Monarch Butterfly Next?
The Butterfly Effect: Is the Monarch Butterfly Next on the Extinction List?
The Eskimo Curlew of Canada. The Golden Toad of Costa Rica. The Zanzibar Leopard. The Javan Tiger. The Pyrenean Ibex. The West African Black Rhino. Just some of the world’s species declared “Officially Extinct” in just the last few years.
And so many more species living on the edge of existence.
Even insects! And insects were on our blue planet long before any mammals — or even reptiles and amphibians. The most critically endangered insects are the Bees.
Scientists are attempting to get the message out: “Without bees, the entire food chain we depend upon for our lives and existence will collapse!” Not many folks up there in the Towers of Power listening to that one, eh? They’re too busy planning on getting at all the treasures under the Arctic Ocean when the ice melts.
And now we’re hearing about butterflies. Like the beautiful Madeiran Large White butterfly of the Laurisilva forests on Portugal, which was declared Extinct in 2007. And the last Dutch Alcon Blue butterfly was spotted in 1979.
But what about the Monarch butterfly?
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), with the Government of Mexico, have jointly announced that the “population of wintering monarchs in Mexico declined to their lowest level since scientists started keeping records.”
So what’s happening here? We know that those glorious multi-coloured insects summer here in Canada and then fly south over 2,500 miles to winter in the mountain forests of sunny Mexico.
The announcement blames “a rapid decline in milkweed plants, due to herbicides used in U.S. agriculture. Plus, the insects experienced higher-than-normal temperatures and storms during their migration. Also, they face habitat loss throughout their range, including in Mexico, where the trees they live in are illegally logged.”
Giving more detail on the milkweed connection to the tragedy, Research Professor Lincoln P Brower, an entomologist at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, explained that “the migration is definitely proving to be an endangered biological phenomenon. The main culprit is now genetically modified herbicide-resistant corn and soybean crops and herbicides in the USA which leads to the wholesale killing of the Monarch’s principal food plant, common milkweed.”
And our glorious Monarchs aren’t the only butterflies in danger of flying off into history. Here, from Nicki Hollamby, is a guest blog:
The Butterfly Effect – The Need to Reverse the Decline
Renowned throughout the world for their bright colours and multifaceted life cycles, butterflies are much more than what they seem. This well-known insect can reach sizes of up to 12 inches across (like the Owl butterfly from South America), fly at speeds of up to 30mph (like the cryptically coloured Skippers), and has the ability to taste food with its feet.
This highly developed creature has one of the most complex classification systems in the animal kingdom. From the order Lepidoptera, butterflies are divided into 6 families which are then further divided into almost 40 sub-families, followed by tribes and even sub-tribes before eventually slotting into over 20,000 different species that can be found on every continent except Antarctica.
Some butterfly species are highly mobile and can travel great distances in order to find a suitable place in which to live. The Monarch Butterfly is famous for its seasonal migration between Canada to Mexico.
At up to 4500 km this migration can span the life of three or four generations of the butterfly whose lifespan can be as short as two months. Mothers will lay their eggs en-route and the next generation will continue the journey.
Butterflies can act as indicators of a changing environment because they are some of the first creatures to respond to variations in the environment. Because of this butterflies can be used to establish the overall health of a particular environment, predict patterns in other taxonomic groups and even help to determine climate change.
Species such as the Silver-spotted Skipper in Britain require specific habitat qualities in order for the larval stages to develop. There are also some specialist species that will rarely move more than 20 metres from where they hatched from their chrysalis if the surroundings are unfavourable.
This limited mobility makes these species extremely sensitive to small changes in the environment and it is these species that are the most at risk from local, regional and ultimately complete extinction.
Many factors contribute to the decrease in butterfly numbers. Both natural and managed changes can render habitats unsuitable for once abundant species. The use of insecticides, pesticides and fertilisers also contribute to the significant decline in wildlife in rural areas.
In the UK wild meadows that were once harvested for hay in late summer and were abundant in flowers and insects are no longer as common, and changes in EU policies and funds for land set aside by farmers as nature areas mean even more butterfly habitats are being lost.
Although many species have a preference for open, sunny and even disturbed areas the fragmentation of butterfly habitats due to development can have a shrinking effect on the gene pool. This can decrease the strength of the affected populations often resulting in interbreeding and disease.
Awareness concerning the importance of butterflies is gradually increasing as research concludes their success as biodiversity indicators. But action needs to be taken.
The IUCN Red List of European Butterflies states that 9% of butterflies are Threatened and a further 10% are Near Threatened. In Britain alone 4 species are regionally extinct with over 50% listed as Concern.
Conclusion: “Butterfly Conservation in Britain headed by Sir David Attenborough, is on a mission to “halt and reverse the declines” and is encouraging people to take part in a nationwide survey to determine the health of the British environment. (http://bigbutterflycount.org/).” – Nicki Hollamby.
“Live Free, Mon Ami!” – Brian Alan Burhoe
- Nicki Hollamby completed a BSc (Hons) in Animal Science, with a focus on behaviour and welfare at the University of Plymouth. She now works for Frontier at the London HQ in the research and development team.
Frontier was established in 1989 as a non-profit conservation and development non-governmental organisation dedicated to safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem integrity and building sustainable livelihoods for marginalised communities in the world’s poorest countries. Website: http://www.frontier.ac.uk
- Brian Alan Burhoe has written about wildlife in fact and fiction. His first published story was Ornithanthropus.
