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Contents:
7) Open House & Plant Fundraiser
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Unless otherwise noted, all content was authored by Chip Taylor, edited by Jim Lovett, Sarah Schmidt, and Ann Ryan and published by Jim Lovett.
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Last month I mentioned that I’m testing a predictive model that would, if validated, allow us to predict the numbers of hectares of monarchs at the overwintering sites in Mexico well in advance of the fall migration. Based on early spring conditions, the model predicts that the overwintering population will be lower in 2006-2007 than in the previous winter (5.91 hectares). However, all the bits of information derived from the many people who report the first sightings of monarchs, the numbers of individuals seen, and first eggs to Monarch Watch and Journey North, suggest that the population will increase this year. If true, such an outcome would indicate there is a major deficiency in the model. As I pointed out in the April Update, more monarchs were reported through this April than for any year from 2000 to the present. I also suggested some ominous signs, such as too many monarchs too far North too early, as well as the similarities between the spring of 2006 and 2000, a year in which the population crashed.
In the past month the reports of monarchs have continued to soar and the number of first generation monarchs arriving and laying eggs in the northern breeding areas is impressive and exceeds the numbers of sightings recorded in the last three years. However, the number of reported sightings for May is lower than for the 2000-2002 and is remarkably similar to the number reported for 2000 (Table 1). But, the number of sightings reported is not the full story, since multiple sightings by the same person tend to be neglected. We have received more emails with reports of multiple sightings of monarchs in one day by individuals than for any spring I can recall. In fact, Gene Tiser reported to Dplex-L on 26 May that a substantial number (many 10s of butterflies) of monarchs washed up on the western shore of Lake Michigan after a spring storm a day or two earlier. Reports of monarchs being washed ashore from a spring storm are rare. When considering the abundance of spring reports this year, it is worth noting that the weather conditions (high temperatures and winds predominantly from the SW) in the Midwest were highly favorable for monarch sightings for the last 10 days of May. However, sightings from March through May have not correlated well with overwintering numbers in the last six years (Table1). Will this year be the exception or are these observational notations misleading?
Table 1. Number of monarchs sightings recorded by Journey North for March through May 2000-2006 and total number of hectares measured at overwintering sites in late December of the same year.
Year March
1-24March
25-31April
1-30May
1-31Totals Non-TX Hectares
(Late Dec)2006 109 51 189
263
612 483 (79%) - 2005* 31 42 90 95
258 164 (64%) 5.91 2004* 34 35 64 107 240 164 (68%) 2.19 2003 73 39 83 112 307 210 (68%) 11.1 2002* 133 50 71 181
435 276 (63%) 7.5 2001* 60 18 99 273
450 346 (77%) 9.4 2000 61 27 109 158
355 312 (88%) 2.83
*Years with relatively low numbers of butterflies returning from Mexico.
The largest well-documented increase in monarch numbers occurred from the winter of 1995-1996 (12.8 hectares) to the winter of 1996-1997 (21.0 hectares), an increase of 8.4 hectares. The weather was cooler for the returning monarchs in the spring of 1996, but there was an extensive drought throughout Texas (like this year). Droughts appear to negatively affect fire ant populations, providing some reduction in the loss of monarch eggs and larvae to predation and therefore better survival of the first generation. Adult butterflies, however, may be negatively affected as drought may limit the availability of milkweeds and sources of nectar and water, thus limiting adult longevity and realized fecundity. While these interpretations seem reasonable, it remains that we really don’t understand if and how droughts affect the overwintering butterflies and the survival of their offspring. The image below from Drought Monitor shows that much of the southern half of Texas is still experiencing a significant drought:
The flow of monarchs through eastern Kansas in the second half of May this year has been the best I’ve observed since 2001. I spotted my first “fresh” monarch on the 19th and continued to see 1-3 monarchs each day through the 28th, with the exception of the 27th, when it was so windy that the butterflies would have been well advised to seek shelter under rocks. An interesting question is: Where are these monarchs coming from? Presumably, they are coming from Texas, but where in Texas? We all know that Texas is a big place and that weather conditions and fire ants are not uniform in that state. Although much of Central and North Texas received rain in the second half of March, how this precipitation might have benefited monarchs is not clear. It is also the case that this is a region where the fire ant density is lower than in South and South Central Texas. Perhaps many of the monarchs originated from this region. We received two reports from observers near Dallas that may pertain to this point. Both observers mentioned finding large numbers of monarch eggs on milkweeds in pastures and gardens in April.
