Monarch butterfly populations in Mexico were up last year, but still far too low for survival
Download mp3 (1.06 MB)
Monarch butterfly populations in Mexico were up last year, but still far too low for survival.
A new survey shows a 35% increase in monarch butterflies in Mexico last winter. But experts say the population is still far too small, putting the butterflies at risk of extinction.
Eastern monarch butterflies occupied about seven acres of habitat in Mexico last winter, according to an annual survey from the World Wildlife Fund-Mexico. That’s slightly more than the previous winter, but still less than half of the nearly 15 acre threshold experts say the species needs to avoid extinction.
"It’s not really good news," said biologist Tierra Curry, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity and campaign director for the program Saving Life on Earth. "They're still a long way from recovery. The population needs to be twice as big as it is right now for it ti be secure."
Eastern monarch populations have declined by 85% since the 1990s, Curry said, and western populations have dipped even more.
Climate change, pesticides, logging and habitat loss use are killing butterflies and disrupting their unique, multi-generational migration patterns.
That's not only a problem for the survival of the species itself, but also for other pollinator species that are essential to human well-being and food security, Curry said.
"Most people care about monarchs because they are so beautiful. They look like stained glass windows; they're big and graceful and orange and black and a lot of people naturally love them," she said. "They're also important because they are a flagship pollinator species, so protecting habitat for monarchs is going to protect lots of other native bees and butterflies that don't get the attention that monarchs get."
Protecting monarchs is important in Arizona and Sonora specifically because this region is in a part of the species' migration route where western and eastern populations overlap and interbreed.
People in Arizona and beyond who want to support monarchs can start pollinator patches, Curry said, but should make sure to avoid including plants that have been treated with pesticides, as well as tropical varieties milkweed, which unlike native plants has to be cutback in the winter to prevent disrupting the butterflies' migration.
Native milkweed, however, is essential for monarchs because it's the sole food source for monarch caterpillars.
"The other thing people can do is just get active at a policy level," Curry said. "They can contact their state and federal senators and representatives and let them know that they care about wildlife habitat, they care about monarch butterflies, they care about the extinction crisis and they want them to vote for policies that would provide more funding for endangered species and to preserve wildlife habitat."
Eduardo Rendon-Salinas, a monarch butterfly expert and deputy director of the terrestrial ecosystem program for the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico, emphasized the importance of working taking actions that we can to protect the species.
"Monarchs are beautiful and charismatic, and it's a part of our culture," he said. "But climate change is having an important impact on these butterflies and climate related changes have reduced their reproduction."
Protecting habitat, reducing the use of pesticides and protecting milkweed are essential to saving monarchs, he said.
"There are many, many reasons to conserve the species," he said. "Not only for its beauty; not only for its fascinating life cycle; not only for it's incredible annual migration though North America, which is the only place in the world where monarch butterflies demonstrate this kind of migratory behavior, but also for the species' incredible eco-services as pollinators."
