Since August 2014, a petition has been circulating to include monarch butterflies on the endangered species list.
A group of monarchs is called a swarm, rabble or flutter. Photo from Journey North website.
Scott Starr, a graduate student in biology, said one of the conservation concerns with monarch butterflies is the wintering grounds in the mountains of Mexico. Monarchs migrate across the United States to Mexico and southern California each year.
“Unfortunately those areas are getting smaller and smaller as forests are cut down,” Starr said, “so that is part of the risk for the species along with other risks just in their summer grounds with farming and other agricultural practices, not having enough host plants and such.”
Scott Longing, a professor in the Department of Soil Sciences plans to plant milkweed at his farm in Lubbock. Photo by Nicole Molter
Scott Longing, an assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Science, said milkweed is important to the monarch life cycle. These butterflies rely on the plant to lay their eggs. The larvae eat the leaves and grow into a butterfly on these plants. Milkweed is poisonous and gives them toxicity needed for protection against predators.
Longing said types of milkweed found in Lubbock include western whorled milkweed, showy milkweed, spider milkweed, tropical milkweed, zizotes milkweed and green antelope horn milkweed.
A large population of monarchs spend the summer in the Corn Belt. Graphic from Monarch Watch website.
He said a large population of monarchs spend the summers in the Corn Belt located in the northeast part of the U.S. Over 100 million acres of milkweed in the Corn Belt have disappeared, which entomologists have also studied to be part of the monarch population decline.
“Most of that is because of Roundup-ready and glyphosate-ready grow crops that are not susceptible to the Roundup,” Longing said, “so they can be sprayed; the weeds can be sprayed at liberty and gotten rid of. That’s getting rid of a lot of the roadside and ditch milkweed plants. At least I think that’s how it’s going on.”
Longing said there have been consistent dips in monarch population, but this last year the count has stayed low.
Stephanie Lockwood, a biology professor, talks about monarchs via Lync live stream. Screenshot.
“Every year everyone is hopeful that the numbers will rebound,” he said, “and that there’s just some stochastic environmental factors that might be making the population fluctuate, but that’s being optimistic.”
Longing said butterfly conservation in general is important because butterflies play an important role in pollination. Humans are an important component in conservation projects.
“Ultimately if butterflies are indeed linked to habitat alteration,” he said, “and they cover 4,000 kilometers from Canada down to Mexico, then it really takes a broad suite of projects and funding and activities.”
Queen butterflies (right) are sometimes confused with monarch butterflies. Photo by Nicole Molter.
Stephanie Lockwood, an assistant professor of practice in the department of biological sciences, who currently lives in Waco, Texas, and teaches at the Texas Tech center there, has observed the monarch migration. She said Lubbock is on the edge of the monarch migration patterns and there are a few species of butterflies found in Lubbock commonly mistaken for monarchs.
“There’s another one called the queen butterfly that is commonly mistaken for a monarch,” she said. “The viceroy is another one. The viceroy has some lines on the wings that a monarch won’t have. Typically they’re a little smaller. The queens are more of a maroon color. They also don’t have some of the darker, black lines on the upper side of the wings.”
Starr said monarch tagging is a part of a citizen science project and helps keep track of populations of monarchs. Anyone can purchase stickers about the size of a pinkie finger nail and put them on a monarch’s wing. They just have to catch the butterfly, classify it as a monarch, identify its gender, and record the location it was tagged.
Scott Starr, a graduate student in biology, discussed how anyone can take part in monarch tagging, a citizen science project. Photo by Nicole Molter.
“And, that helps scientists then, as long as the data is turned in, to know if somebody catches it,” Starr said. “Later on they can track that tag that was placed on that butterfly at a specific location, and then if somebody finds it in their backyard later on, they can report that they spotted a tagged butterfly.”
Starr said the scientists who go down to the wintering grounds can also look for those tags and try to see where the butterfly came from to gain knowledge of what routes and they use.”
Longing said he plans to plant milkweed at his farm, and the entomology club at Texas Tech is also active in conservation and community outreach.
“We’re going to be helping out with the community garden out at Harwell Elementary where my daughter goes to school,” he said, “and we’re going to be helping out with the Heart of Lubbock Community Garden. So, one of the focal points of our club is really to put as many dots on the map as we can with monarch habitat, pollinator habitat, bees, and native bees and insect hotels.”
Monarch Waystation signs designate certain areas for monarch butterflies. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lockwood.
Longing said the petition is currently one of the most important documents for the monarch butterfly. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will review the document internally and externally. Final evaluation of evidence of certain factors, such as parasites, modification of habitat, and overutilization for education purposes, will determine whether to put the monarch on the endangered species list.
“They’ll remain in the news; I’m sure,” Longing said, “and hopefully the populations will rebound, and they won’t have to be listed, but if they do have to be listed, that’s quite a big deal. It’s going to be quite a big deal for agriculture and how weeds are managed and about everything else.”
About Nicole Molter
