Illegal logging, herbicides behind monarch butterfly decline

[Mona Miller]

http://www.thesudburystar.com:80/Articl ... ?e=1191298
Illegal logging, herbicides behind monarch butterfly decline: expert
Posted By BRENT DAVIS, THE CANADIAN PRESS

They're an iconic fixture on the summertime landscape.
And even if you're not a butterfly expert, you'd probably recognize the distinctive black and orange monarch as it flutters about.
It's difficult, then, to imagine a time when they could all but vanish from Ontario skies. But experts warn this could happen within 20 years if action isn't taken to protect an already fragile population.
The eastern North American monarch population -those, east of the Rocky Mountains, that migrate south to Mexico every year -has been in steady decline in recent years.
And anecdotal evidence this year from amateur spotters across the continent, reporting fewer caterpillars and adult monarch, shows the trend is most likely continuing.
"It's a really sad, sad thought," said Adrienne Brewster, curator of the Wings of Paradise Butterfly Conservatory in Cambridge.
A number of factors account for the decline.
All of the eastern monarchs, tens of millions of them, migrate each fall to the same overwintering grounds in the mountains of central Mexico.
Illegal logging there eliminates the protective insulation that helps protect the butterflies from lethal winter storms.
Closer to home, widespread herbicide use is contributing to the destruction of milkweed, the only plant monarch caterpillars will feed on.

[Paul Cherubini]

The article doesn't specify what "action" must be taken.

Ironically, the area of the USA (upper Midwest) with the highest numbers of monarchs is also the area where herbicide use on crops is the greatest (about 70% of the entire landmass of Iowa is planted with herbicide tolerant corn and soybeans). Examples of recent spectacular sightings reported on the Journey North website:

Event: Monarch Fall Roost
Date of Sighting: 09/04/08
Comments: Thousands of monarchs roosting in our trees at the golf course. Awesome,
never seen this before!
Location: Griswold, Iowa

Event: Monarch Fall Roost
Date of Sighting: 09/07/08
Comments: Literally thousands and thousands hanging in our trees on our 6 acres with 4 acres of timber. They were there early morning on 9-7-08 and still there in the evening. The weather is rainy and cool. Beautiful siting!
Location: Redfield, Iowa

Event: Monarch Fall Roost
Date of Sighting: 08/28/08
Comments: The Monarchs have been arriving over several days. I first noticed just a few on
August 28th. I would check every afternoon for more and each day there would be more up
until today September 2nd when there are now hundreds, all settling in for the night.
Awesome!
Location: Luverne, Iowa

Event: Monarch Fall Roost
Date of Sighting: 09/07/08
Comments: I was in my yard and noticed quite a few monarchs flying around and
commented about them, as I started trimming trees they were flying out of the trees, I then
started looking for them and all my trees were covered with them, 100's and 100's of them.
This was around 5:00 pm. It was raining hard the next morning and I'm not sure if they
were still there or not.
Location: Axtell, Kansas

[Mona Miller]

Monarchs roosting in an area are not the Monarchs that were raised in that area. Those are the Monarchs that flew in from some place else--probably Canada.

[Paul Cherubini]

This past summer all observers in Manitoba and western Ontario reported very few monarchs (to Journey North, the dplex-l and the Monarch Watch Forum). But lots of monarchs were reported in Iowa and Nebraska. In the late 1990's the Monarch Watch published this map http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/isotope-1.jpg that shows a high concentration of monarch breeding occurs in southern Minnesota and Iowa (where alot of herbicide tolerant crops are grown), but not much in far northern Minnesota or in Manitoba or western Ontario (where alot less herbicide tolerant crops are grown).

The 2008 overnight roost map published by Journey North http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/isotopeb.jpg shows the overnight roosts this year are highly concentrated in southern Minnesota and Iowa - precisely the same areas where the monarchs were common his past summer and precisely the same land areas with the highest concentration of herbicide tolerant crops in the entire USA.

[Mona Miller]

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/f ... 90408.html
The information on journey north says they are arriving. Arriving to me means that they came from some place else that they were not there in the beginning.

There is no way of telling where these Monarchs came from unless a tag number was picked up. Your information is spectulation.

[Mona Miller]

It is also well known in the USA and Canada that pesticides/herbicides contribute to the deaths of many butterflies not just Monarchs.

[Paul Cherubini]

Here are photos showing adult monarchs and caterpillars were common in southern Minnesota in mid-late August, just before the reports of evening roosts came in: Distant view of a habitat: http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/mnd.jpg Close up view http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/mnc.jpg Another example: http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/mna.jpg Here's a close up of the sign I showed in the previous picture which indicates the corn is BT corn and also Roundup herbicide resistant corn:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/mne.jpg

[Mona Miller]

Mid to late August is when the Monarchs are migrating from Canada. Is there tag evidence that those Monarchs were raised in Minnesota? I also saw many emails from the Minnesota area saying it was a bad year for Monarchs. But, thank goodness not all the farm land in Minnesota is treated with herbicides/pesticides.

