New Monarch Butterfly Scientific Paper Released Dec. 22/98

[Donald A. Davis]

The new scientific paper by Dr. Len Wassenaar and Dr. Keith A. Hobson,
entitled "Natal origins of migratory monarch butterflies at wintering
colonies in Mexico: New Isotopic evidence" is indeed available at:
www.pnas.org. You simply need to do a search under todays issue (Dec.
22/98).

This paper describes the attempts of the authors to determine a new
method of determining where monarch butterflies emerged as adults by
measuring the amount of stable hydrogen isotope (deuterium) in the adult
wings. The authors have established a gradient scale for deuterium
various locations in North Amaerica. I understand that the method is
also used for bird studies (deuterium in wing feathers)

The PDF version is quite attractive and presents the paper as published.
There is also an HTML version, with various charts, graphs and sections
of the article available as different files (ie graphics are gifs).

Have fun and keep an eye out for articles in the New York Times,
National Post (Canada), Globe and Mail (Canada) and other major
newspapers.

Don Davis
Toronto, ON