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SCIENCEThursday 3 March 2016
Mexico documents big rebound in monarch butterflies
MARK STEVENSON In this Jan. 4, 2015 file photo, a kaleidoscope of Monarch butterflies cling to tree branches, in the in 2014, reversing several
Associated Press Piedra Herrada sanctuary, near Valle de Bravo, Mexico. Monarch butterflies have made a big years of steady improve-
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mon- comeback in their wintering grounds in Mexico, after suffering serious declines, investigators said ments. Illegal logging had
arch butterflies have made Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. fallen to almost zero in
a big comeback in their 2012.
wintering grounds in Mex- Associated Press Authorities said the re-
ico, after suffering serious serve’s buffer area lost
declines, experts said Fri- crease their conservation Service, said that in the first of their 22-year average. more than 22 acres (9
day. efforts to protect and re- year of that effort, the Unit- It said in a statement that hectares) in 2015 due to il-
The area covered by the store the habitat of this but- ed States had managed to “the population was ex- legal logging in one area,
orange-and-black insects terfly along its migratory restore about 250,000 acres pected to be up this winter but said the tree cutting
in the mountains west of route.” (100,000 hectares) of milk- due to favorable summer was detected and several
Mexico City this season The United States is working weed, and raised about weather conditions in the arrests were made.
was more than three and to reintroduce milkweed, a $20 million for the program. monarch’s U.S. breeding The forest canopy acts as
a half times greater than plant key to the butterflies’ “It is time for celebration areas.” a blanket against the cold
last winter. The butterflies migration, on about 1,160 because we see the begin- “The increase is certainly for butterflies forming huge
clump so densely in the square miles (3 million hect- ning of success,” Ashe said. great news, but the bottom clumps on branches during
pine and fir forests they are ares) within five years, both “But our task now is to con- line is that monarchs must their winter stay in Mexico.
counted by the area they by planting and by desig- tinue building on that suc- reach a much larger popu- Monarch expert Lincoln
cover rather than by indi- nating pesticide-free ar- cess.” lation size to be resilient to Brower wrote in a research
vidual insects. eas. Milkweed is the plant The Washington, D.C.- ever-increasing threats,” paper that the 2015 forest
The number of monarchs the butterflies feed and based Center for Biological said Tierra Curry, a senior loss was actually 25 acres
making the 3,400-mile lay their eggs on, but it has Diversity, which is pushing scientist at the Center. (10 hectares) in the reserve
(5,500-kilometer) migration been attacked by herbi- for endangered species In Mexico, meanwhile, ille- area, and said the illegal
from the United States and cide use and loss of open status for the monarchs, gal logging has remained logging “questions the
Canada declined steadily land in the United States. noted that even with the a problem. It more than effectiveness of current
in recent years before re- Dan Ashe, the director of rebound, the butterflies tripled in the monarch but- strategies to protect the al-
covering in 2014. This winter the U.S. Fish and Wildlife are still only at 68 percent terflies’ wintering grounds ready precarious overwin-
was even better. tering habitat of the mon-
This December, the but- arch butterfly.”
terflies covered 10 acres The logging took place
(about 4 hectares), com- in a particularly sensitive
pared to 2.8 acres (1.13 area of the reserve, and if
hectares) in 2014 and a re- butterflies can’t find shelter
cord low of 1.66 acres (0.67 there, “they may be forced
hectares) in 2013. into forested areas with less
While that’s positive, the microclimatic protection,”
monarchs still face prob- exposing them to poten-
lems: The butterflies cov- tial cold and rain that can
ered as much as 44 acres prove fatal, Brower wrote.
(18 hectares) 20 years ago. Alejandro del Mazo, the
“The news is good, but at head of Mexico’s protect-
the same time we shouldn’t ed natural areas, cred-
let our guard down,” said ited the three countries for
Omar Vidal, director of the their cooperation and said
World Wildlife Fund in Mex- they were on their way
ico. “Now more than ever, to achieving the goal of
Mexico, the United States, having 220 million butter-
and Canada should in- flies in the reserve by 2020.
