Monarchs and Monoculture in southern Michigan

[Carolyn King]

Paul,
We have discussed this before. We all know that the Monarchs and Painted 
Ladies are migrants. They did not originate in the places you are 
photographing them.

Carolyn King




Paul Cherubini <monarch at saber.net> 
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08/19/05 01:14 PM
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Re: Monarchs and Monoculture in southern Michigan






Roger Kuhlman wrote:

> I would bet modern, high-tech agricultural
> practices have been greatly limiting the amount of Common milkweed 
growing
> in our area. 30 to 50 years ago there was probably much more milkweed 
here
> and many more Monarchs.

My point is that even in spite of modern agricultural practices,
Monarchs remain spectacularly abundant in precisely the areas
with the most intensive plantings of Bt corn and Roundup Ready
soybeans;  areas such as southern Minnesota and northern Iowa:

http://www.saber.net/~monarch/gaylrb.jpg
http://www.saber.net/~monarch/rf.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mastertech/olivia.jpg
http://www.saber.net/~monarch/gaylra.jpg

And the monarch overwintering populations in Mexico have shown
no pattern of decline the past 28 years despite the changes in 
agricultural practices:

http://www.saber.net/~monarch/mexpops.JPG

Unfortunately, the news media isn't being told that Monarchs and 
Painted Ladies are still spectacularly abundant in the areas
with the most intensive plantings of genetically modified crops.

Instead, here's what reporters are reading on the internet:

http://www.monarchwatch.org/ws/index.html
"Widespread adoption of herbicide-resistant corn and soybeans 
in the last 5 years has resulted in the loss of at least 80 million 
acres of monarch habitat...without a major effort to restore 
milkweeds to as many locations as possible, the monarch 
population is certain to decline to extremely low levels."

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

 
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