An hourly census study has revealed that the number of monarch butterflies migrating to southern New Jersey in this year have fallen by more than 50 percent this year compared to the previous one. However, the study also reveals that the main cause of this phenomenon is the bad weather experienced throughout the year in the region and not due to a trend of change in populations.
According to Mark Garland, the director of the Monarch Monitoring Project, the region saw strong easterly winds for the most part of September. This may have played in important role in migratory patterns of the monarch butterflies. The winds might have pushed them farther west rather than remaining near the coast.
The Cape May Bird Observatory in Audubon, New Jersey, has had a 25 years old project in the works involving the counting of the populations of the butterflies in the region. Volunteers would count them the insects three times per day in routers covering around 5 miles around the Point from September 21 up to October 31. Unfortunately, this year marks the third-lowest count of monarch butterflies ever recorded by the volunteers in the entire history of the project.
Although Garland speculates that the weather might be the main cause of the reduced populations, he is still waiting for confirmation depending on the numbers of butterflies in Mexico. That is where the insect have made their wintering ground and the full count of the populations residing there will signify if there is indeed a change in the population or just a change in migratory route of the butterflies.
The observatory’s project also involves the tagging of the insects, besides just counting them, in order to the monitor their behavior for the purpose of better understanding their migration. The institution also holds educational workshops for the public on a regular basis.
Monarch butterflies play an important role in our ecosystem, as they are more than just beautiful. As pollinators, they have an essential role in maintaining our food supply. Unfortunately, they share the same habitat as other pollinators such as bees. This means that whatever happens to one species can happen to all of them. This can have a drastic impact on our whole ecosystem.
Should we pay more attention to the fate of monarch butterflies and other pollinators?
Image source: Wikipedia
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