Kip Hansen’s opinion – September 24, 2022
The magical mysterious Monarch butterfly has received too much help in the wrong way in California. Honestly, this doesn’t surprise me, having been born, raised and educated there. The state of California, whose state flag bears the words “Republic of California,” has slipped off the left-hand edge of the political spectrum since the 1960s and like all things on its slippery slopes, the state and political Its value continues to slide, faster and faster, affecting more and more areas of public and private life.
The latest bit of madness has a misguided attempt to help the population of the Western Kingdom by ban on the sale of tropical milkweed by some counties in the state. Milkweed plants are absolutely necessary food for Monarch butterflies to reproduce.
The Migration of Western Monarchs (see section below on Western Migration) has seen a very sharp decline over the past few decades. There are many theories about the cause, from global warming through insecticides and to highway mowing – including “all of the above”.
The overpopulation was close to zero in winter 2020-2021 and then, in 2021-2022 spiked with “an end 100 times increase are from years ago total less than 2,000 monarchs and the highest total since 2016” with the census reporting more than 250,000 monarch butterflies in dog colonies along the California coast.
Frankly, the steep decline or unbelievable (partial) recovery has not been explained to anyone’s satisfaction. It seems implausible that a population as small as 2,000 in the spring of 2021 could then produce 250,000 wintering Monarchs in a single season. But that’s exactly what seems to have happened.
We now find ourselves – and the Monarch realizes himself – in the summer of 2022 as environmental activists work to help the monarchs of California by banning nurseries in Marin, Contra counties Costa, San Mateo and Ventura sell tropical milkweed. Why ban the sale of garden plants that kings need to reproduce?
Because The California Department of Agriculture has classified it as a noxious weed. Of course, tropical milkweed is not a weed and it is not toxic. However, something about tropical milkweed is true – it is a Perennial. That means it doesn’t die every winter but stays alive and green again and blooms the next year, especially in warmer climates like California and South America. And, because it doesn’t die, these finer varieties can “be host to the single-celled parasite of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) called Ophryocistis electroscirha (OE), which is carried on the adult monarch butterfly body when it is an adult,” they migrate. The dormant OE spores are then deposited on the leaves of the tropical milkweed and infect the caterpillars that feed on the plant. CDFA (California Department of Agriculture and Food) states that OE infection is associated with lower likelihood of successful migration, reduced body mass, lifespan, successful mating, and ability to fly.” [ source ]
There is nothing special about tropical milkweed that differs from native milkweed in regards to the storage of protozoan parasites…except that when the top of the native milkweed (the upper part of the face) soil) die at the end of the season, the parasites on them die and the following year’s crop of native milkweed grows from seeds or rhizomes start not getting infected – although they soon become so, while the tropics, in temperate climates, continue to thrive through the warmer winters are a constant host of protozoa.
Tropical milkweed
So the whole point of banning these beautiful tropical milkweeds and distributing native milkweeds to replace them is based on that months-long delay.
What do entomologists (distinguished from activists) say? :
“Arthur Shapiro, a UC Davis professor who has studied monarch butterflies for the past six decades, describes the reasoning behind the bans as ‘hogwash’.
And
“Hugh Dingle, a retired professor of entomology at the University of California at Davis who has studied monarch butterfly migrations for more than two decades, says the bans” are essentially a wasted effort. “and the focus should be on larger threats such as pesticide and herbicide use. All milkweed species carry parasites that can affect monarch butterfly populations, Dingle said.
“Growing any milkweed plant in your garden – tropical or native – is unlikely to do any good, but it won’t do any harm,” says Dingle. “If you like monarch butterflies in your garden, go ahead and plant it. I don’t want the tropical milkweed news to make the women of Marin (county) run out into their gardens and dig up all their tropical milkweed because it’s said to be bad for butterflies. It can’t.”
Once again:
“David James, an associate professor of entomology at Washington State University, who has studied monarch butterfly reproduction and migration in [San Francisco] Bay Area, says there is one case made of tropical milkweed being an important resource for monarch butterflies in a changing climate.