The following map shows the distribution of fire ants in the United States. If fire ant populations are similar to those of other species, the densities of ant colonies are lower at the periphery of the distribution.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/maps/fireant.pdf
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In an addendum to last month’s report I wrote the following:
On 2 May, I had an experience that reminded me of an earlier spring when monarchs moved north in good numbers. I was exercising my dog along a dirt road near my home in the country. He was being a bit headstrong and decided he wanted to track something in the big bluestem and Indian grass along the road rather than to go home for breakfast. So, I decided to check the milkweeds growing along the margin of the road. I didn’t expect to find many, if any, eggs or larvae. Wow! Lots of chewing on the tops of the plants and as I pulled the leaves back I found first and second instar monarch larvae. I found over a dozen larvae on fewer than a dozen plants.
Common milkweed emerging from gravel along dirt road in Douglas County, Kansas, April 2006.
This observation led to further hunts for monarch larvae on milkweeds along, and adjacent to, dirt roads near my home in western Douglas County, Kansas. The following are some notes and thoughts based on my findings.
7 May - A larva hunt mid Sunday morning along dirt roads. 27 plants surveyed:
- 20 (74%) with some sign of feeding by larvae
- 17 (63%) plants with larvae
- 27 larvae in total
It was clear that the feeding represented the herbivory by more than 27 larvae. It was not clear what might have happened to those that were missing. There were no sign of ants or other predators except two or three small spiders.
Damage to apical leaves of common milkweed by monarch larvae, Douglas County, Kansas, April 2006.
The following is part of a note I posted to Dplex-L later that morning:
I have been looking at ‘along road’ and ‘off road’ milkweeds. There are virtually no larvae to be found on the off road milkweeds, but 50-80% of the ramets of common milkweed of 6 inches or more contain evidence of extensive feeding and 40-60% of the crowns (meristems) contain larvae - often 2-3.
'In about two hours of driving slowing along remote dirt roads over the past few days, I've found almost 200 larvae. It has been cool and the degree days for larval growth have been minimal since the arrival of a small wave of monarchs during the 14th-19th of April. The cool weather has slowed growth but also has reduced activity of predators and parasites. The larvae are all at the tops of the plants, probably the warmest sites since the cupped leaves may gather a bit of incident radiation. If I had the time and inclination, I'm confident that I could locate 40-100 larvae, and perhaps many more in some areas, per hour.’ It was clear that I could have collected thousands of larvae by looking for milkweeds emerging from the gravel along dirt roads.
After posting this note I received the following note on 8 May from Todd Mildfelt who resides in Richmond Kansas, about 40 miles to the ESE of my location:
I also wondered why I was only seeing the larva on the milkweed along the gravel edge, and not off the road. I guess I theorized that these faded females were so close to dying that the edge milkweed took less effort. I've revisited the stretch twice and I do see some off road now being chewed on but it is about 5 to 1 or less. I did find 8 eggs on my milkweed at school and this is in a protected area enclosed by shrubs. I wondered if there would be any difference on egg-laying behavior between gravel roads running east/west compared to north/south so we drove a few this evening, but found the same; gravel edge contained the larva, and off-road very little even on north-south roads as well. I was thinking that with frequent north-south flying patterns monarchs might encounter milkweed better along east-west gravel roads.
