Could The Monarch Butterfly Be On Its Last Wings?

Iris · Post by **Iris** » 02-19-2005 12:57 AM

I don't know what this means to any of you, but I've always loved the monarch butterfly. They used to hang around some bushes in a park where I played as a child. I know they've been worried about them for some time...

Could The Monarch
Butterfly Be On Its Last Wings?
By Mark Hume
The Globe and Mail
2-18-5

As she worked in her garden last summer Theresa Fowler noticed that something vital was missing.The species assessment specialist with the Canadian Wildlife Service didn't find a single monarch butterfly caterpillar.

Canada's national insect, a big, brightly coloured butterfly that each year brings the countryside alive from British Columbia's Okanagan Valley to the East Coast, had all but vanished.

Usually the milkweed plants Ms. Fowler nourishes on her property, because they are the only plant on which monarch larvae can live, are crawling with the distinctly marked caterpillars.

"There weren't any last year," she said. "None."

A report yesterday pointed to an alarming collapse in the monarch butterfly population.

Mexico's Environment Department said that 75 per cent fewer monarch butterflies have appeared in 2005 compared to previous years, blaming cold weather and agricultural practices in Canada and the United States.

The dramatic orange and black butterflies that Ms. Fowler usually sees on her property in Shawville, Que., north of Ottawa, and which are found across much of southern Canada, migrate nearly 5,000 kilometres each fall to Mexico.

A second, smaller wintering area exists in California.

But most monarchs, up to 200 million, head for Mexico where they cluster for the winter in a few forested areas.

In the spring, they head north again and disperse across North America.

Ms. Fowler, a butterfly expert who chairs a subcommittee of the Committee of the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, said many experts believe the insects' real problem probably lies in Mexico, where illegal logging has been an issue for years.

She said it's too soon to say if a trend has begun or if there has just been a temporary collapse. What is clear is that the monarchs are missing in Canada.

"The population varies a lot and sometimes there are fairly large fluctuations," Ms. Fowler said.

"But this last year the number appears to have been very, very low. One of the very lowest."

She said reports she got from around the country indicate her garden wasn't the only place devoid of monarchs.

"It was just anecdotal, but a lot of people told me they just weren't seeing them like they used to," she said.

Estimating the population in Canada is difficult because the butterflies, easily recognizable with their lilting flight and orange wings tipped with black, don't gather in one place.

In Mexico, however, they concentrate in oyamel fir forests, many of which are now in protected preserves, clustering so heavily that tree branches droop from their collective weight.

The winter gathering gives researchers a chance to get an idea of the population numbers, although estimates are difficult because studies have found densities range from seven million to 61 million monarchs per hectare.

The Mexican report did not give a population number but estimated a 75-per-cent decline based on reports from 12 of 22 nesting grounds.

A 75-per-cent drop isn't unheard of. That many died in Mexico during freak snowstorms in 1992 and in 2002.

But to have such a high percentage simply fail to arrive indicates something has gone wrong that is more serious than an isolated weather event.

Robert Pyle, a researcher who has studied the butterflies for more 30 years and who is the author of Chasing Monarchs, said the dramatic decline is disturbing.

"We've had population failure several times in the past decade, this being the worst, . . .[but] to have two dramatic low numbers so close together I think is very definitely a concern," he said.

Mr. Pyle said illegal logging in Mexico is most likely the cause.

"I think, from the evidence I've encountered, that the greatest part of the diminution of the monarch numbers both this year and in the past can be laid at the feet of the continued deterioration of the forest," he said.

Lincoln Brower, a professor at Sweet Briar College in Virginia and one of the world's leading authorities on monarch butterflies, rejected the Mexican suggestion that the cause of decline lies in Canada and the United States.

"That's ridiculous. The fact of the matter is . . . the Achilles' heel is down there in Mexico because that is where the monarch butterflies concentrate."

Mr. Brower has warned for years that logging in the monarch butterfly sanctuaries could put the population at peril.

"This is the lowest we've seen it in 14 years of monitoring. There is reason for concern," he said.

© Copyright 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ealth/

Cherry Kelly · Post by **Cherry Kelly** » 02-19-2005 12:49 PM

It is alarming for sure and have been 'watching' this for a few years now. From my own gardening - flower beds - where I too allow the milkweed to grow, last year (2004) I did have a few monarchs - not many, but a few showed up. Two years ago I saw maybe one or two which was alarming.

The monarch has a wide range - going as noted in the article from Mexico to Canada. Their populations were seriously set back by the freak storms in Mexico in '02.

Others noted that migration routes have also changed - as heard on discovery channel report on the monarch (2004).

