MONARCH BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1006961
• Multistate No.: NC-507
• Project Start Date: Aug 8, 2015
• Project End Date: Apr 3, 2017
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
2229 Lincoln Way
AMES,IA 50011

Performing Department
Entomology

Non Technical Summary
Declines in monarch butterfly populations over the past decade in North America have been documented in the scientific literature. Based on these trends, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) was petitioned in the summer of 2014 to list the monarch as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The USFWS determined a status review for a potential listing was warranted and recently completed a public comment period.Current research indicates that expanded breeding habitat in rural landscapes in the United States, specifically the upper Midwest, will have a positive impact on stabilizing and enhancing monarch butterfly populations. Key habitat issues include selection of appropriate milkweed species, determining spatial arrangements of milkweed patches, and management of milkweed plants needed for larval growth and development. Companion plantings of nectar-producing flowers used by butterflies are also included in monarch habitat considerations; monarch habitat benefits other wildlife habitat including pollinators. In order to establish sufficient monarch habitat in the agriculturally intensive upper Midwest, the agricultural community must be engaged. Research and extension efforts with the agricultural community and landowners throughout the region can support a proactive, science-based conservation program that would significantly enhance North American recovery of the monarch.This project will establish milkweed and monarch butterfly populations baselines and provide science-based guidelines for establishing and maintaining monarch habitat in rural landscapes and in concert with agricultural production practices. Monarch butterfly habitat could be incorporated into several conservation programs that could reap benefits for wildlife, pollinators, and soil and water conservation needs. The effort will be a model for establishing a coordinated research and extension effort tailored to local farming and ranching operations that complement citizen-led efforts in urban and suburban landscapes.A conservation consortium for the monarch butterfly has been launched in Iowa and is serving as a model approach that could be expanded across other states. The Iowa Consortium is comprised of 27 organizations that include farmer, livestock and commodity and conservation organizations, federal agencies, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and ISU's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.Types of Activities: Habitat improvements in rural landscapes will target underutilized land area that are sufficient in scale to support monarch breeding habitat while complementing other conservation programs. Research to determine adapted milkweed species, adult butterfly egg-laying preference and caterpillar growth and development will provide needed information to inform the design of monarch habitat. Research-based information will be used to inform extension efforts.Objectives: Research objectives include developing: 1) Cost-effective methods to establish and maintain milkweeds and companion plants in rural, suburban and urban landscapes; 2) Optimal milkweed species and companion plants patch characteristics and spatial arrangements to maintain and promote larval productivity and population viability; and 3) Survey and sampling protocols to monitor milkweed and larval and adult monarch populations. The extension program will ensure the distribution of practical, science-based information on conservation approaches in agricultural landscapes.Expected Outputs, Outcomes and/or Impacts: Research outcomes will include: proposed milkweed (Asclepias) species and monarch seed mixes for monarch population enhancement and adaptation for North Central states; a population modeling framework will establish monarch and milkweed baseline populations; evaluation of monarch breeding, forage and roosting habitat characteristics, and spatial arrangement of patches; a sampling plan to support areawide milkweed and monarch surveys will inform monarch conservation and habitat restoration efforts. Mission-driven collaboration across the upper Midwest summer breeding zone of the monarch butterfly will coordinate collective resources and expertise and ensure conservation efforts tailored to local landscapes can be aggregated to state, region and national scales to achieve a scientifically-robust approach for achieving monarch population recovery.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

15%

Applied

50%

Developmental

35%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
135	0850	1070	30%
136	0860	1130	10%
135	3110	1130	30%
136	2420	1140	20%
135	0860	1150	10%

Knowledge Area
135 - Aquatic and Terrestrial Wildlife; 136 - Conservation of Biological Diversity;

Subject Of Investigation
0850 - Wildlife habitats; 3110 - Insects; 0860 - Endangered species; 2420 - Noncrop plant research;

Field Of Science
1130 - Entomology and acarology; 1070 - Ecology; 1140 - Weed science; 1150 - Toxicology;

Keywords

monarch butterfly

habitat restoration

milkweed

monarch meta-population modeling

Goals / Objectives
Cost-effective methods to establish and maintain milkweeds and companion plants in rural, suburban and urban landscapes Optimal milkweed species and companion plants patch characteristics and spatial arrangements to maintain and promote larval productivity and population viability Survey and sampling protocols to monitor milkweed and larval and adult monarch populations. The extension program will ensure the distribution of practical, science-based information on conservation approaches in agricultural landscapes.