Does your disbelief that pesticides/herbicides kill many butterflies have anything to do with the fact that you distribute these products?

[Paul Cherubini]

The herbicide / pesticide treated farmlands of southern Minnesota and Iowa are exactly where monarchs were most abundant this past summer (and typically every summer as well), not in the less farmed, more woodsy areas of far northern Minnesota, Manitoba or western Ontario.

The hydrogen isotope study of the late 1990's also indicated that more of the overwintering monarchs in Mexico were born in the herbicide / pesticide treated corn / soybean belt of the upper Midwest (eastern South Dakota & Nebraska, southern Miinnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana & Ohio) than in the less farmed, more woodsy areas of far northern Minnesota and Canada.

[Mona Miller]

http://www.monsanto.com/who_we_are/history.asp
This website has a history of the introduction of roundup ready corn. It was just being introduced in 1998. Now, it can be found all over the USA and some other countries. Plus other crops have been introduced that contain the roundup ready traits:
http://www.monsanto.com/who_we_are/history.asp

http://coverockfarm.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... crops.html
Scroll down to watch a short video on Monsanto. Monsanto can no longer say that Roundup is Biodegradable.

[Paul Cherubini]

Monarchs roosting in an area are not the Monarchs that were raised in that area. Those are the Monarchs that flew in from some place else--probably Canada.

Monarchs have been abundant all summer WITHIN the GMO crop covered state of Iowa summer as well as WITHIN GMO crop covered southern and central Minnesota to the north.

Independent Evidence: The Monarch was by far the most abundant butterfly sighted during NABA's ilate July and early Aug. butterfly counts this summer in Iowa: http://www.naba.org/sightings/sightings.html
July 24
August 6
August 15

There have been no reports of substantial numbers of monarchs in Manitoba or western Ontario this summer, so it is not reasonable to suggest that the big clusters of monarchs that will form in the GMO crop covered farmlands of southern Minnesota and Iowa during the next 4 weeks represent butterflies that flew into those areas from Canada. The big clusters on the GMO farmland represent butterflies that were born on that farmland, primarily along the margins of the crops where milkweed is abundant and where the females lay their eggs as show in these two videos:
http://www.learner.org/cgi-bin/jnorth/j ... 1312749859
http://www.learner.org/cgi-bin/jnorth/j ... 1312947297

[blazing star]

So, in summary, now Paul is saying that the advent of herbicide tolerant crops are making monarchs more abundant. Any logical perspective would be that MORE herbicide is used in herbicide tolerant crops as the farmer doesn't have to be as judicious about application of the herbicide. Hence, any peripherally sprayed crops (milkweed) are now dead.

Here's an independent perspective:

Besides loss of forest in overwintering areas and continued land development, the report tacks the "expansion of GM herbicide-resistant crops, with consequent loss of milkweed host plants" as the culprit in declining Monarch butterfly populations. After all, Monsanto's Roundup herbicide specifically targets milkweed for termination, and roughly 150 million pounds of the poison are applied to US cropland every year.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033170_GMOs_ ... z1VP8vyfBm

Thanks for your unique, highly illogical train for thought once again, Paul. If nothing else, you add humor to all threads with the thought process you apply.

To all posters: Support local, family run, organic farms to vote with your dollar and redirect funds from large corporate farms destroying monarch habitat.

[Paul Cherubini]

So, in summary, now Paul is saying that the advent of herbicide tolerant crops are making monarchs more abundant.

I said no such thing. I've been pointing out that despite the widespread adoption of GMO crops by farmers since 2002-2003, monarchs continue to be more abundant on the GMO crop dominated landscapes of the upper midwest than anywhere else in the USA as evidenced by the extra high NABA census counts in mid and late summer and by the extra large clusters of monarchs that can be found in late August and Sept right next to the crops:
http://www.learner.org/cgi-bin/jnorth/j ... 1284750130

[blazing star]

Oh, thanks for advising the date that GM crops became prevalent. Coincidentally, the period of time the crops were adopted for use is the period of time in which the overall monarch population plummeted (and cannot recover).

Used to be, the population may decline, for a year or two, but it would recover. I guess that GM crops are the reason they can't recover since the farmers no longer have to be judicious about spraying herbicides and, therefore, kill off the milkweed.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarc ... Graph.html

Also, the reason that monarchs now cluster around GM crops is that they have no choice as their habitat has been removed so they are now in groups instead of widespread in trees that used to be there. Your "sightings" of clusters means nothing as if you look at the overall monarch population, it's way down since the advent of GM Crops. Thank you for pointing this out.