Monarch Butterfly's Birthplaces Pinpointed

[Buster's Uncle]

Monarch Butterfly's Birthplaces Pinpointed
LiveScience.com
By Douglas Main, Staff Writer  4 hours ago
 

Monarch butterflies may take as many as five generations to make it from Mexico to southern Canada and back again.

The migration routes of the iconic monarch butterfly across the North American continent have been mapped in unprecedented detail. New research shows that it may take as many as five generations for monarchs to make it north out of Mexico, venturing as far as southern Canada, before returning and flying back south of the border for the winter.

Researchers captured monarchs from across 17 states and two Canadian provinces, before analyzing carbon and hydrogen isotopes in their wings to find out where the insects came from, said Tyler Flockhart, a biologist at the University of Guelph in Ontario.

The elements carbon and hydrogen both have different isotopes, or variants, present in all living things, and the exact mix of isotopes varies by region; for example, the mixture found in central Illinois is different from that found in Texas. By analyzing the mixture of these isotopes in the butterflies they were able to find out where each was from and make a multigenerational map of the monarch's migration, Flockhart told LiveScience.
 

The darker blue the area, the more monarchs hatched in that location. Red dots indicate areas where monarchs were captured.

Every fall, monarchs in North America begin their long journey back to Mexico for the winter. Then, in March, they start breeding, and fly north to lay eggs in Texas or elsewhere in the South, Flockhart said. Successive generations move north, before reversing their course in the fall. On average, the journey spans four generations, although it can take as many as five, Flockhart said.

The study, published this month in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows for the first time that many, if not most, monarchs seen in the Midwest and Northeast throughout the summer come from areas other than Mexico, where they overwinter. That suggests breeding grounds in Texas and elsewhere in the South are important for the conservation of the monarchs, Flockhart told LiveScience.

The research also shows how important habitat in the Midwest Corn Belt is for the monarch; this is the predominant region where the insects breed, the study found.

Monarchs are important pollinators and are beloved for their beauty. But monarch populations are in decline, so more information about where they breed is important for their conservation, Flockhart said. Last winter's annual monarch census in Mexico reported the lowest population estimate on record, suggesting numbers of the insects could be down by as much as 80 percent from average counts over the past 15 years, Flockhart said.

Factors implicated in the monarchs' decline include habitat loss, both of wintering areas in Mexico and breeding grounds in the Midwest, as well as climate change. One result of global warming is wetter winters in the monarchs' Mexican environs, which make it easier for them to freeze to death, according to the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife.

http://news.yahoo.com/monarch-butterflys-birthplaces-pinpointed-203412254.html

They left out Uno's backyard  ...

[Unorthodox]

 That would be the EASTERN Monarch.  Mine are of course the WESTERN monarch. 

FWIW, that pic is a male. 

Still not entirely sure if the two populations intermingle or are separate all together. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Is there no end to your superpowers, Creepyman?

[Unorthodox]

Wow.  Reading that since '97, we've lost 90% of the Monarch population. 

Alright, I'm collecting eggs now.  Was just in the "well, the predators/parasites need to eat too, just collect some for my kids to watch", but now I'm leaning full on rescue operation. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Their hero!

[Unorthodox]

The last data I can find is from 2007.  It's no wonder my little garden had failed to attract one of the Oh, 200 TOTAL that are in this particular migratory pack.  Now I have had 5.  That's 2.5% of the entire known population, in my yard.  So far, the season is young yet.  That's a little scary to think about.  Neither U of U nor Weber State is involved in this study, which is why I hadn't heard of it before.  Figured between them I had a good handle on Utah entomology.  Nope, no one is presently even tracking the utah population. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Not no one, anymore...

[Unorthodox]

I'm NOT doing field study. 

[Unorthodox]

I might go check my old capture habitat though. 

[Buster's Uncle]

You should do a little field study, time allowing.  It is a Thing Worth Doing - for SCIENCE!

[Unorthodox]

Uh...no. 

I'd have to shell out for the tags on my own dime and hope someone finds them in california and bothers to contact me.  Plus attaching tags to the wings is not something I could likely bring myself to doing. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Something more modest, of course - keep careful records of your observations and get them to the right entomologist(s) at U of U and/or Weber State...


SCIENCE!

[Unorthodox]

FINE!

http://mlmp.org/Results/ResultsState.aspx?state=UT

[Unorthodox]

They can shove their kits up their rectum though. 

They also advocate that I deter parasitic flies and wasps, and get rid of the milkweed beetles.  Yeah, no thanks. 

[Buster's Uncle]

SCIENCE!

All kidding aside, you seems to know what you're doing and are clearly familiar with the proper methodology and reporting format, and if you don't do anything about this appalling research vacuum, who will?  This may inspire some grad student in need of a project, and do a lot of good.  -In fact, dropping a bug in a few of the right ears -ears with grads to advise- would be an even more direct path to getting what's needed done...

You dropped the h in south on the chart label, btw.