r/worldnews • u/dbunkapp • Mar 22 '23
Monarch butterfly presence in Mexican forests drops 22%, report says
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monarch-butterfly-mexican-forest-presence-down-22-percent/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=206468468&fbclid=IwAR1TtUckjnYOmUPfLOWUjsNuHyUwmHvtrAxdlykSI8NDLO3TDYOCrM_32Cg[removed] — view removed post
136
u/Yourcatsonfire Mar 22 '23
I'm going to blame one of my local parks. They had a huge milkweed grove surrounding a small pond on the property. The pond is absolutely nasty and provides no fishing or swimming since it's just stagnant and covered in pond scum. But the monarchs loved having a water supply right next to their milkweed patch. I had never seen so many caterpillars before in one area. Then two years ago the parks landscaping crew cut the entire patch out around the entire pond. I called them out on it on their Facebook page because they say they're all about the butterflies and how they have a butterfly garden. All they said was sorry landscapers removed it to give the park a better view.
23
u/Conditional-Sausage Mar 22 '23
Our weakest apologies; your biological diversity was interfering with our monoclonal grass. Hopefully someone else can be bothered to care, but don't ask us to.
11
u/Yourcatsonfire Mar 22 '23
I was very disappointed by them doing this. My kid loved going there and seeing all the caterpillars. There were easily hundreds if not thousands there.
62
u/iamjackslackofmemes Mar 22 '23
Butterflies and bees will be our downfall.
24
u/Berova Mar 22 '23
Or are we butterflies and bees' downfall?
12
Mar 22 '23
[deleted]
2
u/Jaimzell Mar 22 '23
Humanity knows it’s its own downfall and people are still pretty indifferent about it. It’s depressing, but bees and butterflies never stood a chance.
5
1
5
u/LukeGoldberg72 Mar 22 '23
First it’s the butterflies, then in 50 years it’ll be us. Let’s face it, as a species we are fucked and have wrecked our only home.
3
1
u/swamprose Mar 23 '23
Go ahead. Blame the parks. Lots of blame to go around, but parks are low on my list. No matter how many milkweeds we plant, the bottom line is that the one special place they need to winter is slowly disappearing, and is under threat. It's a tiny set of hills with pine trees. Aside from climate change and having to move up to ever cooler places on the tree, the entire region is run by drug cartels. So aside from getting any friends or family to stop using drugs, best thing we can do is petition the Mexican government or somebody to help preserve this little bit of life.
1
u/ehpee Mar 23 '23 edited Mar 23 '23
sorry landscapers removed it to give the park a better view
This is the epitome of the human race and why the planet is doomed
Edit: PSA: Everyone please plant milkweed in your backyards/frontyards/gardens
1
u/Yourcatsonfire Mar 23 '23
What I find funny about the place. Is you can't even get near the shoreline because it's loaded with Canadian geese and goose ahit everywhere. Nor would you dvdn want to since it's such a tiny pond filled with pond scum. But the monarchs loved it.
23
u/typing Mar 22 '23
Has the milkweed level gone down, I always remember that Monarchs like milkweed.
16
u/Mike_Huncho Mar 22 '23
Id honestly imagine its the same issue as with bees. Pesticides spilling over and a reduction in natural pollinator plants
14
12
9
u/garash Mar 22 '23
Here, just North of Tampa Florida, we normally have about 10 times as many as we have this year. We have a large-ish butterfly garden with a bunch of milkweed. Last year we had about 120 caterpillars and this year last week, we have 17. We are not doing scientific research, just hobby gardeners .
2
u/swamprose Mar 23 '23
Monarchs were migrants until Floridians started growing tropical milkweed. It never goes dormant, so monarchs stay, and stay, and never leave. They are not built for permanent residency. Nomads. Without migration they stay in the same place and they are prey to OE, a parasite, which kills them. As well, those infected in Florida still migrate and OE has moved north to Georgia.