Will definitely be watching for them again this year and see if there are changes.

Iris · Post by **Iris** » 02-20-2005 07:43 AM

I hope you see a lot of them, Cherry! They're lovely creatures.

Cherry Kelly · Post by **Cherry Kelly** » 02-20-2005 12:21 PM

Iris -- indeed they are gorgeous. Behind the schoolhouse - in community where my husband grew up - are some trees where the monarchs used to 'gather'. Old pictures show the trees almost covered with them. At a class reunion last year, that was brought up and one of the locals said that she had not seen many on the trees in last year or so ...

Monarchs are not the only butterflies that seem to be "missing" - as many know I raise a lot of flowers so often have butterflies of all kinds as well as hummingbirds. In the last few years, the normally large numbers on the flowers has greatly been reduced - so am wondering what other butterflies are "less than" commonly seen.

daboodaddy · Post by **daboodaddy** » 02-20-2005 01:06 PM

Aren't Monarch butterflies poisoned by GM corn pollen? I read that a few years ago.

joequinn · Post by **joequinn** » 02-20-2005 05:58 PM

Oh, screw 'em! Who needs 'em? The ones in the Hallmark card store are much more colorful!

Cherry Kelly · Post by **Cherry Kelly** » 02-21-2005 11:51 AM

daboodaddy -- there was some discussion about some type of pollen from corn or some other plants - being poisonous to butterflies - but not sure exactly when that was discussed.

The biggest problem I believe falls to mother nature and severe temperature bit in Mexico in 92 and 02 -- recouping from that could take some time.

daboodaddy · Post by **daboodaddy** » 02-21-2005 06:29 PM

Cherry, its the GM corn which has almost destroyed many ancient strains of corn native to Mexico and cultivated in pre-Hispanic times. The corn was cultivated for thousands of years, and now is being polluted by the GM varieties, which IMO is an ecological and cultural disaster.(many indigenous North and South American cultures regard corn as sacred).
Plus I think the Monarch butterflys feed on the new pollen and can not reproduce, or die before that.

As well, the flukey winter you described is a valid theory as to their dwindling numbers.

Cpt Spike Mike · Post by **Cpt Spike Mike** » 02-22-2005 01:11 AM

It would seem you forgot what I posted earlier this year in 'the Brig' thread "HummingBORG 2OO4!".

When compared to 2OO3, 2OO4's fall migration of ruby-throat hummingbirds was noticeable lessened. There were hummers; I took lots of photos. But I noticed there weren't in the concentrations that they had been in the year before. But after some thinking about it, I remembered that there was a record hurricane season along the Gulf Coast. This caused strong & severe weather problems to spawn right in thier migration path.

This would also be true for the Monarch butterfly; many come through here during late summer & fall. Like hummingbirds, they are somewhat fragile animals, and probably suffer thier numbers greatly in harsh weather.

Devastated · Post by **Devastated** » 02-22-2005 10:13 AM

I know a little bit about the butterflies, as I led tours to the winter nesting sites for many years.
Last year, and the year before, but particularly LAST winter, many Monarchs lost their lives in Mexico's coldest winter in a while. If the nesting clusters get too cold, and the butterflies become too rigid to "shiver" daily, they die on the snowy forest floor. How many died? Impossible to say, but guesses range to 40 percent. Many of these would have been females who would have mated in Mexico and laid their eggs on milkweed on the way "home." I hope that with milder winters the numbers will regenerate.

Iris · Post by **Iris** » 02-23-2005 02:09 AM

I hope so too, Dev. We've been reading way too much lately about many different animals that are declining in numbers.

Mike, I love those little humming birds too.

With our weather patterns going whonky all over the planet, who knows what will happen.

Iris · Post by **Iris** » 02-24-2005 01:15 AM

Mike, thanks to your comments I had some really whacky dreams about humming birds last night. lol!

Cpt Spike Mike · Post by **Cpt Spike Mike** » 08-28-2005 01:38 PM

"I'm back! Num num num num num num!"

Cpt Spike Mike · Post by **Cpt Spike Mike** » 08-29-2005 10:59 AM

By the way, maybe you missed these; I took these earlier this year, and salvaged them for the old thread in 'The Brig' titled "Are You Ready For Some SPRINGTIME?!" These were taken earlier this year in my yard. They're monarch caterpillars on a butterfly plant. They chewed every leaf off that plant and left a stalk!

Cpt Spike Mike · Post by **Cpt Spike Mike** » 08-29-2005 11:00 AM

A shot of the butterfly plant while it still had blooms & foliage.