[leps-talk] D. plexippus megalippe vs plexippus

[Paul Cherubini]

Ed Reinertsen wrote:

> Paul, Have you read Davis-Altizer poster/paper? (I found 
> the paper on the internet):

> Title: Geographic Variation Among Monarch Butterfly Populations:
> Migratory Behavior and the Evolution of Wing Morphology
> Author(s): Andrew K. Davis and Sonia Altizer

>http://www.emory.edu/COLLEGE/ENVS/altizerlab/Posters/Wing%20Morphology%20Study%20Poster.pdf

Thanks Ed.  I noticed this paper from Dr. Sonia Altizer 
on geographic variation among Monarch Butterfly populations
unfortunately suffers from the same rather serious shortcomings 
like her earlier paper comparing geographic variation in the prevalence
of the protozoan parasite, Ophryocystis elektroscirrha.

1. Although Dr. Altizer sampled monarchs collected from several 
locations in the Great Basin and along or near the Pacific coast, 
she did not sample any from the huge area inbetween Minnesota 
and western Colorado.  And despite this major geographic 
data gap she made inappropriate (premature) sweeping 
conclusions like:

"Western monarchs had least angular forewings"

2. Dr. Altizer didn't specify the dates samples were collected which
is important because it has long been established that fall migrants, 
for example, vary substantially in size, lipid content and other
characteristics depending on whether or not they were collected 
during the early, middle or late phases of the migration for a particular
geographic latitude.  For example, the fall migrants flying in 
Minneapolis right now are substantially smaller in size than 
the ones that were flying there at the end of August.

So once again, I consider Dr. Altizer's conclusion 
"forewings from eastern migrants were largest 
and most angular."  inappropriate (premature) given
the serious shortcomings of her population sampling data.

Paul Cherubini

 
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