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

Paul Cherubini monarch at saber.net
Wed Feb 20 14:45:19 EST 2013


On Feb 20, 2013, at 11:19 AM, Foley, Patrick wrote:

> Paul, I was not trying to reply to you, point for point, I was
> making some general points that undermine the view
> that Monarch releases are totally safe.

Pat, we're getting way off track from the three monarch 
migration extinction questions at hand:

1) Is there credible scientific basis underlying the beliefs of 
Dr. Brower, Oberhauser and Taylor that a few citizen scientists 
like myself could inadvertently cause the collapse of the 
whole eastern monarch migration-overwintering phenomenon 
via shipping a few thousand wild field caught western 
monarchs to the eastern USA?

2) Does professor Chip Taylor have a legitimate scientific 
basis for telling the public and reporters that just because
there is less, but still alot, of milkweed growing on 
midwestern farmland, the monarch migration could be 
on the brink of collapse as he says or implies in these 
videos?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZXGRZMrsDU
http://www.features.ku.edu/monarchs/

3) Does any credible science exist to support the contention 
that temperatures in the overwintering region of Mexico 
could conceivably increase by a staggering and 
unprecedented 3-4 degrees during the next 18 years 
and (Chip Taylor's words} "eliminate most of the suitable 
areas for overwintering because it would eliminate the 
oyamel fir trees."?

So far, after several days of discussion, we see the answers 
to all three questions are No.  

So it appears it's time to end this discussion - although 
bearing in mind that a new round of "monarch migration
could be threatened" type articles is very likely to appear 
in the popular press within the next 1-3 weeks (i.e. articles 
in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, 
Los Angeles Times, etc).

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.


More information about the Leps-l mailing list