The Miracle That is The Monarch

Sonny Ramaswamy

Overview

• Monarch Biology

• Prologue

• Travelogue

• Epilogue

Biology

www.monarchwatch.org

Butterfly Milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa

www.monarchwatch.org Caterpillar photo courtesy: Jane Kinkus Yatcilla

http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/monarch_butterfly.htm

MimicryMonarch, Danaus plexippus Viceroy, Limenitis archippus

• Ectotherm• Mother knows best• Population buildup• Host geographical range• Weather and Climate• Resources

Characteristics

Kansas State University, Manhattan

Prologue

Urquhart, F. A. 1976. Found at last: The Monarch’s winter home. National Geographic, 150:160-173

Catalina Aguado and Ken Brugger

http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2014/11/03/cover-girls-the-women-of-national-geographic/

http://www.flightofthebutterflies.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/discovery-citizen-science-1.jpg

http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2016/04/Monarch_clock-224x300.jpg

http://www.flightofthebutterflies.com/epic-migrations/

The monarch brain integrates time of day with the sun’s position in the sky. Eli Shlizerman

Travelogue

http://www.wtg-online.com/data/mex/mexmap.asp

Angangueo

Sierra Chincua

Oyamel Fir in Sierra Chincua and El Rosario

El RosarioReserva Monarca

Epilogue

From: canadian-arthropods-bounces@mailman.srv.ualberta.ca on behalf of Donald DavisSent: Tue 3/17/2009 3:58 PMTo: canadian-arthropods@mailman.srv.ualberta.caSubject: [Canadian-arthropods] Announcing the Death of Norah Urquhart CMHello all:

I regret to inform you of the passing of Mrs. Norah Urquhart, wife and research partner of the late Professor Fred Urquhart of the University of Toronto. Mrs. Urquhart passed away after a brief illness. In June 2008, Norah celebrated her 90th birthday. She had been in frail health for a long time and was unable to battle a gastro intestinal bug that closed the nursing home to visitors.

Both Urquharts were appointed to the Order of Canada in 1998 and are credited with what has been described as one of the greatest entomological discovery of the 20th century - the discovery of the monarch butterfly overwintering sites in Mexico.

Carol Kaesuk Yoon. Storm in Mexico devastates Monarch butterfly colonies.The New York Times, February 12, 2002, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final, Section A; Page 1; Column 2; Foreign Desk.

Gerald Wilde

www.monarchwatch.org

Brad Plummer, January 29, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/29/the-monarch-butterfly-population-just-hit-a-record-low-heres-why/

http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/agrawal/2017/02/10/monarch-population-size-over-winter-2016-2017-announced/

http://monarchwatch.org/blog/2017/02/11/monarch-population-status-30/

Estimate is 145 million butterflies on 2.9 hectares; 27 percent less than last year, but 600 percent higher than the lowest on record between 2012 and 2014

The Cycle Continues

• GMOs• Loss of habitat• Urbanization• Loss of milkweed and nectar hosts• Pesticides• Climate Change• Extreme weather events • Droughts• Fire ant and other predators

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/Blog/PPAP_2016.pdf

https://www.fws.gov/savethemonarch/

https://portal.nifa.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/1012140-enhancing-great-lakes-landscapes-for-healthy-pollinators.html

President Barack Obama’s Executive Order

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/plantsanimals/pollinate/?cid=NRCSEPRD402207

http://pollinator.org

Pollinator Partnership

What can you do?

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/monarch.html

• Habitat reconstruction

• Milkweed plants

• Butterfly friendly yards, parks

• Minimize pesticide use

• Monarch Watch and tagging

• Citizen scientist

….think anew, and act anew.- Abraham Lincoln