Beloved monarch butterflies now listed as endangered | Hacker News Reader

Beloved monarch butterflies now listed as endangered

bostonglobe.com

24 pointsuptown11 comments

For those wanting to plant milkweed: not all milkweed is a Monarch host. Of the known Monarch hosts, there is minimal documentation of which is the "best" for a Monarch. It's recommended that you pick a host native to your area. Page 93 on the following document[1] includes some species that are helpful to Monarch populations, broken down by area of the United States.

For those who would like to purchase caterpillar stock to increase the local population, please reconsider. Bred Monarchs have a lack of genetic diversity that you are releasing in the wild, which can tip over populations due to poor genetics. There is research that shows that planting evergreen milkweed (encouraging sedentary behavior by removing the need to migrate), or releasing captive or reared monarchs, can allow unhealthy monarchs to survive and harm the population when they would not otherwise have survived migrations[2] Studies on bugs or and species have shown that animals can adapt to captive conditions in as short as one or two generations. When this happens, researchers wind up seeing alleles that are harmful to the wild population. [3] There is also the case to be made that by releasing abundant numbers, you are potentially creating food shortages that will harm even more butterflies.

Plant local natives. Don't release into the wild.

[1] http://www.xerces.org/sites/default/files/2018-05/17-031_02_...

[2] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2014.173...

[3] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-294X....

The park/conservancy by my house has well over a hundred acres of natural prairie, filled with tons of milkweed - which is the only plant that monarch caterpillars feed on. You would think our little suburban neighborhood would be packed with monarchs, but I can definitely confirm there I see fewer and fewer with every passing year. It's incredibly sad. I feel absolutely defeated every time I think about the decline of various natural species I've seen in my short lifetime so far.

Don't feel defeated, feel angry!

Read lots of literature, understand the nature of the cause of ecological damage, organize, resist! Sadness and resignation are the ultimate tools of those who seek to exploit the natural world unchecked!

I've taken it upon myself to turn my own yard and plot into a conservation area (more like restoration though). It is very fun and satisfying. This is my first year of ownership and my first spring, summer, fall season for planting. I didn't do everything I could have but still made some progress. I'll be even more prepared this year.

What I did was basically let whatever wanted to grow in the spring grow. Then as it got bigger, I used the app PictureThis to identify the plants and see if they were native, non-native, or invasive. We left a few pretty non-native plants and removed all invasive plants. Then I signed up for a couple native plant societies in my area and attended one of their spring sales, where I purchase around 18 different plants to plant. For the most part, these have done really well (no real surprise given you are planting them in their native soil). I anticipate that once they get situated, they will require basically no maintenance.

And since I didn't place down mulch and let last year's mulch deteriorate, several native plant species arose without any action on my parent, including common milkweed, which monarchs love.

Some goldenrod (I forget which exact species) popped out of nowhere, and now it is a big party every day for pollinators. It's fun watching all the bumblebees, bees, butterflies, dragonflies, wasps, etc. just go at it, doing their thing.

I plan on installing a little library in my front yard and fill it up with so-called propaganda. It's sad, because most of my neighbors have turned their land into lawns, which should be looked at as wastelands.

Another simple thing you can do is mow your yard less frequently and let some of the wildflowers come up. These help bees when they can't find other things. I've noticed the bees using them.

https://littlefreelibrary.org/

https://www.monarchgard.com/

https://homegrownnationalpark.org/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-ecologist...

This is all something we can do today instead of waiting on our governments to do something, which will not happen.

If you're in the northeast, plant swamp milkweed and common milkweed. They bloom very nice flowers, are native, and they are two of the only two plants monarch butterflies will use. They are the two main ones they use, as far as I understand. I am not sure where else they are native, but you should look it up.

You will not find an easier plant to grow. They basically require no attention and will flourish in native soil. Bees and other pollinators also love them.

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butter...

I was fortunate enough to see one at the bottom of the garden the other day, through a pair of binoculars. I can thoroughly recommend butterfly spotting if you need a spot of relaxation.

I see Monarchs every day when I walk around in my San Francisco East Bay neighborhood. Some people do have milkweed growing in their front gardens, maybe that's why.

https://archive.ph/6qUD0

I noticed this year I have seen a lot less Monarchs than in previous years.

I do have some milk weed growing out in the yard to do my part.

Monarch butterflies in California need eucalyptus trees for their winter roost

https://milliontrees.me/2013/11/01/monarch-butterflies-in-ca...

maybe the eucalyptus trees are confusing them and causing them all to blow into the ocean

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