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SCIENCEWednesday 21 October
Monarchs get help from unlikely source: California’s drought
GILLIAN FLACCUS California’s Own Native Mexico and Utah. Anya Shortridge bought a on a San Diego hilltop des-
Associated Press Landscape Design, Inc. Dozens of monarchs flit few milkweed plants last ignates her garden as a
VISTA, Calif. (AP) — In Cali- Nurseries are increasingly through a butterfly atrium year for her drought gar- “monarch waystation.”
fornia’s drought, the strug- stocking multiple varieties he built next to his green- den. “We’re finding eggs - mon-
gling monarch butterfly of native milkweed and houses and sometimes Now, she grows more than arch eggs - on the under-
may have found a sprin- catering to customers who sneak inside his greenhous- 100 milkweeds and care- side of our milkweed leaves
kling of hope. want to be drought savvy es to lay eggs on plants fully scans them for mi- all the time, so if I wanted to
Suburban homeowners rip- but also want to attract awaiting sale. croscopic monarch eggs. I could probably raise thou-
ping out thirsty lawns are sands,” said Shortridge,
dotting their new drought- In this Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015 photo, Tom Merriman stands behind a monarch in his butterfly who coos and cajoles the
tolerant landscapes with atrium at his nursery in Vista, Calif. butterflies as if they were
milkweed native to Califor- her children.
nia’s deserts and chaparral Associated Press Some experts, however,
— plants that have the po- are worried that California
tential to help save water butterflies. “If you plant it, they will When the eggs hatch, she homeowners who plant
and monarchs at the same Business was up 50 per- come,” said Merriman, feeds the tiny black-, gold- milkweed might actually
time, because the female cent this season at Tom who has a greenhouse and white-striped caterpil- do harm by trying to do
monarch will only lay her Merriman’s native plants stuffed with 8,000 milkweed lars until they disappear good.
eggs on milkweed. nursery in Vista, California. of a dozen types. “We had into a shimmering, light That’s because many gar-
Overall numbers of the ma- Five years ago, Merriman chrysalises on shovels, we green chrysalis where the deners unwittingly choose
jestic black-and-orange didn’t sell milkweed at all; had them on wheelbar- mysterious transformation tropical — or so-called “ex-
butterflies have dropped this summer, he sold more rows. They were up in the into a butterfly occurs. otic” — milkweed because
from 1 billion to fewer than than 14,000 plants and nursery on palm trees. They This season, she and her of its colorful pink and yel-
60 million over the past two is shipping truckloads of were everywhere, under husband have released low flowers.
decades as milkweed na- seedlings all over California tables. We were releasing more than 100 butterflies The plants are more attrac-
tionwide has fallen prey to and other bone-dry West- 500 caterpillars a week on into the wild. tive than the desert variet-
development and pesti- ern states like Arizona, New native milkweed.” A sign in front of her house ies but could interfere with
cides. the monarch’s famed mi-
Earlier this year, the U.S. Fish gration.
and Wildlife Service an- Native milkweeds go dor-
nounced $1.2 million starter mant in the winter, leaving
investment to restore habi- the butterflies no choice
tat; other national projects but to complete their mi-
aim to distribute milkweed gratory journey. But the
seeds by mail and build da- tropical varieties bloom —
tabases of breeding habi- and provide a place to lay
tats as alarm grows. Wheth- eggs — all year, distracting
er by choice or by chance, the females and interrupt-
ecologists hope California ing migration patterns.
gardeners looking to save Millions of North American
water can provide a boost monarchs travel from the
to the butterflies on the eastern and central Unit-
West Coast. ed States and Canada to
“This is a really important Mexico each winter, while
way to provide really im- a smaller number travel
portant habitat for a really through the western U.S.
important butterfly,” said to winter along California’s
Greg Rubin, president of Central Coast.q
