Tuesday 21 February 2012

Monarch Butterfly Population Restores, But Still in Danger.

Monarch butterfly colonies in Mexico have seemingly bounced back from last year, when bad storms decimated their numbers by 75 percent.

The orange-and-black butterflies, which migrate from Canada and the U.S. to Mexico each year, have more than doubled since last year’s low – but their numbers remain below average, scientists say.

A study sponsored by World Wildlife Federation Mexico along with the Commission on Natural Protected Areas and the cell phone carrier Telcel found that the colonies increased by 109 percent this year to coat about 10 acres of forest.

“These figures are encouraging, compared to last year, because they show a trend toward recovery,” said Omar Vidal, director of the conservation group World Wildlife Federation Mexico, according to The Associated Press.

But the numbers suggest the species remains under threat: this year’s colonies were the fourth-smallest since data collection began in 1993.

“Fluctuations in insect populations are normal in nature,” the study’s sponsors said in a statement. “With regard to the monarch butterfly, these fluctuations could be due mainly to climatic conditions.”

But scientists said that natural fluctuation doesn’t account for huge drops like they’ve been seeing. Illegal deforestation in Mexico’s Michoacan state has played a role, and extreme weather conditions caused by global warming represents a long-term threat. Genetically modified crops and pesticides also hurt the butterflies’ numbers by crowding out milkweed, their food of choice during migration.

“The caterpillars feed on milkweed so changing soil use in the United States and Canada is definitely having an impact on the butterflies,” said Vidal, according to AFP.


Comments:
I feel that the restoration of the Monarch butterflies is a positive turn to our deteriorating environment. Instead of the many species heading towards endangerment, the Monarch butterfly, instead, is bouncing back up in numbers.

Also, this act of deforestation should be stopped as it affects more than just the monarch butterfly, and stopping the act of deforestation would help in not only the monarch butterfly, but also give many other species a natural habitat to survive in, and trees also produce more oxygen for us. Hopefully, other species facing a decrease in population can also bounce back up in numbers.

3 comments:

  1. This piece of news in encouraging for many environmentalist to continue their work and urgency to save other endangered species. The restoration Monarch butterflies in Mexico shows that people there is a positive sign to species that are near extinction. Many species of animals around the world are near extinction, hopefully more of these species will follow the path of the Monarch butterflies and have their population restored.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In order to preserve nature, man must do his part to save Mother Earth. This news is very encouraging to environmentalists around the world, but the human intervention may have affected other species indirectly. Since the Monarch Butterflies' population is stabilizing, it still may fluctuate greatly, thus have to be under careful supervision and take what is necessary to save the Earth's creatures. This news proved that what the scientist used to preserve the population has been effective and thus this process may be implemented to other animals that are endangered as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Most animals are very sensitive to nature and are slow to adapt to changes in the environment. By causing pollution, global warming etc, we change and disrupt nature very quickly. We need to stop our pollution and find a cure to the changes that we have done. However, we must always keep in mind that nature is forever changing naturally, slowly, but nevertheless still changing. We must not stop the change and allow nature to take its course but it must not be on our account.

    ReplyDelete