Brower replies- The most recent ranting about monarch butterfly conservation

Thu Oct 9 18:25:55 EDT 2003

You forgot the passenger pigeon.

Charles Bordelon wrote:

>Are we to assume Monarchs are too stupid to find other sites?  All this talk
>and number-crunching is dung in the real world. What did house sparrows do
>before there were houses?  Barn swallows before barns?  Ratings, ratings,
>rantings...  So what?  You can't tell me such a successful insect couldn't
>adapt.  We'll destroy ourselves before every resource is depleted.  Go to
>the Mexican Government.  This whole Monarch business is not only moot, it's
>completely boring.  cb
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk>
>To: <tils-leps-talk at yahoogroups.com>
>Cc: <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>; <brower at sbc.edu>
>Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2003 1:49 PM
>Subject: Brower replies- The most recent ranting about monarch butterfly
>conservation
>
>
>  
>
>>Professor Brower asked me to pass on this message to these lists.
>>
>>Neil Jones
>>
>>From: Lincoln P. Brower brower at sbc.edu
>>Subject: The most recent ranting about monarch butterfly conservation
>>by Mr. Cherubini.
>>
>>
>>To whom it may concern:
>>
>>To those who may seriously consider taking Mr. Paul Cherubini's
>>October 2003 criticisms of L. P. Brower's recent (4 October 2003)
>>lecture to the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History in California,
>>I suggest perusing the following three scientific papers:
>>
>>1) Brower, L.P., Kust, D.R., Rendon-Salinas, E., Serrano, E.G.,
>>Kust, K.R., Miller, J., Fernandez del Rey, C., &amp; Pape, K. (In
>>press  2003). Catastrophic winter storm mortality of monarch
>>butterflies in Mexico during January 2002. In: The Monarch Butterfly:
>>Biology and Conservation (Editors. K.M. Oberhauser  M.
>>Solensky). Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
>>
>>2) Brower, L.P., Castilleja, G., Peralta, A., Lopez-Garcia, J.,
>>Bojorquez-Tapia, L., Diaz, S., Melgarejo, D.,  Missrie, M.
>>(2002). Quantitative changes in forest quality in a principal
>>overwintering area of the monarch butterfly in Mexico: 1971 to
>>1999. Conservation Biology, 16, 346-359.
>>
>>3) Bojorquez, L.A., Brower, L.P., Castilleja, G.,
>>Sánchez-Colón, S., Hernández, M., Calvert, W.H., Díaz, S.,
>>Gómez-Priego, P., Alcantar, G., Melgarejo, E.D., Solares, M.J.,
>>Gutiérrez, L., Juárez, M.d.L. (2003). Mapping expert
>>knowledge: redesigning the monarch butterfly biosphere reserve.
>>Conservation Biology, 17, 367 - 379.
>>
>>The first paper (still in press) documents the winter storm mortality
>>of overwintering monarch butterflies in Mexico that occurred in
>>January 2002. One quarter of a billion monarchs were estimated
>>to have been killed in two of several known colonies, all of which
>>were impacted by a powerful and widespread storm and cold
>>front. The second publication documents that the monarchs'
>>overwintering forest within the 1986 presidentially decreed reserve
>>has been degraded by 44% as well as heavily fragmented over a 28 year
>>period, through January 1999. The third publication describes the
>>process and rationale by which the new 2000 presidential decree
>>increased the supposedly protected overwintering area from 62 to 217
>>square miles. Research in progress with colleagues from the
>>University of Mexico, NASA, Lynchburg College and Sweet Briar College
>>indicates that extensive illegal logging is currently occurring
>>within the supposedly protected areas. When these data are published,
>>they will be available for public scrutiny.
>>
>>The exact number of years it will take for the current and increasing
>>logging to irreversibly disrupt the migration of the monarch's
>>eastern population is always an unknown. What we do know is
>>that the forests within the tiny area of Mexico in which hundreds of
>>millions of monarchs overwinter is being rapidly degraded.
>>Denial of this is yet another example of the ostrich-like behavior of
>>the more extreme members of the anti-conservation movement who choose
>>to obfuscate hard scientific evidence in order to advance their
>>political positions.
>>
>>Lincoln P. Brower
>>Research Professor of Biology
>>Sweet Briar College
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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