Please share this information, and stop growing Asclepias currassavica.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article252505663.html
https://butterfly-fun-facts.com/oe-ophryocystis-elektroscirrha-monarch-butterfly/
7
u/IBAZERKERI Mar 22 '23
rarely see them up in santa cruz during the migration anymore either. its fucking sad
5
u/kindanormle Mar 22 '23
Some tips for anyone interested:
Grass lawns are a desert to pollinators. Grass does not produce flowers. Grass lawns are a desert of sand as far as pollinators are concerned. Grass lawns also allow the soil to dry very quickly, and this leaves few puddles and ponds for pollinators and birds.
Most of the flowers you buy at the store to plant in your garden have been bred to be big and pretty to humans, but to pollinators they might as well be garbage. They produce little if any nectar, and their size and shape make it difficult or impossible for pollinators to access.
Most pollinators are evolved to get sustenance from trees, not herbs. Planting native herbaceous flowering species is great, but still won't sustain most pollinators effectively. Flowering trees are what many pollinators need in abundance, and the loss of these where humans put houses is a major reason that pollinators are declining. Plant a native flowering tree and surround it with native flowering weeds/herbs and you will be the envy of bee and bird watchers in your area.
2
5
u/Infamous_Employer_85 Mar 22 '23
Experts say drought, severe weather and loss of habitat — especially of the milkweed where the monarchs lay their eggs — as well as pesticide and herbicide use and climate change all pose threats to the species' migration.
If you have a garden consider adding milkweed to support butterflies
2
u/lemonrence Mar 22 '23
Milkweed is good but there are plenty of plants they use for their journey back. Goldenrod is one I believe so those types of plants are just as important to plant as milkweed
5
5
3
3
u/Norseviking4 Mar 23 '23
Everyone should plant insect friendly flowers, also dont cut your grass to often. Bees love clovers and these need time to flower. I mow my lawn rarely now and its perfectly fine, the grass is actually lovely to walk on when its semi long.
I also buy packs of butterfly/bee friendly seeds every year. If everyone did this we would hopefully make a dent in the decline.
3
u/ringzero- Mar 23 '23
I have a bunch of milkweed plants on my property; I go out of my way to make sure they stay around. I've seen a few monarchs on the property and they're always welcome.
3
Mar 23 '23
I live in Oklahoma and I remember in my childhood seeing sooo many of these butterflies and taking it for granted. I almost broke out in tears last year when I finally saw one again
2
2
1
1
u/Impressive-Hold7812 Mar 22 '23
If its migration related, I think I'm responsible for at least 1% with how thick they were crossing the highway.
Didn't matter if I slowed down, I was still splattering the poor bastards.
1
u/Mr_Belch Mar 22 '23
I'm going to be planting a milkweed garden this spring. Hoping I can bring some monarchs to my neighborhood.
1
u/T33CH33R Mar 23 '23
Perhaps they'll listen when we take their beautiful butterflies this time.
- nature
1
u/PDXalreadtused Mar 23 '23
We have been trying to plant milkweed but the stupid deer eat it so where gonna spend gobs of money and put up a fence.
1
u/maybesaydie Mar 23 '23
What kind of milkweed are you planting? I have deer and they never touch milkweed.
2
u/PDXalreadtused Mar 23 '23
I guess it would be common milkweed, these deer eat everything. They are ravenous. We don’t mind sacrificing some plants but they have eaten things they wouldn’t normally eat, tomato plants, etc…they never touch the garlic so there’s that.
We have to net stuff but we don’t like it because birds can get caught up in it hence our future fence.
1
u/DonnaScro321 Mar 23 '23
Everyone I know is trying to make a difference and I hope it starts to take effect!
1
u/Basdad Mar 23 '23
Monarchs are now able to winter over in Florida as temps don’t drop as much as they used to.
-4
-2
u/mnbull4you Mar 22 '23
With all the Drug Gangs can you blame the Monarchs for going somewhere else?
0
0
47
u/deforest765 Mar 22 '23
I’m a grad student that works on monarchs in a pollinator ecology lab. Last year fall was a rough year for them locally with the bad drought we had. In Oklahoma we were doing tagging and weights and many butterflies were seeming smaller and weighed less than they have in years past. There Were some theories that it was because of the drought and the amount of nectar plants available was down but have to wait to see what some of the other research labs say about it. As always widespread herbicide and pesticide usage as well as continued land development are likely the biggest threats monarchs face but unfavorable weather patterns are still a huge problem for them.