Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences are farmers and ranchers, students, and citizens of fragmented urban and suburban areas, people from the local communities at the monarch butterfly overwintering grounds and Mexican agencies. Changes/Problems:Reduced funding for this project is an issue. However,Dr. David MacFarlane from the Department of Forestry and Dr.David Mota-Sanchez from the Department of Entomology(Michigan State University) had obtained a small grant from the Center for Latinoamerican studies (MSU)to performresearch at the overwintering grounds. This work will be performed when the travel restrictions are lifted by the university and the governments of Mexico and the United States. Despite the reduction of funding, research performed in Mexico has been very successful. Therefore, we will continue with the studies at the overwintering grounds in Mexico. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Our collaborators trained about 60 people from local communities of Sierra Chincua, El Rosario and Cerro Pelon in Mexico. The training consisted on the use of GPS, and weather recording devices which areimportant tools to pinpoint locations and record temperature. As in the past season other aspects of feeding behavior, dispersion, and movement of monarchs were training topics. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Discussion of the migration and monarch's status were performed remotely with our collaborators and other people from the overwintering grounds in Mexico. We estimated that about 60 people were provided information about topics including migration, and behavior ofthe monarch butterfly colonies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Traveling to perform research to the overwintering grounds in theseason 2020/2021by Dr. David Mota-Sanchez MSU and Dr. David Macfarlane from the MSU forestry department would be very difficult due to the Covid-19 status in Mexico and the US. Therefore, most of the activities will be performed by our local collaborators. InMichigan we continue observing thebehavior and migration.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Michigan is very important in supporting the effort of restoration of monarch butterfly populations. An array of different habitats with milkweeds provides food for the larva, and woody areas provides excellent refuge for adults. Similar behavior that we had observed at the monarch butterfly overwintering grounds also occurs in Michigan: monarchs use trees as a refuge during the night, and during the day trees protect monarch from rain, wind andextreme temperatures.Dr. David Mota-Sanchez continued his work at the monarch butterfly overwintering grounds in collaboration with people from the local communities in Michoacán, Mexico. Due to tighter restrictions to travelin the season 2019/2020 we were not able to visit the monarch butterfly overwintering grounds. However, our collaborators from the local communities in southern Mexico continued documenting the arrival of monarch butterflies to the overwintering grounds in the fall of 2019 and the migration back to the USin the spring of 2020. In addition, recording of the temperatures, relative humidity, dew point and other weather conditions were registed too. Local movements of monarch colonies during the season 2019/2020at the overwintering grounds were observed and documented too. The arrival of the monarchs to Sierra Chincua and El Rosario happened in the first two weeks of November and thespring migration started on the third and last week of February 2020, but few small colonies remained longer time. The total area of monarchs in the overwintering ground for the season 2019/2020 was 2.83 ha.In comparison with the last season there was a53% reduction in the measured area for all overwintering grounds. Michigan activities.Monarch butterflies overwintering ondifferent species of trees in Mexico. The species, age and architecture of the trees determine the numbers of butterflies on them. We had started a project with Dr. David MacFarlane from the Department of Forestry (Michigan State University) to estimate monarch butterfly populations on trees.A preliminarywork of tree architecture was performedin the fall 2019.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences are farmers and ranchers, students, and citizens of fragmented urban and suburban areas, people from the local communities at the monarch butterfly overwintering grounds and Mexican agencies. Changes/Problems:Reduced funding for this project is an issue. Therefore, we adjust our activities in Michigan without affecting the assessment of the general status of monarch in Michigan. Despite of reduction of funding, research performed in Mexico has been very successful. Therefore, we will continue with the studies at the overwintering grounds in Mexico. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two undergraduate students were trained in capturing, tagging and releasing butterflies. In addition, 10 people from local communities of Sierra Chincua, El Rosario and Cerro Pelon at the overwintered grounds were trained in using GPS, and weather recording devices important tools to pinpoint locations and record the temperature. Other aspects of feeding behavior, dispersion, and movement of monarchs were taught. