Monarch article in Ft Worth Star-Telegram

[Mike Quinn]

Monarch butterflies making trek north from Mexico in lowest numbers in decades

Fort Worth Star Telegram
By BILL HANNA
billhanna at star-telegram.com

Monarch butterflies, hit hard by strong storms at their winter home in
Mexico, have dwindled to their lowest population levels in decades as
they begin to return to Texas on their springtime flight back to the
United States and Canada.

The monarch loss is estimated at 50 to 60 percent and means that the
breeding population flying northward is expected to be the smallest
since the Mexican overwintering colonies were discovered in 1975, said
Chip Taylor, a professor of entomology and director of Monarch Watch
at the University of Kansas.

"I think it is very clear that the butterflies lost more than half of
the population," Taylor said. "I'm hoping it wasn't as high as 70 or
80 percent. We've never seen it this bad before."

Full text:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/18/2051354/monarch-butterflies-making-trek.html
or: http://bit.ly/bFvd8E


 
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