So, Todd had also found eggs on milkweeds along the gravel edge and had wondered why this might be the case. Why did these females deposit the eggs on the milkweeds emerging from the gravel rather than on the milkweeds in adjacent ditches and fields? Is it because the females were old, as Todd suggests, or are there other factors? Maybe it’s a signal to noise issue, one that is compounded by relatively low temperatures at the time the females are moving into the area. Although some things are known about the compounds produced by milkweeds that induce egg laying under laboratory conditions, we know nothing about how monarchs actually find milkweeds in a veritable sea of forms, colors, and swirling plumes of thousands of compounds produced by the hundreds of plant species females encounter as they search for host plants. Here is one possibility. The roadbed and the milkweeds projecting from it are certainly warmer than the surrounding ditches and fields and the milkweeds therein, probably resulting in a stronger chemical signal by the roadside milkweeds. Further, the signal is isolated, or concentrated, since each of these shoots is not surrounded by chemical signals from other vegetation. In addition, the temperatures above the roadway may provide a microclimate that favors prolonged flight and oviposition relative to the surrounding fields. The roadside plants are also more visible, although vision is probably only a factor in host finding once the plants have been located by smell. (The ability of insects to distinguish among shapes at distances of a meter or more appears to be quite limited.) Alas, though monarchs find the roadside milkweeds attractive and deposit many eggs on these plants, it is not a good strategy. If the predators and parasites don’t get these exposed larvae, the dust, the vehicular traffic, and eventually, the road-graders will.
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In the last Update, I made the point that overwintered monarchs coming north in the spring could get too far north too soon. I argued that the effect of laying eggs north of 35N latitude was to diminish the number of monarchs that would reach the summer breeding areas in late May and June. I pointed out that, “the developmental time from egg to adult for eggs laid north of 35N latitude is too long.” The following observations relate to this point. Some of this material was posted to Dplex-L, but will be repeated here since most of you are not subscribed to that email list.
In early April, we placed about 20 potted tropical milkweeds (Asclepias currasavica) along the south side of our building in the hope that these plants would attract an early monarch or two and might inspire a bit of egg laying by a passing female:
The plan worked and on 18 April Sarah Schmidt collected 28 eggs from these plants. I checked these same plants on the 29 April and found a single second instar larva and declared in the last Update that, “It will probably take this caterpillar a total of 50 days to reach the adult stage if temperatures are normal for this period. Emergence of the adult would occur around 7 June and this date appears to be too late for a newly emerged monarch to mature and fly further north. The last date in the spring we have observed directional movement of monarchs to the northeast through this area is 5 June.”
I subsequently discovered other larvae on these plants, all of the same size and apparently originating from the oviposition event that preceded the discovery of the eggs on 18 April. The following is a chronicle of their development.
7 May – from a message to Dplex-L
“The pictures show that the cat is in the earliest stage of the 3rd, not second, instar - but it is still at least 22 days old! From egg laying to this stage of the 3rd instar is usually 7-8 days in the lab.”
10 May - from a message to Dplex-L
“Remember that larva I mentioned on Sunday, the early third instar that I suggested was already about 22 days old? It turns out it was not the lone survivor of the early oviposition. Although I had only found two places where leaves had been obviously eaten, I would not have spotted larvae feeding in flowers or on the bottom leaves of the plant. It turns out I missed 5 additional larvae in my earlier searches. These larvae were discovered as we watered the plants this afternoon. All were third instars, one still an early third instar the others more advanced. So, I now have a cohort of 6 larvae to follow. As each one molts into the 4th instar, it will give me an estimated date for the day on which the egg(s) was (were) laid. This date will be arrived at by summing the degree days (DDs) backward until we reach the total DDs required to reach the 4th instar.
It was cool today - the temperatures were in the high 50s, just above developmental zero, - and the larvae were all sitting on the tops of leaves, perhaps to gain heat from the sun. The temperatures were too low for activity by predators. If I'm right, the larvae in this cohort are now 26 days of age.”
Early third instar monarch larva attempting to catch some rays on a cool day.
17 May - from a message to Dplex-L
. . . “So, here is the update on the larvae I've been watching develop outside Foley Hall where we reside at the University of Kansas.
The first fourth instar formed on the 10th, a second on the 11th and two more on the 12th.
It takes 129 degree days C from egg laying to the start of the fourth instar.
The monarch DDs for Lawrence from 15 April through 11 May were 132.75 C. Going backward to get 129 puts the eggs for these larvae being laid at about 3:30 in the afternoon of 15 April - maybe. Certainly this estimate is close but we should also consider the microclimate where the plants are since it could be different from the Lawrence site where the official temperatures are taken. It is also the case that there are differences in the developmental rates of larvae. In any case, the estimated age for these larvae at the time they molted to the fourth instar was 26-28 days.
