MLMP Updates: February—March 2013

Minnesotans in Mexico by Wendy Caldwell Thinking about the journey that monarchs make each fall to the oyamel firs in the mountains of central Mexico is amazing, but witnessing it is truly unforgettable. This month Kelly Nail (University of Minnesota PhD student) and I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit a few of the monarch overwintering sanctuaries in Mexico and to talk with local people, researchers, and organizations about monarch conservation there. During the trip we worked with researchers from the University of Georgia to sample overwintering clusters for the protozoan parasite, Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, more commonly known as OE, and to assess the health and origins of the butterflies. We sampled butterflies for four days from two different sanctuaries: Sierra Chincua, near Angangueo; and Cerro Pelon, near Zitácuaro. Dr. Pablo Jaramillo-López, from the Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, accompanied us while we were touring the sanctuaries.

Each day we traveled on the rocky trails to the remote monarch colonies, collected

data on monarch size and condition, and tested our samples for parasites. It took us a few days to adjust to the elevation (over 3000 meters), but the cool temperatures atop the mountain were no comparison to Minnesota winters! In the evenings we returned to our base at Alternare for amazing food and great conversation. Alternare is a non-profit organization that works with farming

communities in Mexico to promote sustainable farming practices, forest conservation, education, and more. Their work is supported by the Monarch Butterfly Fund (www.monarchbutterflyfund.org).

WWF staff told us that they are monitoring seven colonies this winter and all seem to be smaller than in years past, supporting fall predictions. Regardless of the size, the monarch overwintering colonies were remarkable. It was magical to see the clusters completely still in the early morning, soaring in every direction during the heat of the day, or basking in the sun on branches and flowers.

Another amazing part of our experience was getting to know the locals. We met many people who were generous enough to show us around and share information about the monarchs, the landscape, and the culture. A film crew came to capture the research that we were doing for a monarch documentary, we spent a day with monarch researchers from Spain, and we got to do some sightseeing with friends from Mexico that we met at the Monarch Biology and Conservation meeting in Minnesota last summer! Thank you to all who made this trip unforgettable!

Kelly and Pablo at Sierra Chincua: photo by Wendy Caldwell

Resting monarchs: photo by Wendy Caldwell

Overwintering colony: photo by Wendy Caldwell

Volunteer Spotlight

Eric Johnson: MLMP Volunteer since 2001 Madison, WI Eric Johnson has long been interested in insects, learning from the natural environment, and natural ecosystem conservation. Johnson’s interest in monarchs and MLMP stemmed from an effort to integrate native plants into his own yard and neighborhood in Madison, Wisconsin. Early attempts to grow native plants included butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa, which invited monarchs into his yard and naturally progressed into his monitoring site. “By 1996 we had enough milkweed established to attract monarch butterflies with some consistency, and I looked forward to finding them in my yard,” he recalls. In addition to monarchs, Johnson’s yard of native flora has attracted attention from many local residents and families. “We have a lot of milkweed here, and the patch of restored prairie is pretty spectacular when the coneflowers and daisies are blooming, so we do get noticed in our neighborhood…. several children in our neighborhood have taken an interest in hand-rearing monarchs from egg to adult. I did recently hear about a school project involving monarch butterflies, completed by a 10 year old who used to live next door,” Johnson says. Apart from his MLMP volunteer contributions, Johnson makes reports to the Journey North database and has worked on native prairie restoration at the DNR wildlife area in Brooklyn, WI. Johnson also offers classes on growing blueberries, highlighting the role of native pollinators and how to protect and promote native insect populations.

Monitoring Monarchs Along the Gulf Coast of Florida Monarch overwintering counts along the Gulf Coast of Florida have been too sporadic to allow a clear understanding of monarch overwintering in the area. The Northern Gulf Coast of Florida Monarch Overwintering Count is a new monitoring project spearheaded by Richard RuBino to help fill some of the gaps in the understanding of Florida monarchs. With help from MLMP coordinator Karen Oberhauser, and long-time volunteer Ilse Gebhard, he has developed protocols for monitoring monarchs along the Florida Gulf Coast. David Cook of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Ron Nelson, a citizen scientist, are also helping with the study. RuBino is a retired Florida State University professor who formerly managed the St. Marks NWR Fall Monarch Migration Tagging project and the Eden Spring Monarch Migration Augmentation project. He recently started a project to study monarch migration routes over and along the Gulf.

The main goals of the Northern Gulf Coast of Florida Monarch Overwintering Project are to learn more about and document these monarchs’ migratory patterns and reproductive behaviors during January and February. These data will help to inform a number of different questions, including: Do monarchs overwinter along the northern Gulf Coast of Florida? If so, where and at what density? Are these overwintering monarchs in diapause or a reproductive state? Do these monarchs migrate to other locations? If so, where?

