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Tragedy Hits Fragmented Monarch Butterfly Habitat
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OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by Forests.org
Last week a couple hundred million monarch butterflies
died from an
apparent fluke of nature - as a
rare ice storm hit their winter
habitat. Some three quarters of the monarchs in the
two biggest
colonies in
exacerbated by years of illegal
logging; which, as with much of the
World, threatens
Monarch butterflies are one of the most marvelous
creatures on the
Earth, both in terms of the sheer joy of watching a
butterfly flutter
by, and their unique life
characteristics which includes an annual
continental migration. Their long term survival is very much in
doubt
as their forest habitats in
and otherwise impacted, and have
been reduced to several relatively
small threatened fragments. No less problematic is the continued loss
of their food source and
pesticide overuse in the
This recent major loss of monarch butterflies is far from
a chance
event. In the last 30 years, nearly half the prime
forest in the area
had been degraded or destroyed. Their dwindling habitat virtually
guarantees that when an
infrequent severe mortality event occurs, that
most or all of the population
will be impacted.
The human species is no different. Our existence is intimately linked
to maintaining natural habitats
and their species and ecological
processes that makes our lives
possible. Throughout our evolutionary
history, humans have been
surrounded by a context of life-sustaining
ecosystems. In most of the World, human society now, or soon will,
completely surround remaining
small, diminished, unconnected
ecosystems. Our alteration of habitats and ecosystems
represents a
vast experiment. At what point are ecosystems incapable of
maintaining air, water, soil and
vegetation upon which our and every
animal species depends?
Global ecological sustainability depends upon ensuring
that natural,
productive ecosystems remain the
context within which human societies
operate. Yes, I know of population pressures, economic
inequity,
pervasive toxics, the political
difficulties inherent in the bold but
necessary policies to pursue
global ecological sustainability, and the
likelihood that we have already
overshot the Planet's carrying
capacity. Nonetheless, we know scientifically that
without large
expanses of their natural
habitat, species frequently die.
Sustaining human populations requires strictly protecting
and benignly
managing remaining wildlands; and ushering in the era of massive,
targeted, regional scale ecological
restoration projects, and
restorative sustainable
development in already altered habitats.
The human family is as utterly dependent upon our
environment as the
monarch butterfly. Habitat fragmentation and ecosystem collapse
is an
equal opportunity killer. If humans continue to view themselves as
above rather than co-dependent
with ecology, we too are doomed to
become an endangered biological
phenomenon.
g.b.
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ITEM #1
Title: Storm in
Mexico Devastates Monarch Butterfly Colonies
Source: Copyright
2002 New York Times
Date: February 12,
2002
Byline: CAROL
KAESUK YOON
After a severe winter storm in mid-January, in the
mountains of
central Mexico, dead monarch
butterflies lay in piles on the ground,
in some places more than a foot
high. Between 220 and 270 million
frozen butterflies had rained
down from roosts where they normally
festooned towering trees,
researchers estimated.
"It was really macabre," said Dr. Lincoln P.
Brower, a butterfly
biologist. "I've been going
down there for 25 years, and I've never
seen anything like it."
Most of the monarchs in the two biggest colonies in
Mexico were killed
in the storm, in the largest
known die-off ever of these butterflies,
according to a report by Dr.
Brower and a team of researchers from
Mexico and the United States.
But the loss of life is not expected to
threaten the species, they said.
In the report Dr. Brower, of Sweet Briar College in Sweet
Briar,
Va., and his colleagues estimated that 74 percent of the
monarchs at
the Sierra Chincua
colony and 80 percent at the Rosario colony had
been killed. Along with a few
smaller colonies, which scientists have
not surveyed, the butterflies in
these major colonies make up the
entire breeding stock of
monarchs for the eastern United States and
Canada.
The spectacle of the monarchs' long and rugged mass
migration north
from Mexico each spring, a
highly unusual behavior for an insect, has
made the species a favorite of
nature lovers. The butterflies fly
north, stopping to lay eggs in
the southern United States. The
monarchs that develop from those
eggs continue the journey, and by
summer butterflies reach as far
north as Canada.
The monarchs' epic migration is so exceptional that
scientists have
called it an "endangered
biological phenomenon." If the populations
that fly north each year from
Mexico were to disappear, the mysteries
of that migration might never be
solved.
While saying it was unlikely that a single event could
ring the death
knell for the Mexican monarch
populations, researchers said the
radically reduced numbers left
the butterflies vulnerable to future
whims of weather, disease and
continuing deforestation in and around
their winter resting grounds in
Mexico.
Scientists noted that the species as a whole was not in
danger because
other, smaller populations of
monarchs that did not migrate to Mexico
could be found elsewhere, such
as in the western United States.
Scientists will know in coming weeks how precarious the
situation of
the devastated populations has
become, as they get a better sense of
how many millions survived and
what shape the butterflies are in as
they begin to move north.
"A bad winter followed by a bad spring could be
catastrophic," said
Dr. Karen Oberhauser, a monarch
ecologist at the University of
Minnesota.
