Kip Hansen’s guest essay – July 23, 2022
What are these Official media Talking:
Despite that (and other similar claims you may have heard or read or seen in the mainstream media, similar to the above) The iconic Monarch butterfly is not endangered. It doesn’t even Vulnerableor even Nearly threatened. In fact, it official designation Under IUCN Red List System is MOST IMPORTANT.
Appointment Least interested was assigned in the latest assessment conducted in August 2021. The reason for this classification was given as follows:
Justification
Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are widely recognized for their remarkable long-distance migration. Native to the Americas, from southern Canada to northern South America, breeding populations of this species are now found around the world. These more recently established populations were excluded from the assessment red list because they depend on host plant species that are not native to these areas (see text Geographic Range).
North American subspecies only, D. p. plexippus, is considered migratory and has two main migratory patterns. East of the Rocky Mountains, over generations, butterflies have migrated back and forth from wintering sites in the Oyamel Fir forest in central Mexico to summer breeding grounds throughout the eastern United States and southern Canada. Likewise, in western North America, butterflies migrate from wintering sites along the Pacific Coast to breeding grounds in all states of the United States west of the Rocky Mountains. Subspecies D. p. megalippe, found in the Neotropics from Florida, through southern Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, to northern South America, breeds year-round and does not migrate long distances. Because of the larvae, monarch butterflies eat almost exclusively milkweed (Asclepias spp.).
Long-term population declines, mainly due to habitat loss in wintering sites and loss of host plants in summer breeding areas, have been observed in the migratory subspecies. , D.p. plexippus. Over the past 10 years, population sizes appear to have stabilized, although these subpopulations are still at high risk of near extinction due to random events. However, the species does not migrate anywhere, so the size and trends of the population are not known with certainty, although the population is thought to be stable. Due to the widespread nature of this species, large overall population size, and less than 30% chance of decline, the risk of extinction remains low. Therefore, this species is assessed as Least Concern. However, because migration is certainly at risk, conservation efforts should continue, and additional studies of non-migratory species should be performed to ensure population stability. “
The press has collaborated with IUCN and other activists to create the impression that the beloved Monarch butterfly is endangered – which is false.
So, what’s all the buzz in the press? IUCN has made a finding that emigrant monarch in North America – two migratory populations of Monarchs that are neither genetically nor genetically distinguishable from North American Monarchs that have not migrated to Mexico or the California Coast – are endangered . Despite the fact that no genetic differences were found, a portion of Monarchs populations in East and West North America with migratory patterns and geographically stable wintering sites are more or less considered a single species. behavior dependent.
IUCN previously stated that the great phenomena of the great migrations of the North American Monarchy were an endangered or threatened biological phenomenon. (and here and here). And even though some good and encouraging news In recent years – here, here and here – IUCN has considered what seems to be popular, but has a working enginethe act of declaring a subspecies, D.p. plexippus, Endangered – not because the butterflies themselves are endangered but since they can stop moving – Migration in danger of ending.
Encouraging news:
“On May 24, 2022, the World Wildlife Fund Alliance-Telmex Telcel Foundation (WWF) and the National Commission for Protected Natural Areas in Mexico (CONANP), released the data. on the number of monarch butterflies in winter 2021–22. Monarchs occupies 2.84 hectares in December 2021, compared with 2.10 hectares at the same time in 2020. This represents a 35% increase. “
[ Note: “Researchers have estimated that there are approximately 21.1 million butterflies per hectare”…2.84 x 21.1 = 58.8 million Eastern Migratory Monarchs. ]
The monarch butterfly west of the Rocky Mountains winters on the central coast of California. The 2022 monarch butterfly news season begins with the news that the western region of the monarch butterfly population, which migrates along the California coast and is home to about 2,000 butterflies in 2020, has grown to nearly 250,000 by 2020. year 2021. [ Note: Those numbers are not an error – the population over-wintering was 125 times larger. ] In a post on the Xerces website titled “Butterfly bloom“, Portland, Oregon-based Invertebrate Conservation, acknowledges that insect populations are notoriously volatile, with extreme fluctuations from year to year, depending on what’s going on. to sue.” [ source ]
Various advocates have lobbied for the US Fish and Wildlife Service to declare Monarch Butterflies Endangered – on multiple grounds – one that is often mentioned Could such a find be used to block the construction of the Wall (or demand its removal) along the border between Texas and Mexico.
IUCN’s decision does not affect the official stance of the US FWS but will certainly be used as ammunition to further push for the subspecies to be added to the Endangered Species list so that it is included in all lists. aspect and protection of Endangered Species Acta decision the FWS has promised to make by 2024.
The problem with all of this is that the Monarch butterfly is not endangered – there are millions upon millions of them, both in the United States and quite widely spread around the world. They are officially, even by the overly cautious IUCN, considered to be Least interested threatened or near extinction.
However, there is a behavioral subspecies, two distinct subpopulations of Migratory Monarchs in North America – Western and Eastern – whose populations have plummeted for reasons that are suspected but not fully understood. And, yes, it would be a pity to lose such a magical and mysterious phenomenon.
This author does not believe that declaring this artificially created subspecies Endangered, a subspecies whose habitat spans much of the North American continent, would do anything to help the Monarch Butterfly but would leads only to unusual intervention by the federal government in the affairs of people and businesses, especially affecting the agricultural operations of our large states.
Conclusion:
1. The NGO, IUCN, has declared the migratory Monarch butterfly to be endangered. This is not to say that the Monarch Butterfly, in all its forms and beauty, is in any way threatened: as a species, they belong to Least interested related to extinction.
2. Yes much can and should be done to help the North American Migratory Monarchy recovery and all of this can and should be done at the State and Local levels. Including:
one. Native dairy planter.
b. Communities plant native Milkweed in parks and public gardens.
c. Families and communities grow gardens of pollinators and nectarines.
d. Encourage or pass legislation to prevent Federal, State, and county road crews from mowing lawns along U.S. highways and public roads.
3. Participate as an individual in butterfly citizen science-conservation projects in your home city.
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Author’s comment:
Regular readers will know that I write about Monarch Butterfly once or twice a year. Monarch’s is beautiful, rich, and full of unsolved and unsolved mysteries. Follow this link to read my previous parts.
The ICUN assessment process is, in technical terms, “loose” and often driven by advocacy. The very idea of species and subspecies also “loose”. So we even have a non-existent mammal, Red WolfOfficially listed by the US FWS as Endangered Species.
I support local citizen-based projects in every way to help Monarchs and other butterflies – if interested, do your part.
Thank you.
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