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Last year tagging methods and status of the monarch at the overwintering grounds were disseminated via an interviewed by Rebecca Williams from NPR Michigan radio (http://www.michiganradio.org/post/tiny-stickers-help-scientists-learn-about-monarchbutterfly-migration). In addition, a talk about the effect of abiotic factors on Monarch butterflies was presented at the Entomological Society of America meetings at Vancouver, CA. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have collected data of temperature, relative humidity, and other abiotic factors at the overwintered areas. This data will be analyzed and see if there is correlation with the movement, feeding and mating behavior, and northern migration of the overwintered monarch butterflies. Observation of the monarch status in Michigan and overwintered areas will be performed. An extension bulletin of monarch feeding behavior in Michigan will be published. Other publications from the work performed in Mexico also will be published. Activities in Michigan will reflect the funding support that we have to perform these activities, and one trip per year will be performed to study the monarchs at the overwintering grounds. Future collaboration with Dr. David Macfarlane from the MSU forestry department will bring very important insights of the monarch butterflies and their interaction with their habitats at the state of Michigan and the overwintering grounds in Mexico.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The state of Michigan is very important in supporting the effort of restoration of monarch butterfly populations. An array of different habitats with milkweeds provides food for the larva, and woody areas provides excellent refuge for adults during the night or rainy days. Given the multiple generations and migratory behavior of the monarch butterflies it is critical to understand the status of the monarch butterflies at the overwintering grounds in Mexico. Therefore, this season Dr. David Mota-Sanchez using his culture and linguistic expertise continued his work at the monarch butterfly overwintering grounds with people from the local communities in Michoacán, Mexico. Monarch overwintering grounds. In the spring of 2019 David Mota-Sanchez performed a trip to the monarch overwintering grounds in Mexico (Cerro Pelon, El Rosario and Sierra Chincua) to study the movement of monarch butterfly colonies. Dr. Zachary Huang, an expert in bees and pollinators from Michigan State University, visited El Rosario with Dr. David Mota-Sanchez. Observations of the arrival of monarch butterflies in the fall 2018 with collaborators from the local communities were performed. In addition, mass migration of monarch butterflies from Sierra Chincua, Cerro Pelon and El Rosario in the spring 2019 was studied too. Temperatures, relative humidity, dew point and other weather conditions were measured to correlate the movement of monarch during the season at the overwintering grounds. During the months of January, February and March 2019, unusual, above-average high temperatures resulted in very active movements of monarch butterflies at the sanctuaries of Sierra Chincua and El Rosario. It is likely that higher temperatures also resulted in a four-weeks early monarch butterfly departure to the USA in 2019. High monarch activity during the overwintering time might result in fitness costs because of the depletion of the lipids in the monarchs. Furthermore, an early migration might jeopardy the female egg laying because the lack of milkweed development for the returning butterflies to the US. Impact of the higher temperatures might negatively impact the monarch populations. Therefore, in the years to come monarch butterflies can be a species indicator of the climate change. Michigan activities. In the fall of 2018, we noticed more monarchs migrating south than previous years. Our prediction was that the area occupied by the monarch will be larger in the 2018/2019 season than previous years. In fact, the report of the National Commission for Protected Areas and WWF reported 6.1 ha for this season. This season (2019) we observed the first monarch butterflies arriving early in the season (May) to Michigan, and then follow by a slow establishment during the season perhaps due to long and cold winter. Later in the summer a good presence of monarchs in Michigan and neighboring states and Canada were reported during August/September. This week (09/30/2019) we have observed a higher number of monarchs intensively feeding on flowers. Monarchs migrating in a southern/southwest direction has been observed too.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Mota-Sanchez, D., Castaneda, O., and Montesinos-Lopez, O. Monarch butterfly winter mortality at the sanctuary of Sierra Chincua 2016. Talk presented on November 13, 2018 at the Entomological Society of America meetings. Vancouver, CA.
