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Palma, Luís, Sasha Vasconcelos, Ana Filipa Palmeirim, and Juan Pablo Cancela. "History of colonisation and updated distribution of the Monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus, 1758) and its hostplants in mainland Portugal, Azores and Madeira." Nota Lepidopterologica 46 (March 9, 2023): 83–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/nl.46.89665.
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The first observations of the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in Iberia date from 1886, although breeding records emerged almost a century later: 1960 in Spain, 1980s–1990s in Madeira and Azores, and 2003 in mainland Portugal. We reviewed the history of the colonisation of mainland and insular Portugal by the Monarch butterfly and its hostplants (Gomphocarpus fruticosus, G. physocarpus and Asclepias curassavica). We also compiled available historical and recent occurrence records as a basis for countrywide surveys of the butterfly and hostplants, to update their current distributions in Portugal. Locations for only a few of the older records represented newly rediscovered populations in the field, although recent occurrences were often confirmed. Hostplants were scarce and monarchs absent in northern and central mainland Portugal, but both were quite common in the southwest. In Madeira, hostplants were found in two locations, while monarchs were common and widespread. In the Azores, small hostplant patches were observed on four of seven surveyed islands, whereas monarchs were rare and restricted to two islands. Abandoned/semi-abandoned orange orchards represent the butterfly’s stronghold in Portugal, with the species being increasingly scarce along rivers and road verges where hostplants are declining. Hostplant persistence is unstable, with many patches removed, while others have expanded or colonised new areas. Overall, hostplants appear to be declining, with implications for the persistence of monarch butterflies in the country.
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James, David G. "A Neonicotinoid Insecticide at a Rate Found in Nectar Reduces Longevity but Not Oogenesis in Monarch Butterflies, Danaus plexippus (L.). (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)." Insects 10, no. 9 (September 1, 2019): 276. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects10090276.
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The monarch butterfly in North America has suffered a serious population decline since the mid-1990s. The introduction and widespread use of neonicotinoid insecticides during the same time period has been suggested as a potential driver of this decline but no studies have looked at the impact of these insecticides on adult monarchs. A brief laboratory study assessed the impact of Imidacloprid, the most commonly used neonicotinoid, on western monarch butterfly longevity and oogenesis. Imidacloprid at 23.5 ppb, a field-realistic rate reported from wild nectar and pollen, was fed ad libitum to newly-eclosed monarchs in a sugar-based diet for 22 days. Treated monarchs showed reduced longevity, suffering 78.8% mortality by day 22, compared to 20% in untreated monarchs. Prior to death, butterflies exhibited signs of poisoning including uncoordinated flapping of wings and uncontrolled vibrating of wings and body. Imidacloprid did not reduce egg production. Shortened adult longevity has serious consequences for monarch population development, migration and overwintering. The potential widespread impact of imidacloprid-contaminated crop and wild flower nectar, may be a significant driver of monarch population decline. More research on the impact of neonicotinoid insecticides on the monarch and other butterflies should be viewed as a serious priority.
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Wang, Gai-Ge, Suash Deb, and Zhihua Cui. "Monarch butterfly optimization." Neural Computing and Applications 31, no. 7 (May 19, 2015): 1995–2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00521-015-1923-y.
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Thogmartin, Wayne E., Ruscena Wiederholt, Karen Oberhauser, Ryan G. Drum, Jay E. Diffendorfer, Sonia Altizer, Orley R. Taylor, et al. "Monarch butterfly population decline in North America: identifying the threatening processes." Royal Society Open Science 4, no. 9 (September 2017): 170760. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170760.
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The monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus ) population in North America has sharply declined over the last two decades. Despite rising concern over the monarch butterfly's status, no comprehensive study of the factors driving this decline has been conducted. Using partial least-squares regressions and time-series analysis, we investigated climatic and habitat-related factors influencing monarch population size from 1993 to 2014. Potential threats included climatic factors, habitat loss (milkweed and overwinter forest), disease and agricultural insecticide use (neonicotinoids). While climatic factors, principally breeding season temperature, were important determinants of annual variation in abundance, our results indicated strong negative relationships between population size and habitat loss variables, principally glyphosate use, but also weaker negative effects from the loss of overwinter forest and breeding season use of neonicotinoids. Further declines in population size because of glyphosate application are not expected. Thus, if remaining threats to habitat are mitigated we expect climate-induced stochastic variation of the eastern migratory population of monarch butterfly around a relatively stationary population size.
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Poindexter, Kristen. "Column: Elementary Explorations." Hoosier Science Teacher 45, no. 1 (June 14, 2022): 7–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.14434/thst.v45i1.34437.
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Being a citizen scientist is one way young students can become interested in science. Through classroom tested lessons, this article explores ways that the migration of the Monarch butterfly can be incorporated into a Kindergarten classroom, allowing students to share Monarch butterfly sightings with the science community at large and for them to teach others about the importance of helping the Monarch butterfly in its journey south to Mexico each fall.
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Reppert, Steven M., and Jacobus C. de Roode. "Demystifying Monarch Butterfly Migration." Current Biology 28, no. 17 (September 2018): R1009—R1022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.02.067.
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Howard, Elizabeth, Harlen Aschen, and Andrew K. Davis. "Citizen Science Observations of Monarch Butterfly Overwintering in the Southern United States." Psyche: A Journal of Entomology 2010 (2010): 1–6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/689301.