Casual observers are unlikely to notice an obvious drop
in monarch
numbers this spring, in part
because of the natural variability in
population size from year to
year.
The Rosario and Sierra Chincua
colonies are thought to harbor perhaps
two-thirds of all the
butterflies in Mexico's monarch sanctuaries,
which are in mountains in the
state of Michoacán, west of Mexico City.
The results of the report, based on research in late
January, were
released yesterday by World
Wildlife Fund Mexico, which financed the
research along with Sweet Briar
College and the Monarch Butterfly
Sanctuary Foundation.
Scientists who did not take part in the study expressed
confidence in
the team of researchers and the
data, which have not yet been
published in a scientific
journal. Dr. Chip Taylor, an ecologist at
the University of Kansas, called
the findings "clear and compelling."
According to the report, the storm on Jan. 12 and 13
dropped about
four inches of rain in the area
and was followed by freezing
temperatures, a deadly
combination as monarchs are known to be
particularly susceptible to
freezing if they become wet. While noting
that records were spotty, Dr.
Brower said temperatures following the
storm were the lowest recorded
in the winter colonies in the last 25
years.
Because forest trees can act as an umbrella against the
rain and a
blanket that can retain heat,
scientists and conservationists have
been warning for years that the
thinning of the forests in the
relatively small area they have
chosen for their habitats could
threaten the butterflies by increasing
their exposure to these
elements. And an earlier study
showed that in the last 30 years,
nearly half the prime forest in
the area had been degraded or
destroyed.
Dr. Brower said that he believed the loss of forests had
contributed
to the die-off. But Dr. Taylor
suggested the that storm was so severe
it might have taken its huge
toll even with the cover of intact
forests.
Every year some of the millions of monarchs that spend
the winter in
these high mountain forests die
from predation, freezing or other
causes. Last year, hundreds of
thousands of butterflies were found
dead in another colony, raising
concern that they had been
intentionally killed with
pesticides. But the butterflies were found
to be free of insecticides when
tested in the laboratory, and
scientists soon reached a
consensus instead that a severe cold snap
was the cause of death.
Scientists still do not have precise estimates
of the typical numbers of
monarchs that die in Mexico each winter, but
researchers agree it is
considerably lower than the estimates of
mortality from the storm in
January.
Scientists say monarch butterflies tend to gather in
similar densities
in the colonies from year to
year. As a result, the number of acres
covered by monarchs and counts
of monarch- filled trees are thought to
provide reliable estimates of
colony size. So researchers compared the
size of the area covered by
monarchs and the numbers of trees, both
before and after the storm, to
determine the reduction in colony
sizes.
"This is the lowest known number of butterflies at
these sites over
the last 27 years," Dr.
Taylor observed.
The team also took random samples throughout the two
colonies to
estimate total numbers of dead
monarchs in the forests. Dr. Brower
said he feared that the numbers,
if anything, were an underestimate of
the actual death toll, as
researchers only counted the butterflies on
the ground. He said he had just
received word from researchers in
Mexico that the storm had left monarchs dead everywhere,
including at
their roosts in the trees.
"Some of these clusters hanging on the
trees are just all dead,"
he said. "It's terrible."
ITEM #2
Title: Monarch
Butterflies Dying in Mexico
Source: Copyright
2002 Associated Press
Date: February 13,
2002
Byline: MARK
STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) - A massive die-off of monarch
butterflies in their
winter nesting grounds has
deepened the mystery surrounding their
numbers, after researchers
suggested a death toll twice as high as the
previous estimate of the entire
population.
"This data is telling us we have to go back to
square one" in
estimating just how many
monarchs make the trip, said Lincoln Brower,
a zoologist who may be the
foremost expert on the 3,000-mile migration
to Mexico. "We may be off
by a factor of five to 10."
The monarchs' amazing migration has inspired thousands of
schoolchildren and amateur
scientists in the United States, Canada and
Mexico. Although a single butterfly can spend its entire
life in
either the United States or
Mexico, its children and grandchildren
will know to migrate north or
south.
Researchers are still trying to unravel the mystery,
following the
lead of a motorcycle-riding
American expatriate who stumbled on a
trail of dead butterflies to
become the first outsider to discover the
nesting sites in January 1975.
Both the government and monarch expert Lincoln Brower
agreed that an
unusual combination of freezing temperatures,
rains, and clear night
skies in mid-January killed a
high percentage of butterflies in their
winter nesting grounds in the
central and western states of Mexico and
Michoacan.
A similar but less brutal cold snap this week is expected
to kill more
of the creatures, who use a
little-understood navigating system to
take the same route their
ancestors took to Mexico from the United
States and Canada.
Brower estimated that 150 million to 250 million
butterflies may have
frozen to death, the worst
die-off on record - and twice the 110
million monarchs previously
believed to have wintered here.
The manager of the government butterfly reserve, Roberto
Solis,
estimated the total death toll
from the two freezes at 30 million to
35 million, about one-quarter of those believed to arrive
but still
well above the normal mortality
rate of 10 to 15 percent.
Solis and Brower agreed that about 80 percent of
butterflies died at
one of five officially
recognized mountain sanctuaries and about 40
percent at another. Three other
sites remained largely unaffected.
