Migratory monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) are now considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The species will now be listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species after habitat loss and climate change decimated the population.
Both Eastern and Western monarch butterflies are seeing their populations plummet precipitously, worrying scientists that the future of the species is in peril, according to multiple surveys of butterfly populations. The New York Times recently reported on efforts to track the Western monarch butterfly, which spends its winter on California’s central coast before heading off […]
The yearly count of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico, released Wednesday, shows an increase of 144 percent from last year’s count and is the highest count since 2006. That’s good news for a species whose numbers had fallen in recent years, but conservationists say the monarch continues to need Endangered Species Act protection. The count […]
The population of monarch butterflies that spend winter along the California coast dropped 86 percent since 2017, according to a recent count by the Xerces Society, an invertebrate conservation group. Preliminary results from the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count, an annual citizen science program, recorded less than 30,000 butterflies overwintering in California, a significant decline from […]
The Migration and Importance of Monarchs Monarch butterflies, which pollinate many different kinds of wildflowers, are among nature’s great wonders. Their annual migration is one of the most awe-inspiring on Earth: Each fall, millions of these striking black-and-orange butterflies take flight on a 3,000-mile journey across the U.S. and Canada to wintering grounds in Mexico’s […]
Monarch butterflies are already in danger. Their numbers have decreased by 80 percent in the past 20 years, and this year’s count of the number of the black-and-orange butterflies wintering in Mexico was lower than 2017’s. Now, researched reported Tuesday in a Louisiana State University (LSU) press release reveals that two human-caused environmental concerns could […]
The yearly count of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico, released Monday, shows a decrease from last year’s count and confirms the iconic orange and black butterfly is still very much at risk. The count of 2.48 hectares of occupied winter habitat is down from 2.91 hectares last winter. Overall, monarchs have declined by more than […]
The monarch butterfly has a new chance at recovery, thanks to an innovative program seeking to crowdsource funding and habitat for the beloved species at an unprecedented scale and pace. “The Monarch Butterfly Habitat Exchange is a market-based solution for restoring and conserving high-quality monarch habitat on America’s private working lands,” said David Wolfe, director […]
Dicamba—a drift-prone herbicide linked to millions of acres of off-target crop damage across in 17 states—destroys mostly everything in its path except the crops that are genetically engineered to resist it. It’s so damaging that several states, including Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri have introduced temporary bans on the weedkiller. There’s now another reason to worry […]
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