The cohort of larvae I was tracking had expanded to 7 by Friday. There were still two third instars at that time but late on Friday one of these was found dead, impaled on the proboscis of an immature stinkbug.
I didn't have time to check on the larvae on Saturday due to the Open House. On Sunday I searched the plants carefully and found 7 fourth instars. All remained 4ths through the day on Monday the 15th. Overnight or very late on the 15th 3 larvae molted to the fifth instar and two more molted during the day on the 16th.
According to Zalucki, it takes 165 DDs C to go from egg laying to fifth instar. Interestingly, there have been only 148.75 monarch degree days at the official weather station for Lawrence. So, for these larvae to reach the fifth instar - which requires 165 DDs - it means one of two things, either it is much hotter on the south side of our building than at the official site or, the date of the egg laying is incorrect. If the later, then to get 165 DDs reading the record backward from 15 May would mean that the eggs were laid on the 13th of April rather than the 15th. Irrespective of the starting date, it appears that this cohort of new fifth instar larvae was 30-32 days old on the 15th.
Unless, the temperatures increase substantially, the projected date for the emergence of the first adult butterfly from this group is the 7th or 8th of June for a total developmental time of 53-54 days!”
The following is a summary from my notes:
19 May
Found 11 5th instars on the tropical milkweeds. The larvae surely are easier to find when they reach the 5th instar.
21 May
10 5th larvae found as follows:
- 2 Js (pre-molt)
- 3 on wall crawling away from the plants to pupate
- 1 killed by a lacewing larva (a bit like an elephant succumbing to the bite of a mouse)
- 4 still feeding
22 May
Found 5 – two pupae, two Js and one larva. The two Js pupated between 10:30 and 11:45 AM. Both are attached to a metal strip about 12 ‘ above ground in a shaded area at the front of the building.
23 May
Found 6 pupae and two 5th instar larvae.
24 May
Found 7 pupae – 4 on the building at a height of 12’ and three on the planters – 10-12” above ground.
28 May
The 4 pupae attached to the building appear healthy. Of the three pupae close to the ground one died of unknown causes, another was preyed up, while the other remained healthy.
30 May
Three adult butterflies emerged from pupae in mid to late morning from pupae that had formed on the 22 May.
Commentary on these notes:
It takes 225 degree days C from egg to pupation and 60 DDs are needed for a monarch larva to complete the 5th instar and pupate. So, we can use the time of pupation to estimate the date of egg laying as we did before, and we can see if the number of degree days for the time of molting into the 5thinstar to pupation matches the 60 DDs expected for this stage. To do this we have to create a table for degree days for Lawrence. Janis Lentz has kindly assisted with this part of the study and her tabulation is shown in Table 2. Janis used the method for calculating degree days summarized in the Update for January 2005.
Table 2. Monarch degree days for Lawrence, Kansas from 15 April - 31 May 2006
Date High Low Mean Dev. Zero DD/date Total DDs 15-Apr
28
13
20.5
-11.5
9
9
16-Apr
26
11.5
18.75
-11.5
7.25
16.25
17-Apr
23
11.5
17.25
-11.5
5.75
22
18-Apr
31
12
21.5
-11.5
10
32
19-Apr
22
11.5
16.75
-11.5
5.25
37.25
20-Apr
22
11.5
16.75
-11.5
5.25
42.5
*21-Apr
26
11.5
18.75
-11.5
7.25
49.75
22-Apr
27
11.5
19.25
-11.5
7.75
57.5
23-Apr
27
12
19.5
-11.5
8
65.5
24-Apr
22
12
17
-11.5
5.5
71
25-Apr
17
11.5
14.25
-11.5
2.75
73.75
26-Apr
12
11.5
11.75
-11.5
0.25
74
27-Apr
21
11.5
16.25
-11.5
4.75
78.75
28-Apr
16
11.5
13.75
-11.5
2.25
81
29-Apr
16
12
14
-11.5
2.5
83.5
30-Apr
20
11.5
15.75
-11.5
4.25
87.75
1-May
20
11.5
15.75
-11.5
4.25
92
2-May
26
11.5
18.75
-11.5
7.25
99.25
3-May
21
13
17
-11.5
5.5
104.75
4-May
16
12
14
-11.5
2.5
107.25
5-May
17
11.5
14.25
-11.5
2.75
110
6-May
15
11.5
13.25
-11.5
1.75
111.75
7-May
17
11.5
14.25
-11.5
2.75
114.5
8-May
23
11.5
17.25
-11.5
5.75
120.25
9-May
