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

Paul Cherubini monarch at saber.net
Wed Feb 20 03:13:17 EST 2013


On Feb 19, 2013, at 11:15 PM, Foley, Patrick wrote:

> Paul, As we have discussed at great length on other
> listservs, parasites have apparently caused range
> collapse in several Bombus species in North America
> The present understanding is that these parasites
> were transferred from bee breeding facilities in Europe.

Pat, how is that native bumblebee / exotic european parasite
example legitimately comparable to the issue of a few citizen 
scientists in the western USA mailing a few thousand
WILD CAUGHT western monarchs to the eastern USA 
for for release?

Western monarchs naturally fly under their own power
over the Rocky Mountains to the breeding and 
overwintering ranges of the eastern monarchs:
http://swmonarchs.org/az-recoveries.php
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/NorthAmerica_zps7c99c886.jpg

So that means that western monarchs naturally move 
their parasites and genes to the eastern USA.

Monarchs are so common right on top of the Continental
Divide in both northern and southern New Mexico that two 
or more of them can be photographed simultaneously:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/cdnmd.jpg

And monarch caterpillars can be found at high elevations
in the Colorado Rocky Mountains:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/coloi.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/coloy.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/colou.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/colow.jpg

Thus there is no credible scientific basis underlying the
beliefs of Brower, Oberhauser and Taylor that a few
that a few citizen scientists like myself could inadvertently 
cause the collapse of the whole eastern 
migration-overwintering phenomenon.

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.


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