Save The Monarch Butterfly
Why save them?
By some estimates, the monarch population has declined by 90 percent over the past two decades, from about 1 billion butterflies in the mid-1990s to just 35 million individuals last winter.
There are currently two major issues affecting the population of the monarch butterfly:
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Deforestation and loss of habitat: With legal and illegal logging in Mexico the monarch overwintering sites are under threat because of the cutting down on their favorite trees to rest in order to build roads, houses and farms.
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Pesticides on host plant: with the widespread loss of milkweed due to agricultural land the main food source of monarchs in fields in diminishing. The milkweed which still remains has been infected by pesticides used in maize causing a loss in monarchs.
"No garden truly blooms until a butterfly has danced upon it"
K. D'Angelo
Research Papers
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​Vidal, Omar, et al. “Trends in Deforestation and Forest Degradation after a Decade of Monitoring in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico.” Conservation Biology, vol. 28, no. 1, 2013, pp. 177–186., doi:10.1111/cobi.12138
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Tao, Leiling, et al. “Fitness Costs of Animal Medication: Antiparasitic Plant Chemicals Reduce Fitness of Monarch Butterfly Hosts.” Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 85, no. 5, 2016, pp. 1246–1254., doi:10.1111/1365-2656.12558.
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BROWER, Lincoln p. “MONARCH BUTTERFLY ORIENTATION: MISSING PIECES OF A MAGNIFICENT PUZZLE.” The Journal of Experimental Biology , vol. 199, 1996, pp. 93–103.
