work as well as the other diverse studies in the Kent Thinks Discovers series.

He said: "These films are an opportunity to showcase the pioneering research being done by world-leading academics at the University of Kent.

"Counting Butterflies is an example of where research is being applied to real world scenarios.

"This, combined with some glorious cinematography, we believe, will inform and inspire our viewers."

Betty Woessner, research excellence manager, added: "We are very proud to have Byron and Emily as ambassadors for the University of Kent.

"Their work is vital. It has had a significant impact in not just the field of mathematics, but perhaps more significantly on conservation, an issue increasingly pertinent in today's society."

Kent Thinks Discovers: Counting Butterflies airs at 7.30pm on KMTV (Freeview Channel 7, Virgin 159 and online at kmtv.co.uk)

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