“Monarch is adapting to our warming climate and in doing so, a portion of the population now spends winter breeding in urban coastal California,” James wrote in an email. “And what host plants are there? A handful of native milkweed but a whole bunch of tropical milkweed! The removal of tropical succulents will only make it harder for populations to survive.” [ source for all quotes above ]
What did you say? California entomologists cite all of them disagreeing with the ban, and at least one said the ban would have a negative, not positive, effect. So where did the idea come from?
It comes from Society of Xerces, “Protecting the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats.” Provided their expert opinion:
“Stephanie Frischie, an agronomist and native plant expert with the Xerces Society, says there are many causes for the decline in monarch butterfly populations. The accumulation of pathogens on tropical milkweed during the winter months is one of these stresses, which can be prevented by making native milkweed available to farmers.
“There is really no single cause and therefore no silver bullet to address the decline of the monarchy,” Frischie said. “Where are we now with the current study, there are concerns about tropical milkweed with disease and disruption of migratory behavior. Collectively, as a conservation organization, we support native plant species within their native range as habitat for invertebrates. “
The Xerces Society’s concerns won the political battle over the more science-based opinions of monarch experts from academia.
Will it make a difference? Would it greatly improve the monarchy’s migration to the West? Will it harm the migrant population? No one really knows. No one knows because they don’t know what – if anything in particular – is causing the change in specific population segments of the Western Monarchs overall.
“Total population of Western monarchs?” you can ask. Well, you see, not all Monarchs living west of the Rocky Mountains migrated to the coast and wintered in mass crowds. Many, and no one knows how many monarch butterflies we’re talking about, migrated to urban and suburban neighborhoods along the southern California coast, continuing to live, breed, and die in a normal fashion. their own and did not enter the period reproductive time or form collective organizations, like their “migratory and wintering” colleagues.
Environmental entomologists are not trying to save the Western Monarchs, they are trying to save the behaviors, phenomena, known as Migration of Western Monarchs. To the left of the word SUMMER, we see the western migration as red and yellow arrows. You can see that some migrated to similar areas in Mexico with the Eastern Monarchy. Others, from the deserts of southern California and western Arizona, migrated to and from the southern California coasts and did not form winter fires at all. According to David James (quoted above) some may even just migrate to coastal Marin County for the winter and continue to live and breed.
It mostly descended from eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, northern and central California, and the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, forming easterly fires along the California coast, north of Ventura.
There is an opinion that whether the Western Migration is something that needs to be saved, it is necessary to prevent its disappearance. There is no now, nor in the past, any danger of the Monarchs west of the Rockies going extinct. The only real possibility is that they will stop that particular behavior.
Bottom line:
1. Monarch butterflies are found in many parts of the world and it is very unlikely that they will become extinct.
2. Monarchs west of the Rockies in the United States are flourishing, but many of them have lost the winter pause pattern and associated crowing – the phenomenon known as the Monarchy Migration West.
3. It is unlikely that monarch butterflies in the western Rockies will become extinct, but it is likely that the general population will continue to occupy niche niches in urban and suburban coastal California during temperate California winters. and then dispersed into the rest of their western ranges each spring, prior to the pause period.
4. Attempts by activist groups to force their people to align with the Monarchy are unlikely to succeed, especially since we do not understand the cause of the changes we are seeing.
5. Finally, banning the cultivation of tropical milkweed is not only unnecessary but could have the opposite effect of intended, harming the people of Monarch instead of helping it.
# # # # #
Author’s comment:
Like many interventions of the past, acting before understanding the causes of seemingly unwanted changes in certain parts of the natural world, this intervention will not improve everything. or will actually make some things worse. We never seem to learn this lesson.
And while the Xerces Society’s recommendation on the subject has certainly been made in good faith, California’s policymakers should listen to the many experts from their own universities who have studied about this particular species, in this particular field and have been interested. with this particular phenomenon for decades before suggesting any action.
Even Time will not tell in this case. There are too many variables to determine the success or failure of this odd little regulatory intervention in the natural order.
Finally, I ask you to be the Butterfly Friend. Plant butterfly-friendly gardens, plant milkweed – yes, preferably but not exclusively, native milkweed, although this recommendation depends on where you live – and participate in public meetings to advise state and county road maintenance crews to leave milkweed seedbeds by the roadside instead of cutting them.
Thanks for reading.
# # # # #
Related
