Newport This Week

NATURE in the NEIGHBORHOOD

Monarch Butterfly Officially Endangered


(Photo by Karen Johnson-Nieuwendijk)

(Photo by Karen Johnson-Nieuwendijk)

It really shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has placed the monarch butterfly on its red list as an en­dangered species. The devastating decline in the monarch population is just two steps away from being declared extinct.

Extinct means gone forever.

Some scientists estimate that the species has declined by 85 to 95 percent in New England since the 1990s. Habitat loss in Mexico due to forest clear-cutting is one major issue, but there are other problems. Pesticides, lack of milk­weed to lay eggs and a lack of na­tive plants to feed on along their migration pathways are a signifi­cant part of the problem.

The United States has also been slow to list the monarch butterfly as endangered under the Endan­gered Species Act, despite the fact that the Western population of monarchs is on the verge of collapse with only 2,000 overwin­tering, down from 10 million in the 1980s. That is a 99.9 percent decline over 40 years. Add that to your long letter to our federal dele­gation about what they need to do to wake up and get going on.

(Photo by Glenn Osmundson, courtesy Audubon Society of Rhode Island Nature Center and Aquarium)

(Photo by Glenn Osmundson, courtesy Audubon Society of Rhode Island Nature Center and Aquarium)

In the Audubon pollinator garden, I watch a large orange and black butterfly flit from a bright pink coneflower to a pale pink milkweed flower gathering nectar for energy. I am watching her closely to see if she will land on the underside of a milkweed leaf to lay her tiny green egg. There have been so few monarch butterflies around this year that every egg is a precious gem.

Monarchs, like most butterflies, have evolved to lay their eggs on specific plants, so when the larva hatch, they are surrounded by the food they need to survive. Common milkweed, swamp milk­weed and orange butterfly weed are the preferred host plant of this beautiful butterfly species.

The yellow and black-striped caterpillar feeds on the milkweed, ingesting the white milky sap of the plant along the way. This “milk” is toxic to birds, so potential avian predators quickly learn to avoid both the monarch caterpillars and adult butterflies. That orange and black coloration is a warning to stay away.

Nature lover Lauren Parmelee of Newport is senior director of education at the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.

Nature lover Lauren Parmelee of Newport is senior director of education at the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.

The warning colors are so ef­fective that other butterfly spe­cies have evolved to mimic the monarch. The viceroy butterfly is particularly hard to tell from the monarch, although it is somewhat smaller and has a black line across the hindwing.

The monarch is an iconic migra­tory species that links two coun­tries together in a unique way. The generation of monarchs born in early fall will leave the eastern United States and make the long journey to the mountains of central Mexico to gather by the millions to overwinter. The western monarchs fly south to winter along the coast of central California.

In the spring, the overwintering adults will mate and kick off the first generation of the new year. The first generation of monarchs will emerge, feed, transform, and fly northward before laying eggs and dying. The second generation moves further north before laying eggs, until the monarchs reach the East Coast to produce the final generation that will eventually make the treacherous journey back to Mexico. When I see monarchs in the fall, I cheer them on.

But as I said, this year there seem to be very few monarchs around. Over the years, I have seen seasons when the number of monarchs gives me hope for their survival. But not this summer.

There are a few other ways to take action to help this iconic species and other pollinators. Fire your landscaping company if they use toxic chemicals on your lawn and gardens. Make room among your hydrangeas for native flowing plants, including milkweed. And most important, share the amazing process of metamorphosis with your children and grandchildren.

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