26
12
19
-11.5
7.5
127.75
#**10-May
16
11.5
13.75
-11.5
2.25
130
#11-May
17
11.5
14.25
-11.5
2.75
132.75
12-May
21
11.5
16.25
-11.5
4.75
137.5
13-May
21
11.5
16.25
-11.5
4.75
142.25
14-May
16
11.5
13.75
-11.5
2.25
144.5
#15-May
20
11.5
15.75
-11.5
4.25
148.75
#16-May
22
11.5
16.75
-11.5
5.25
154
17-May
27
11.5
19.25
-11.5
7.75
161.75
***18-May
26
11.5
18.75
-11.5
7.25
169
19-May
33
15
24
-11.5
12.5
181.5
20-May
26
12
19
-11.5
7.5
189
#21-May
28
12
20
-11.5
8.5
197.5
#22-May
27
15
21
-11.5
9.5
207
23-May
31
18
24.5
-11.5
13
220
****24-May
32
17
24.5
-11.5
13
233
25-May
31
13
22
-11.5
10.5
243.5
26-May
31
13
22
-11.5
10.5
254
27-May
32
18
25
-11.5
13.5
267.5
28-May
32
23
27.5
-11.5
16
283.5
29-May
32
22
27
-11.5
15.5
299
#*****30-May
28
19
23.5
-11.5
12
311
31-May
28
18
23
-11.5
11.5
322.5
Assuming the eggs were laid on the 15 April, the following are predicted dates for transitions based on developmental rates established by Zalucki 1988.
* 21 April - Egg to hatching – 45 DDs.
** 10 May – Egg to 4th instar – 129 DDs.
*** 18 May – Egg to 5th instar - 165 DDs.
**** 24 May – Egg to pupation – 225 DDs
***** 1-2 June – Egg to emergence of the adult – 337 Dds
The actual first transitions are indicated by #.
Based on the DDs accumulation from 15 April through the 31 May, the first monarch should have emerged from a pupa on the 31 May, rather than on the 7 or 8 June as originally forecast. However, the first emergences occurred on 30 May – 45 days after the eggs were laid. The accelerated development was due to a record-breaking heat wave that began 17 May. This warm period dramatically increased the number of monarch degree days per day. There were 150 DDs from 17-30 May this year, compared to 112 in 2005, 135 in 2004 and 83 in 2003.
Summary
Fourth and fifth instar larvae developed faster than expected. The actual transitions indicated above show that the larvae molted from the 3rd to the 4th instar on 10 and 11 May. The number of degree days required for 4th instars to molt into 5th instars is 36, yet the larvae actually reached this stage in 18-21 DDs (15-16 May). Similarly, The 5th instars reached the pupal stage in 48-53 DDs (21-22 May) vs the expected 60 DDs required for this stage. The first monarchs to emerge were those that pupated between 10:30 and 11:45 AM on 22 May. The emergence occurred 9 days later to the hour. The number of DDs required for the pupal stage is 112 and the total DDs for this 9-day interval was 104. How can we explain the faster than expected developmental time for these stages? There are several possibilities, among them the physiological response of larvae to incident radiation and microclimate.
The plants were located along the south side of our building. Under cloudy conditions, the predominant condition until the middle of May, the temperatures among the plants are likely to be similar to those of much of the surrounding area. However, in full sunlight, the direct insolation and the re-radiation from the wall of the building probably raised the temperature to levels much higher than those measured at the Lawrence airport. Further, after a sunny period, the re-radiation of heat from the wall could sustain an elevated temperature for several hours.
The response of the larvae to insolation could also be a factor. Monarch larvae are known to seek the sun at low temperatures. The surface to volume ratios are such that small larvae, i.e. those less than fourth instar, are not likely to be able to elevate their temperature significantly by exposing themselves to the sun. Fourth and fifth instar larvae, particularly the latter, should be able to raise their body temperature through exposure to the sun. Such exposure could increase developmental rates to levels that are higher than calculated from temperatures from the nearest airport. Once I saw these results, I asked Janis if she could find the numbers of hours of full sun for the 10-hour period between 9 AM and 7 PM for 11-22 May. Janis is a master at finding such details on the internet and the results of her search are summarized in Table 3.
