[Leps-l] [leps-talk] Monarch Armageddon

Paul Cherubini monarch at saber.net
Wed Feb 13 00:18:06 EST 2013


On Feb 12, 2013, at 8:34 PM, Roger Kuhlman wrote:

> Clearly the extinction of both the eastern and western
> Monarch migrations are possible

How could it be possible? Has farming or urbanization ever 
eliminated all milkweeds from a State? Or County within a 
state? No, not even close to eliminating them.  Has farming
or urbanization ever eliminated all clumps of evergreen trees 
that could serve as monarch overwintering sites? No, not 
even close. So how could it be possible for humans to 
cause the extinction of the monarch migration?  

Humans are only capable of reducing the size of the
migratory population, but not eliminating it. And we already 
know there are multiple areas of the world where the size 
of the migratory population is tiny and yet it still persists; 
e.g. in areas of Australia and New Zealand only mere dozens of 
monarchs can be found at their overwintering sites.

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.


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