Project Methods
Efforts: While milkweed has largely been considered a target weed species for control by the farming community, this project will provide education on the necessity of incorporating milkweeds into non-agricultural production lands with broader ecological services that include wildlife, pollinators, and lands managed for soil/water sustainability. During this project, efforts will include on-farm demonstrations, field days, workshops and meetings and use of social media. The Iowa Research Farm system will be engaged in demonstration plots and presentations.Evaluation: The project will be evaluated by documenting costs of establishing and maintaining milkweed habitat, success of habitat establishment and persistence using vegetative surveys, and initial assessment of monarch utilization of newly established habitat. The project will also collect key monarch life history data on oviposition preference and larval success and growth rated on different milkweed species and spatial patterns to help formulate a preliminary monarch population model. A statistically sound monitoring plan will be developed to survey for monarch habitat and populations with specified levels of statistical confidence. The survey will provide necessary baseline information and also be used to evaluate population changes and progress in supporting monarch conservation. Together these efforts and evaluation steps will contribute to establishing cost-effective habitat management practices, which combined with spatially-explicit population modeling will provide targets for monarch recovery that can be tracked by using statistically-sound survey designs to monitor caterpillar and adult populations.

Progress 08/08/15 to 04/03/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audience includes Iowa agricultural producers, agricultural commodity groups, industry, NGOs, and public agencies who have interest in natural resource conservation and specifically in creating monarch habitat.Through outreach activities we have contacted/educated many youth and general public audiences about monarch butterfly conservation. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided technical training, including research experience,for5 graduate students, eight undergraduate students, anda post doctorate student's. Students have gained experiencepresenting their results at national and reigonal professional meetings, Entomological Society of American(ESA), North Central Branch of ESA, and other professional venues.Undergraduate research proejcts have been presented to the ISU community and professional meetings as available. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Provided presentations at ISU Field Days (variety of locations across the state), presentations in collaboration with USDA,NRCS, Pheasants Forever, Bloank Park Zoo, ISU Reiman Gardens, Quad Cities Pollinator conference.Team membersdelivered education to extension audiences including ISU Master Gardeners program, Master Conservationists, Tri-State (IA, WI, IL) Annual Forestry meeting.Materials developed and distributed include written handouts (also available on the web), videos, powerpoint webinars, and extension news articles. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? IMPACT: Current research indicates that expanded breeding habitat in rural landscapes in the United States, specifically the upper Midwest, will have a positive impact on stabilizing and enhancing monarch butterfly populations, which have been on the decline.Through research we found planting monarch habitat successfully offered more challenges that originally thought.Some site preparation is needed to reduce competitive weedsand grasses.Cropping for a year enables a landowner to control weeds, prior to planting and has become a topic of further investigation.Choosing a seed mix also offered some challenges.Many Iowa experts were consulted including area biologiests with USDA,NRCS Pheasants Forever, and staff from Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.We developed aweb-based publication on seed mixes thatprovide a high diversity mix that focuses on native plants.Substitutions can be made that address site and bloom requirements but that may be more economical.Our project providedscience-based educational tools andpublic education on how toprovide natural habitat for this threatened pollinator species. Objective 1. Develop cost-effective methods to establish and maintain milkweeds and companion plants in rural, suburban and urban landscapes. Recommendations for plantings monarch habitatwas covered in a video production. It includes preferred planting date and equipment for success. See https://monarch.ent.iastate.edu/video/planting-monarch-habitat-iowa. Objective 2. Develop optimal milkweed species and companion plants patch characteristics and spatial arrangements to maintain and promote larval productivity and population viability. We developed aweb-based publication on seed mixes thatprovide a high diversity mixand focuses on native plants, for monarch establishment in rural, urban and suburban counties.The publication includes recommendations for planting density and preferred planting locations.Bloom period of each plant species is indicated; it is essential to provide nectar producing plants to sustain the monarch adult. https://monarch.ent.iastate.edu/projects/high-diversity-monarch-seed-mix2. This publication allows landowners to make more economic substitutions that match their soil type and prefered period.A field day video provides information on milkweed preference by monarches, monarch habitat establishiment and general biology, migration and identification of life stage.A training webinar was developed that provides information about patch size, habitat fragmentation, and how butterfly species respond to edge effects and different ecosystems. Objective 3. Survey and sampling protocols to monitor milkweed and larval and adult monarch populations. The extension program will ensure the distribution of practical, science-based information on conservation approaches in agricultural landscapes. We developed materialsto aid individuals in monitoring monarch larvae and adults.A videowas developed that shows the simulated movement of monarch butterflies on the Iowa landscape.See https://monarch.ent.iastate.edu/video/modeling-movement-monarch-butterflies. This helps guide individual efforts in surveying and sampling for monitoring.The ISU team has also developed sampling protocols thatwere demonstrated at public events in addition to a video of an ISU Field Day https://monarch.ent.iastate.edu/video/monarch-conservation-field-day-2017. Extension presentations included a variety of presentations by all team members to youth, gardeners, landowners, and farmers.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: V. M. Pocius, Milkweed Matters: Monarch Butterfly (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) Survival and Development on Nine Midwestern Milkweed Species, Environmental Entomology , 2017.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: V. M. Pocius, Performance of early instar monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus L.) on nine milkweed species native to Iowa, Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society , vol. 71, no. 3, 2017.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2018 Citation: V. M. Pocius, Monarch butterflies do not place all of their eggs in one basket: oviposition on nine Midwestern milkweed species, Ecosphere
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Appelgate, S., S. Blodgett, S. Bradbury, D. Debinski, R. Hartzler, J. Pleasants, D. Schweitzer, and R. Hellmich. 2016. Monarch Seed Mix - High Diversity. Iowa State University Extension Publication

Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Scientists, policy makers and the public who are concerned about the decline of monarch butterfly populations. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Journal articles, conference presentations and online atwww.iowamonarchs.info What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Upcoming activities for Objectives 1-3 will include site preparation and planting of monarch habitat at locations including, but not limited to, private lands in rural Iowa. Data collected during the current reporting period will be compiled and analyzed in the next reporting period and, correspondingly, monitoring protocols will be refined/revised as necessary. Protocols for sampling monarch eggs and larvae will be added to the roadside sampling in Iowa in 2017 to assess monarch utilization for patch size and to better define patch size characteristics.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? IMPACT: Over the past decade, monarch butterfly populations have declined significantly in North America. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) was petitioned in the summer of 2014 to list the monarch as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Our response is to research solutions, learn from others in this multistate project, and share response strategies with others working on this issue and the concerned public. During this period we have shared what we are learning through publications and conference presentations. We have submitted grant proposals to support research for conservation of the monarch butterfly. We are making progress towards our goal of establishing milkweed and monarch butterfly populations baselines, which can help us determine science-based guidelines needed for establishing and maintaining monarch habitat in rural landscapes and in concert with agricultural production practices. Objective 1... Explore cost-effective methods to establish and maintain milkweeds and companion plants in rural, suburban and urban landscapes. Brian Wilsey, Iowa State University, took on the role of co-PI in the development of a multi-year proposal to help landowners, i.e. "Flowers for Farmers." Wilsey's lab is addressing which variables are the best predictors for establishing high quality prairie reconstructions by sampling 50 sites that were planted between 2001 and 2014 during 2015 and 2016. Project collaborators from Iowa State University and the other North Central states convened June 8-9, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio, to review developments in monarch conservation and ongoing research. It was noted that recent data from NRCS indicates that Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska are the top three states nationwide for percentage of conservation habitat on private lands. Objective 2... Determine optimal milkweed species and companion plants patch characteristics and spatial arrangements to maintain and promote larval productivity and population viability. Researchers at Iowa State University continued to develop habitat demonstration sites in 2016. Six nectar-producing companion plants were added to the existing milkweed demonstrations sites statewide. Plants were selected to provide a season-long source of nectar-producing flowers and also to demonstrate common companion plants to include in monarch habitat plantings. Data collected in 2016 is being analyzed. Dr. Steve Bradbury and Dr. Tyler Grant, Iowa State University, are developing an agent-based model to examine monarch butterfly activity on current and improved habitat, habitat quality, and how adult monarch use the resources in the landscape. Objective 3... Establish survey and sampling protocols to monitor milkweed and larval and adult monarch populations. Under the guidance of Dr. Rick Hellmich at Iowa State University, graduate researcher assistants have preliminary results from the 2016 surveys in Iowa, which included roadside milkweed populations along on three miles of rural roadside in Story County, Iowa. On average, 650 milkweed stems/mile were present. Stem frequency found that 43% percent of roadsides contained at least one milkweed stem. The average stem density was 2.24 stems/m2. More work is needed to develop, refine and standardize survey and sampling protocols.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Pleasants, J.M., E.H. Williams, L.P. Brower, K.S. Oberhauser, and O.R. Taylor. 2016. Conclusion of no decline in summer monarch population not supported. Annals Entomological Soc. Amer. 0:1-3.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Fisher, K.E., Coates, B.S., and Bradbury, S.P. 2016. Identification of monarch mitochondrial haplotypes based on direct sequencing. Poster presentation. North Central Branch Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, June 5  8, 2016, Cleveland, OH.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Krishnan, N., Bidne, K., Hellmich, R., Coats, J. and S. Bradbury. 2016. Toxicity of insecticides commonly used in corn and soybean production on Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) larvae. Poster presentation. North Central Branch Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, June 5  8, 2016, Cleveland, OH.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Grant, T.J. and Bradbury, S.P. 2016. Monarch movement and egg-laying model. USGS and USFWS Monarch Scientific Partners Seminar Series (Invited). April 13, 2016. Minneapolis, MN.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Grant, T.J., Bradbury, S.P., Parry H.R., and Zalucki, M.P. 2016. Modeling monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) movement and egg-laying in a spatially-explicit Iowa landscape. Oral presentation. North Central Branch Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, June 5  8, 2016, Cleveland, OH
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Pan, H., Yang, X., Bidne, K., Hellmich, R. L., Siegfried, B. D., & Zhou, X. (2015). Selection of reference genes for RT-qPCR analysis in the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (L.), a migrating bio-indicator. PloS one, 10(6), e0129482.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Bradbury, S.P. Monarch conservation, pest resistance management and agriculture productivity. 2016 Iowa Soybean Association Research Conference. February 16  17, 2016, Des Moines, IA.