Table 3. Number of hours of unobstructed sunlight from 9 AM to 7 PM 11-22 May 2006 in Lawrence, Kansas.
Date
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Hours
3
10
10
1
1
6
10
10
10
10
10
9
The data in Table 3 show that the potential for a caterpillar to raise its temperature by “sunning” was considerable during this interval, particularly for the fifth instars from 16-22 May.
An alternative way of looking at this situation is to say that the development of the different stages of the immature monarchs tells us what the degree days are at their microsites. Thus, if the three butterflies that emerged after a nine day pupal stage, actually experienced 112 DDs at this site, it tells us that local site is that much warmer (by 8 DDs) than the local weather station. This is reasonable since the pupae were attached to a building in a protected site at a height of about 12 feet above ground.
Those of you interested in larval temperatures might wish to consult the following paper:
Rawlings, J. E., Lederhouse, R. C. 1981. Developmental influences of thermal behavior on Monarch caterpillars (Danaus plexippus): an adaptation for migration (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Danainae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 54:378-408
This has been an interesting exercise and I’ve learned a number of things.
On potted tropical milkweeds it is much harder to account for all the larvae than I anticipated. My cohort of 1 expanded to 11 the more I looked at these plants.
There is a real need to understand the role of insolation on the developmental rates of 4th and 5th instar larvae.
If we want to measure developmental rates accurately in the field, we need devices that record the temperatures at the micro-site where the larvae are feeding rather than from the nearest airport. An appropriate method is discussed under the title of iButtons below.
The transitions from one stage to the next have to be recorded for individual larvae rather than from a cohort of larvae as I have done here.
While it is fun to use DDs to estimate events, such as the date of egg laying, that took place in the past, knowing the actual date (or even the hour) for the start of an event is essential for maximum accuracy.
So, was I right about the monarchs arriving too soon at our latitude (37 N) to reach maturity and to fly northward to the “real” summer breeding ground in the upper Midwest? No. I was wrong. Over the next week there should be an abundance of monarchs reaching maturity in this area. Some of them, if they mature (another 45 DDs) and get the migratory signal before the end of the first week of June, will move north and northeast as part of the late arriving first generation monarchs in the northern breeding areas. I also would have been wrong in 2004, another hot May in this area, but I would have been correct in my assessment in 2003 and 2005, both years in which the temperatures during the month of May were more normal. But, what is normal? A quick look at the May temperatures in Kansas over the last 30 years (lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/cag3.html) shows that the mean temperature has increased by almost 1.5F over this interval. It’s getting progressively warmer and warmer climates will have a profound effect on monarch populations.
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We are developing a new environmental monitoring program - fine scale temperature monitoring of your Monarch Waystation, school butterfly garden, classroom rearing area, or other habitats using Thermochron iButtons.
What is a thermochron? A thermochron is a thermometer, clock, calendar and memory chip all housed in a tiny steel “iButton” and is used to record temperature data at defined intervals for an extended period of time (up to a year at a time!). The data collected by the Thermochron can be downloaded to a computer and presented in tabular or graphical form. Simple programs can be used to summarize the data - we are working on a method that will allow easy conversion of the data into monarch degree days.
We are introducing this first thermochron project on a trial basis to 50 volunteers/sites. [Edit: Due to the large number of responses we have received thus far, we have decided to expand this trial to include all those interested. Please respond as directed below by June 26, 2006 to participate in this initial project.] Unfortunately, we do not yet have the funds to purchase, program and mail the thermochrons, so we need these pioneering volunteers to cover the costs of these monitoring kits. In exchange, we will program the devices, provide instructions on their placement and use, and download the data for those who don’t want to do this themselves.
We will provide two types of kits. One will be a complete kit with two thermochrons, mounting plates, an iButton reader, and a USB adapter that will allow the user to download and display the data on a computer. We haven’t worked out the final costs, but we anticipate this kit will cost about $50. The second kit will be a stripped-down version of the complete kit and only contain the thermochrons and mounting plates - for those who don’t want to get involved with the technical aspects of retrieving the data. This kit will cost approximately $30 and will require returning the Thermochrons to us for data retrieval.
