Brower replies- The most recent ranting about monarch butterfly conservation

[Paul Cherubini]

Stanley A. Gorodenski wrote:

> You, or I, cannot forecast the economy of Mexico with 100%
> accuracy and so you cannot forecast the direction of logging and other
> destructive activities decades or a hundred or more years in the future
> with 100% accuracy no matter what your photographs may show.
                                                                                                         
Agreed, but in other parts of North American and the world, history
shows us that the logging that accompanies agricultural and
industrial development presents new opportunities as well as
potential problems for the monarch.   Along the California coast, for
example, development removed some of the native pine, oak
and sycamore overwintering habitats the monarchs had been
using for centuries.  However, new plantings of non-native
eucalyptus and other evergreen trees accompanied these same
developments and the monarchs switched over to these non-native
trees.  Humans also inadvertently introduced the monarch to Spain,
Australia and New Zealand during the late 19th century.  Guess
what happened?  The annual migration / overwintering phenomenon
became established in those areas of the world as well.  These
migrations are supported by non-native milkweeds that also became
introduced by accident. This is why biologists sometimes refer
to the monarch - including the migratory monarch - as a "weedy
opportunist".
                                                                                                              
Paul Cherubini

 
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