Progress 08/08/15 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Rural and urban landowners; entomologists; general public. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Many of the team members attended and presented posters or presentations at the 2015 Annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America (Pleasants, Debinski, Blodgett, Bradbury, Grant, Blader, Pocius). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?An interactive monarch butterfly exhibit was provided and staffed at the Iowa State Fair. An estimated 2,000 people were reached with information about the importance of providing habitat. Youth presentations through AgCiting (Newell, IA), Day of Insects, Master Gardeners, and other extension presentations were made in 2015, reaching 1,500 individuals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Companion plants will be added to the milkweed demonstration plots at 16 Iowa locations. Impact of companion plants on milkweed preference will be observed Monarch model will continue to be updated and additional sites in Iowa added. Data will be collected on monarch oviposition preference in laboratory and field situations. Continue to pursue patch size research both in designed research plots and in situ (roadsides). Evaluation of monarch butterfly growth and development on pesticide exposure will be initiated.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Declines in monarch butterfly populations over the past decade in North America have led to a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the monarch as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Our project's efforts will lead to science-based support for a statewide conservation program to significantly enhance North American recovery of the monarch. To date, we have established 12 research and demonstration plantings across the state; began developing and testing a spatially-explicit population model for the monarch butterfly; identified and met with project cooperators funded by a variety of state and federal funded grants. The team will develop a standardized data collection protocol to coordinate multi-state data for analysis, reports, and publications; through extension/outreach activities raise the awareness of Iowans about the threat to monarch butterfly survival and ways they can assist with increasing habit; and obtain funding for research and demonstration activities that will support the project's research activities. Objective 1) Develop cost-effective methods to establish and maintain milkweeds and companion plants in rural, suburban and urban landscapes Evaluate nine milkweed species and companion plants for growth and development at 16 sites in Iowa including 12 ISU Research and Demonstration Farms, Luther College, Reiman Gardens, Blank Park Zoo, and Central College. Milkweeds were established by transplanting during summer 2015 and plots were labeled for self-tours. Plots were also used by a variety of public events including field days and youth activities. A seed mix was developed for Iowa that includes milkweed species and a variety of forbs and grasses that will support adult and larval needs of monarch butterfly. The seed mix has been posted on the Iowa website. http://monarch.ent.iastate.edu/projects/seed-mix-research-purposes. Cost was included in consideration of the list to ensure that goals were met for monarch growth and development. In Iowa $1.4 million has been obtained for monarch butterfly research and demonstration conservation.Grants have been obtained from Iowa Soybean Association and Iowa Pork Producers Association, as well as industry donations to develop planting and maintenance practices for monarch habitat. Financial and in-kind support has been obtained from Conservation Innovations Grants from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, to help develop and accelerate the adoption of innovative approaches to monarch butterfly conservation in agriculturally intensive corn and soybean production areas. Objective 2) Identify optimal