Before we launch this pilot program we need to have some idea of how many of you are interested in participating. Please indicate your interest by sending an email to chip@ku.edu. Please include “Thermochron” in the subject line and in the body tell us your location and specify which kit you would be interested in. If this program is successful, we envision developing numerous projects/programs for classrooms, home schools, nature centers, etc. based on this technology.
Thermochrons in use in Monarch Waystation #1 (recording hourly temperatures):
Thermochron iButtons located on a post with the nesting sites for mason bees in Monarch Waystation #1.
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The number of registered Monarch Waystations now exceeds 600! Thanks to all of you who have created habitats for monarchs. Given that we are losing 3000-4000 acres of farm and ranch land a day to development in this country, we all need to do our part to provide resources for wildlife.
Monarch Waystation Seed Kits (both the Standard Kit and the California Kit, which contain seed packets of 6 milkweeds and 6 general butterfly plants) are still available while supplies last (Monarch Watch Shop item#125522):
shop.monarchwatch.org/product.aspx?p=125522 or 1-800-780-9986
Complete information about the Monarch Waystation Program is available at
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We purchased over 800 tags (at 50 pesos/tag, ~$5 US) in Mexico during our March trip to the monarch overwintering sites. Additional tags were purchased by other visitors to the monarch colonies and sent to us as contributions to the tagging program. In total, we acquired 867 tags at a cost of over $4000.
The distribution of 865 of these tags (two were illegible), by year in which the tags were issued, is shown in Table 4. This table also shows the number of tags with and without data for each year. The data for these tags has been entered into the tagging database. To see these records simply visit our Tag Recovery Database and select “2006” in the dropdown menu for year in the section labeled "Recovery Information" and click on submit. If you recognize your tags among those with incomplete records, please send us the data.
www.monarchwatch.org/tagmig/recoveries.htm
The good news is that we were able to purchase so many tags. The bad news is that we haven’t received data sheets for 21% of the tags, about $1000 worth. This hurts. We can’t afford to buy tags without data, but there is no way to determine whether we have data for a tag at the time it is purchased. Contributions to the tag recovery fund were down as well, from $2500 in '04-'05 to $1000 in '05-'06. All of this means that we have overextended our budget with tag recovery purchases and we need your help in two ways:
1. We need you to send us your datasheets. We would rather receive late datasheets than have missing data. If you have any sheets that you have not yet sent in, please do so as soon as possible. These data are needed to complete the records in the database. Even if you haven’t had a recovery, we need the data. We are in the process of assembling a massive tagging database of over 500,000 tagging records and 11,000 recoveries. The tagging records themselves are providing us with valuable information on the timing and pace of the migration, differences in the time of the migration in different parts of the country and regional shifts in the population from one year to another.
2. Please consider making even a $5-$10 donation to the Tag Recovery Fund. This will cover the cost of 1 or 2 recoveries. Complete information regarding making a tax-deductible donation to Monarch Watch is available at
You can even do a quick gift online with your credit card - easily and securely.
If you have any questions about giving please let us know - thank you for your support!
As you can see from Table 4, we are having particular difficulty obtaining data from tags issued before 2001. Taggers are evidently using old tags but are failing to send us the data sheets.
As you may recall, there were massive winter kills in 2002 and 2004, 2001 and 2003 tags respectively. The tags from these two years make up 45% of the tags acquired this year. Hopefully we are nearing the end of the supply of old tags. The funds generated by the tagging program and the contributions to the Tag Recovery Fund are sufficient to purchase about 300 tags per year. The two winter kills have generated some incredible data but they’ve created a big drain both on Monarch Watch resources and on my bank account as well.
Table 4. Monarch tags purchased in Mexico during the winter of 2005-2006. Tags are listed by the year in which they were issued.
Year Number of Recoveries Complete Data No Data Total <2001
0
53
53
2001
69
9
78
2002
2
9
11
2003
320
67
387
2004
71
35
106
2005
175
55
230
If you haven’t visited the tag recovery portion of the web site recently, please note that you are now able to print out certificates of appreciation for recoveries of your tagged monarchs and the reporting of sightings or recoveries of tagged butterflies.
