Vox:
The monarch butterflies are disappearing. Over the past 20 years, fewer and fewer butterflies have been making the long journey down to Mexico to survive the winter.
Scientists have proposed a few possible reasons for the decline, from habitat loss in Mexico to bouts of unusually severe weather. But a new paper this month in the Journal of Animal Ecology argues that the biggest culprit here is likely the decline of milkweed plants in the United States — the main food for monarch caterpillars before they turn into butterflies.
The story of how these beautiful delicate creatures make their way from as far as Canada to Mexico is amazing. It would be a tragedy to see their decline.
Well if you watched Nature on PBS.
They re-aired recently the Monarch documentary.
Mexico is also have illegal logging going on.
That is where they stay for the winter.
So it is
1. Global Warming,
2. Pesticide
3. Clear cutting of forrest in Mexico.
Any article that has question in the headline should be
ignored with vengeance.
I’ve been 50 miles out to sea and had a single monarch land on the boat… in rough weather. If you’ve ever caught one (I grew up in Ohio where milkweed an monarchs were plentiful) you know how damn strong their wings are. Really amazing insects. I hope the decline doesn’t continue.
If you want to plant some milkweed in your area, free seeds are available: http://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds.htm
I grew up (mostly) in the Bay Area and Natural Bridges State Park was a favorite destination, both for the bridges (rock structures just off shore created by the tides) and the monarch summering area. A short hike then sitting there thinking “what’s with all the dead leaves on the trees – there’s no butterflies here” and then the sun hits and the wings unfold and the colors explode and everywhere flittering joy.
I like @HankFromage:disqus ‘s comment – get some seeds and keep these beats around.
We’re running out of canaries in this coal mine.