milkweed species and companion plants patch characteristics and spatial arrangements to maintain and promote larval productivity and population viability Project researchers Blodgett, Bradbury, Hartzler, Debinski, Pleasants, and Hellmich summarized the information and data from a demonstration planting of nine milkweed species with distributions in Iowa, which were transplanted at each of the ISU Research and Demonstration Farms -- a total of 12 locations across the state. Monarch data collected included eggs, larvae, and pupae on each of the milkweed species. Growth characteristics of each milkweed species were also summarized. Laboratory and field studies were initiated in 2015 in choice and no-choice formats. Preliminary data have been reported to a meeting of the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium and to the national meeting of the Entomological Society of America. Research was conducted in 2015 to study patch size on monarch oviposition preference (Blader, Hellmich, and Blodgett). Preliminary data have been reported to a meeting of the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium and to the national meeting of the Entomological Society of America. Objective 3) Survey and sampling protocols to monitor milkweed and larval and adult monarch populations. Steve Bradbury and the project's research associate (postdoc), Tyler Grant, began to develop a spatially-explicit population model for the monarch butterfly that is currently in the testing verification stage. Preliminary data have been reported to a meeting of the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium and to the national meeting of the Entomological Society of America. State milkweed surveys were conducted in 2015 (Hartzler) and those results have been reported to a meeting of the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium and the Weed Science Society of America. Monarch butterfly was included in 2015 in a statewide large scale survey effort through Iowa Department of Natural Resources project, Multiple Species Inventory and Monitoring (Dinsmore). These data are being prepared for publication. Objective 4) The extension program will ensure the distribution of practical, science-based information on conservation approaches in agricultural landscapes. Evaluate nine milkweed species and companion plants for growth and development at 16 sites in Iowa including 12 ISU Research and Demonstration Farms, Luther College, Reiman Gardens, Blank Park Zoo, and Central College. Milkweeds were established by transplanting during summer 2015 and plots were labeled for self-tours. Plots were also used by a variety of public events including field days and youth activities. An interactive monarch butterfly exhibit was provided and staffed by Blodgett, Pocius, Blader, and Hellmich at the Iowa State Fair. An estimated 2,000 people were reached with information and educational materials about the importance of providing habitat.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: T. Blader, V. Pocius, K. Bidne, S. Blodgett, S. Bradbury, D. Debinski, R. Hartzler, R. Hellmich, M. Honeyman, L. Jesse, D. R. Lewis, J. Pleasants and W. Wintersteen. 2015. Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium (IMCC): stepping up to the front lines of habitat restoration. Entomological Society of America, Minneapolis, MN.
• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Iowa State University, 2015. Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium. http://monarch.ent.iastate.edu/
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Hartzler, B., S. Blodgett, S. Bradbury, R. Hellmich. 2015. The Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium. Integrated Crop Management News.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: T. Blader, R. Hellmich, S. Blodgett, S. Bradbury1, R. Moranz1, J. Pleasants, & D. Debinski. 2015. Does density of host plant (Asclepias syriaca) influence monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) oviposition? Entomological Society of America, Minneapolis, MN.