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7) Open House and Plant Fundraiser
Our spring open house and butterfly plant fundraiser (13 May) was a success. How do I know? Because all the cookies – all 360 of them - were gone by early afternoon and I only had one. The plants were mostly gone too, and those plants that remained were snatched up the next week by people who couldn’t attend the event on Saturday. We received donations for almost 3000 plants and only four common milkweeds and some swamp milkweeds we grew ourselves remained after the next week.
In addition to getting plants, about 500 people attended the Open House to see the exhibits – monarchs and other local butterflies, subtropical butterflies, a honey bee observation hive, numerous ‘Oh my’ insects such as giant silk moths, hissing cockroaches, and doodlebugs. A big attraction at the event was the butterfly garden (Monarch Waystation #1) created by the Douglas County Master Gardeners and maintained by Margarete Johnson.
Last fall this garden attracted an extraordinary number of butterflies and there were so many monarch caterpillars that I had to remove them from the garden and rear them indoors so that there were still representative milkweeds for show and tell tours of the garden.
We always have activities for children and this year we had two contests, one to guess the number of mealworms in a flask and another to estimate the number of frass pellets three fifth instar monarch caterpillars would produce in the 7 hours of the Open House. Janis Lentz, who “iChatted” (videochatted) with many of our visitors from her home in Mercedes, Texas, set up three feeding monarch caterpillars at her home. Janis used her caterpillars as an example and kept trying to coach the children she spoke with, many of whom were quite puzzled to be suddenly talking about frass pellets to a stranger in Texas, on the number they might use to win the frass contest.
In addition to our incredible Monarch Watch crew (Jim, Sarah, Ann, Angel, Sarah, Mike, Ryan, Ben, and Laura), many others helped with the event and we would like to thank the numerous volunteers from the Douglas County Master Gardeners, as well as Jackie Goetz who generously shares her critters and insect lore with our many visitors. Once again, Danny Najera helped explain basic honey bee biology to our many visitors.
Lastly, I would like to thank all the Monarch Watch supporters who attend these events and who take home our milkweeds and nectar plants to create habitats for monarchs.
Images of the Open House and Butterfly Plant Fundraiser can be seen at
www.monarchwatch.org/openhouse/gallery2006sp/
And, in case you need to make one yourself, here is an image of our world-class frass collector:
Frass collector: a ring stand, two clamps, two flasks, one large funnel, a milkweed plant and a variable number of frass makers.
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8) Monarch Watch Staff Change - by Sarah Schmidt
How quickly time flies! How is it that four years have passed since I finished up my bachelor’s degree and began my position as Program Assistant?! Monarch Watch has grown and changed quite a bit since then and the position was always challenging. It’s been hard work and a constant juggling act – playing secretary, editor, writer, greenhouse manager and caterpillar keeper all at once – but it’s been rewarding, too. It’s been great fun to notify taggers of their recoveries, to see elementary children light up as they touch a caterpillar for the first time and to convince gardeners that they should leave the “worms” in their gardens alone. (Yes, they really will be butterflies some day!) It’s also been a pleasure to be a part of introducing the Monarch Waystation Program and to watch it grow slowly but surely over the last year. Soon, though, my life will change. Instead of rearing hundreds of monarchs this summer, I will be spending time out on local rivers as I begin my graduate studies in aquatic ecology. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve in this position and will leave with many good memories. I wish Chip, Jim, Ann and the rest of Monarch Watch all the best and I hope the program continues to grow and flourish. Happy tagging! - Sarah
We would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest program assistant, Ann Ryan. Ann graduated from the University of Kansas a few short weeks ago with a bachelor's degree in biology. She will be coordinating our tagging program, maintaining our live monarch culture, answering phone calls and emails, and working on several other projects to help keep our program running smoothly. We think Ann will be a great addition to Monarch Watch and hope that she will find this to be a rewarding position. Welcome aboard, Ann!
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Monarch Watch is a not-for-profit educational outreach program based at the University of Kansas. We manage several educational, conservation and research programs - focusing on the monarch butterfly, its habitat and the spectacular fall monarch migration.
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monarch@ku.edu
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