Both agree the monarch's survival as a species is not at
risk.
For almost a century, scientists were puzzled by the
butterflies'
winter route, which seemed to
trail off in Texas.
Spurred by an article in a Mexico City newspaper, Kenneth
Brugger and
his Mexican girlfriend combed
the mountains of western Mexico - until
they finally spotted an
orange-and-black cloud.
The monarchs winter in massive clusters that hang like
Spanish moss
from the boughs of Michoacan fir forests, a habit Brower now thinks
may be a defensive strategy.
"The only butterflies that remained dry (in the
freezing rain) were
the ones deep inside the
clusters," Brower said. Describing the scene
at the mountains in January,
Brower described reaching into piles of
dead monarchs a foot deep.
"Sticking my hand to gently pull out the beautiful
delicate creatures
I've worked with for 25 years, there was an almost
overwhelming
feeling of sadness," Brower
said.
The issue is sensitive for Mexico, which has taken great
pains in
recent years to try to protect
fir forests shrunken by 40 percent by
illegal cutting.
Solis, the reserve manager, sticks by the lower
death-toll estimate.
"The higher numbers must be an error, or bad
faith," he said, adding
that many immobile, hibernating
butterflies died when the tree
branches they were resting on
fell because of high winds.
"This is a natural climate phenomenon, which has to
be viewed as part
of nature's balance," Solis
said.
Brower said deforestation may have made the die-off worse
by reducing
temperature-regulating forest
canopy. But Brower agrees that
has taken important steps to
protect the forest, and agreed with Solis
that protection for the monarch
should not be focused exclusively on
"In the past, they were all over the place, they
were probably better
distributed," said Brower.
In the fall some monarchs can be seen
flitting around
Solis said that "the numbers that come here each
year depends more on
what happens in their summer
homes, in the
Brower adds, "I think the big lesson is that in the
the real threat are the
herbicides killing the milkweeds and other
plants the monarchs use for
food."
ITEM #3
Title: Logging
Threatens Monarch Butterflies in
Source: Copyright
2002 Reuters
Date:
Byline: Pav
that killed about 250 million
Monarch butterflies last month, but
naturalists say the government
can do something about an even greater
threat to their survival:
illegal logging.
The red and black butterflies, which winter in
a migration from
by bitter rain and assailed by
freezing cold.
"We can't do anything about these (natural) catastrophes,"
said Dr.
Ernesto Enkerlin, president of
Mexico's National Commission for
Protected Natural Areas, a government
body.
"But we can do something to ensure a better habitat
so that butterfly
populations are better able to
resist when these things occur."
The Monarchs need full, healthy and old forests to shield
them from
moisture and cold nights. The
trees hide them from the rain and help
keep in the warmth left by the
sun during the day.
Since 1968, about 44 percent of the Monarch sanctuary
woods region in
hilly Michoacan
state has been depleted, mostly by rampant illegal
logging, the study said.
And the study by scientists at Mexico City's National
Autonomous
University shows that the rate of depletion between 1986-99 was faster
than in the 1968-86 period.
"The situation is getting worse," said Dr.
Lincoln Brower, considered
one of the world's foremost
specialists in the annual Monarch
butterfly migrations from Canada
to Mexico.
About 500 million of the butterflies arrived this year at
the
Michoacan reserve, around
Mexico's Day of the Dead celebrations in
November. For many in the
region, the Monarchs represent the souls of
their departed loved ones.
The monarch butterfly is not considered an endangered
species but if
the logging in Michoacan continues unabated, experts fear they may
abandon the reserve all
together.
DEFORESTATION TAKES ITS TOLL
Weather claims butterfly victims in most years, although
events like
the January cold front show the
impact of deforestation on the
colorful insect species.
Last year, millions of butterflies in younger woods
outside the
sanctuary perished in a cold
snap that did not kill their brethren in
sturdier parts of the forest.
Illegal loggers continue to operate in the region,
despite the risk of
being thrown in jail if caught
and receiving economic incentives to
leave the trees alone.
The World Wildlife Fund in Mexico and the government have
established
a $6 million fund to help people
who live on the butterfly sanctuaries
and buffer zones to look to
other industries to make a living.
Using only the interest on the fund, in 2000, the WWF
began paying
owners of land used by the
butterflies to halt logging. In June, the
group plans to pay $18 per 2.5
acres to landowners who agree not to
cut down their trees.
But Enkerlin and Brower say
that's not enough to pay off would-be
loggers in the region.
"Only when the Monarch is worth more to them than
the trees will they
stop," said Enkerlin.
The government is working to help people in buffer areas
-- the forest
perimeter -- move into other
industries like eco-tourism and crafts,
he added.
In a separate program, the government plans to plant
trees over 24,700
acres of buffer area in the
coming two years.
Scientists like Brower complement that initiative, even
though the
consensus is that it will be
many years before the forest acquires its
former density.
The question for many is whether it may be too late.
"The pressure is on and usually the environment
loses when it's up
against the logging
industry," Brower said.
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