The project is intended to be an ongoing study with concentration in the northern coast panhandle area of Florida. The study is strictly coastal (within one mile of the Gulf) because of the maritime climate there, with temperatures averaging 2-5 degrees higher than inland areas. Currently the study targets Wakulla and Franklin counties, though RuBino hopes expansion in later years will eventually cover the entire coastal area of the Florida panhandle. Monitoring for the project includes adult monarch sightings and tagging, but also focuses on egg and larval counts on Asclepias curassavica, or tropical milkweed (See related article on A. curassavica in our most recent newsletter).

With just the first season in session, the project already has an impressive turnout, with 55 volunteers. Although the season is not yet complete, the data that have been submitted are sure to grab your attention. In the first quarterly report, there were 50 adult monarchs observed, with mating behavior seen at two different sites. One volunteer reported a pupa, 12 caterpillars and about 100 eggs! These observations are a great start to understanding monarch overwintering along the Florida Gulf Coast. If you are interested in more information about this project, feel free to contact Richard RuBino at rrubino4@hotmail.com.

Photo provided by Eric Johnson

Photos by Ilse Gebhard

The Food-Friendly Aphid by Craig Hensley Craig Hensley, Interpretive Naturalist at the Guadalupe River State Park in Spring Branch Texas, observed a fascinating natu-ral phenomenon in early February. Kip Kiphart, MLMP trainer from Texas, shared Craig’s observations with us and noted that they saw 25 species of butterflies that were mainly nectaring on the honeydew left by aphids.

On the 5th of February 2013 I witnessed a diverse menagerie of butterflies, ladybird beetles, honeybees, and various flies all over the leaves of our various thistle plants. These are all rosettes of leaves with no flowers. As I watched I noticed the butterflies ap-peared to be nectaring on the surfaces and undersides of the thistle leaves. I looked carefully and saw no apparent moisture on the leaves from dew (there had been no rain – imagine that!). I picked a leaf to see what was going on, suspecting that per-haps with all the ladybird beetles present that this behavior had something to do with aphids. Aphids produce a sugary waste that is farmed by ants – honeydew. An initial inspection of the leaves with my reversed binoculars (make for a great magnifier, by the way) found the leaves covered with lots of white hairs. On the hairs I could see sections that appeared to have a thicker, shiny mass stuck to them. It was then that I also discovered the aphids. I next placed the leaf under one of our magiscope micro-scopes for a closer look. As I was watching an aphid, a clear bubble suddenly formed from the upturned abdomen. At this mo-ment, the aphid (and I am not making this up!) raised a leg and essentially popped the bubble! Imagine blowing bubbles – what happens when they pop, the liquid flies out in all direc-tions. Based on this observation, and confirmed by another staff member who witnessed the bubble formation, it be-came clear to me that the butterflies and honeybees were actually feeding on the sugary excretions of the aphids. Wow, wow, wow! Anyway, I reported this “discovery” to Kip Kiphart and we both, along with his son, witnessed this feeding frenzy two days later. Remember now that at the time the only flowering plants were a few scattered wind flowers and an occasional dutchman’s breeches and slenderstem bitterweed. Apparently, these aphids were helping sustain these early emerging insects! Think of it, two things we often try to rid our landscape of, aphids and thistles, were in fact key to the early survival of our beloved butterflies, ladybird beetles and honeybees. Ain’t nature grand!

Reminders Have you sent hard copies of your 2012 MLMP monitoring data to us yet? If not, please send them to: Monarch Larva Monitoring Project University of Minnesota Department of FWCB 1980 Folwell Ave, 200 Hodson Hall Saint Paul, MN 55108

The 2013 monitoring season is just around the corner for some. Milkweed is starting to pop up in the southern U.S. Kip Kiphart found his first stem of Antelopehorns, Asclepias asperula, in the Texas Hill Country on February 25th. Make sure to keep an eye out for the first milkweed in your site or sites, and keep records so that you can report it on your MLMP site profile and to Journey North.

Journey North will soon be flooded with sightings of monarchs as they begin to leave the overwintering sites in Mexico and start the journey back to their breeding range. Watch their interactive maps to see the progression of monarchs as they move northward. Journey North—http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/monarch_spring2013.html

Reader Feedback: Please send suggestions or content for future e-newsletters! If you have questions about monarchs, Ask The Expert. Email: info@mlmp.org or call 612-625-8304

Great purple hairstreak on thistle Photo by Kip Kiphart

Aphids on thistle Flickr photo by hockadilly