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Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences are farmers and ranchers, students, and citizens of fragmented urban and suburban areas, people from the local communities at the monacrh butterflies overwintering grounds and mexican agencies. Changes/Problems:Reduced funding for this project is an issue. However, surveys in Michigan focused on monitoring the adults during the season. Very good information was obtained about the adults population dynamics, nectar preferences, roosting behavior, wing size, dispersion, and sex proportion during and after the season. Despite of reduce funding research performed in Mexico hasn been very succesfull. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two undergraduate students were trained in capturing, tagging and releasing butterflies. In addition, four people from local communities of Sierra Chincua, El Rosario and Cerro Pelon at the overwintered grounds were trained in using GPS, and weather recording devices important tools to pinpoint locations, and record the temperature. Other aspects of feeding behavior, dispersion, and movement of monarchs were taught. Additional collaboration for Pollinators/monarch butterflies conservations is in progress with NGOs and civil organizations and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the regional offices of the US Fish and Wildlife Services. This partnership will bring many training and professional development opportunities in the near future. David Mota-Sanchez participate at the informal meeting of NC1205, Monarch Butterfly Conservation in the Midwest in conjunction with ESA meetings in Denver on November 5 2017. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Tagging methods and status of the monarch at the overwintering grounds were disseminated via an interviewed by Rebecca Williams from NPR Michigan radio (http://www.michiganradio.org/post/tiny-stickers-help-scientists-learn-about-monarch-butterfly-migration). In addition, many people attended the seminar about the monarch in Michigan and Michoacán presented at the Department of Entomology of Michigan State University. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Analysis of the data will be one of the main tasks for this project. In addition, dissemination of this information via a designed web will be very important.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Decline in the monarch butterfly in the Midwest is attributed to the reduction of milkweed species in field crops including corn, soybeans and grasslands. This situation resulted in the petition the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to include the monarch as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. In order to contribute to the restoration of the monarch butterfly this project was launched recently as continuation of the (NC507 Monarch Conservation in the Midwest). The state of Michigan is very important to support this effort because of the millions of acres planted with field crops and grasslands, as well as other areas suitable for monarch butterflies. We have observed that woody areas in Michigan provide excellent refuge for adults. In addition, given the multiple generations and migratory behavior of the monarch butterflies it is critical to understand the status of the monarch butterflies at the overwintering ground too. Therefore, Dr. David Mota-Sanchez uses his culture and linguistic expertise to establish contact with Mexican agencies and local communities to perform research at the monarch butterflies overwintering grounds in Mexico. Monarch overwintering grounds. A strong collaboration with the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve and people from the local communities has been established. Dr. David Mota-Sanchez performed a trip in the fall 2017 and spring 2018 to the overwintering grounds in Mexico (Cerro Pelon, El Rosario and Sierra Chincua) to study the movement of monarch butterflies colonies. In addition, observations of the arrival of monarch butterflies in the fall 2017 with collaborators from the local communities were performed. Mass migration of monarch butterflies from Sierra Chincua, Cerro Pelon and El Rosario in the spring 2018 was studied too. Temperatures, relative humidity, dew point and other weather conditions were measure to correlate the movement of monarch during the season at the overwintering grounds. This data is currently in analysis. Michigan activities. This season we observed the first monarch butterflies arriving early in the season (May) to our sample habitats. Butterfly population dynamic surveys were performed from May to October. We continue with our program of tagging and release monarch. Data collected from these tagged butterflies include: the sex, general conditions of the wings, color, and scales of the butterflies. In general we observed more monarchs this year than last year. In addition, flowers and nectar were more available than last year. The trend of capturing more males than females was also similar this year and last year. However, in September male biases was reduced and we observed an increase in the number of females as these butterflies prepare to migrate to the overwintering grounds in Mexico. In general, we observed more monarchs in Michigan this season than last year. In addition, we notice more monarchs migrating than last year. I hope that these numbers can be translated to a larger area of monarchs at the overwintering grounds for the season 2018/2019 than previous years.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Mota-Sanchez, D. 2017. Michoac�n and Michigan: Status of the Monarch Butterflies in the Overwintering Grounds in Mexico and Great Lakes. Seminar presented at the Department of Entomology, Michigan State University.
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