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Members of the public have long had a fascination with the monarch butterfly,Danaus plexippus, because of its amazing long-distance migration to overwintering sites in central Mexico, and many participate in online citizen-science programs where they report observations of its life history in North America. Here, we examine a little-studied aspect of monarch biology, the degree of overwintering in the southern United States. We compiled 9 years of sightings of overwintering monarchs in the southern United States that were reported to Journey North, a web-based citizen science program, to map the distribution of areas where monarchs are capable of surviving during the winter (i.e., in January and February), differentiating between adult sightings and sightings of breeding activity. We also statistically compared the latitudes of adult and breeding sightings, examined differences across years in latitude of sightings, and quantified the number of monarchs reported with each sighting. Of all 254 sightings, 80% came from Florida and Texas, with the remainder coming from South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, and even one in Virginia. This distribution was generally consistent with the winter range predicted by prior investigators based on climatic conditions of this region. Sightings of adults were on average from higher latitudes than reports of breeding activity and there was significant variation across years in the average latitude of all sightings. The majority of sightings (94.2%) were of fewer than 10 adult monarchs per location, and there were no reports of clustering behavior that is typical of monarch overwintering in California and Mexico. The results of this investigation broaden our collective understanding of this stage of the monarch life cycle and, more generally, highlight the value of citizen science programs in advancing science.
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Nestle, Rebecca, Jaret C. Daniels, and Adam G. Dale. "Mixed-Species Gardens Increase Monarch Oviposition without Increasing Top-Down Predation." Insects 11, no. 9 (September 22, 2020): 648. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11090648.
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Monarch butterfly populations have declined by over 80% in the last 20 years. Conservation efforts focus on the creation of milkweed habitats to mitigate this decline. Previous research has found monarchs lay more eggs per milkweed stem in urban gardens than natural habitats and recent work identified specific garden designs that make urban gardens more attractive to monarchs. Increasing plant diversity can reduce specialist insect herbivore colonization via bottom-up (e.g., plant) and top-down (e.g., predation) regulatory factors. Although this is beneficial for pest management efforts, it contradicts conservation efforts. In this study, we explored if adding multiple flowering species to garden-sized milkweed plantings affected monarch oviposition or top-down regulation of larvae. We compared monarch egg abundance, natural enemy abundance and richness, and biological control of monarch larvae in milkweed monocultures and milkweed mixed with four additional wildflower species. We found that monarchs laid 22% more eggs on sentinel milkweed plants in mixed-species plots with no effect of plant diversity on monarch survival. We also found higher natural enemy richness, wasp, and predatory bug abundance in the mixed-species plots and this did not translate to higher biological control rates. Our results provide more evidence that plant selection and habitat design are important for monarch conservation.
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Tenger-Trolander, Ayşe, Wei Lu, Michelle Noyes, and Marcus R. Kronforst. "Contemporary loss of migration in monarch butterflies." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 29 (June 24, 2019): 14671–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904690116.
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The annual migration of the monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus is in peril. In an effort to aid population recovery, monarch enthusiasts across North America participate in a variety of conservation efforts, including captive rearing and release of monarch butterflies throughout the summer and autumn. However, the impact of captive breeding on monarchs remains an open question. Here, we show that captive breeding, both commercially and by summertime hobbyists, causes migratory behavior to be lost. Monarchs acquired commercially failed to orient south when reared outdoors in the autumn, unlike wild-caught North American monarchs, yet they did enter reproductive diapause. The commercial population was genetically highly divergent from wild-caught North American monarchs and had rounder forewings, similar to monarchs from nonmigratory populations. Furthermore, rearing wild-caught monarchs in an indoor environment mimicking natural migration-inducing conditions failed to elicit southward flight orientation. In fact, merely eclosing indoors after an otherwise complete lifecycle outdoors was enough to disrupt southern orientation. Our results provide a window into the complexity—and remarkable fragility—of migration.
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Kesler, Karen Keller, and Rick Bunch. "Mapping the Migration." International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research 14, no. 1 (January 23, 2023): 1–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijagr.316769.
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Monarch butterfly populations have been declining at an accelerating rate. While local mitigative measures can provide some relief, the larger scale loss of habitat and lack of flyway continuity must also be addressed. This study utilized a site suitability model to rank all locations within the Western monarch migratory zone in relation to factors that collectively attribute to butterfly viability, sustainability, and functionality. The two overarching study goals were to identify flyway gaps and to compare the model outcomes with geolocated butterfly sightings. The model weighed temperature, precipitation, elevation, and land cover/use factors based on their overall impact on site suitability. In addition to these factors, wildfires, solar farms, genetically modified crops, snow/ice cover, and open water were modeled as uninhabitable zones incapable of sustaining butterfly populations. The study results illuminated the heterogeneity of the Western monarch migratory range as well as raised questions regarding possible abnormal butterfly behaviors.
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Reppert, Steven M., Patrick A. Guerra, and Christine Merlin. "Neurobiology of Monarch Butterfly Migration." Annual Review of Entomology 61, no. 1 (March 11, 2016): 25–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-010814-020855.
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Boyle, J. H., H. J. Dalgleish, and J. R. Puzey. "Monarch butterfly and milkweed declines substantially predate the use of genetically modified crops." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 8 (February 5, 2019): 3006–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811437116.
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Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) decline over the past 25 years has received considerable public and scientific attention, in large part because its decline, and that of its milkweed (Asclepias spp.) host plant, have been linked to genetically modified (GM) crops and associated herbicide use. Here, we use museum and herbaria specimens to extend our knowledge of the dynamics of both monarchs and milkweeds in the United States to more than a century, from 1900 to 2016. We show that both monarchs and milkweeds increased during the early 20th century and that recent declines are actually part of a much longer-term decline in both monarchs and milkweed beginning around 1950. Herbicide-resistant crops, therefore, are clearly not the only culprit and, likely, not even the primary culprit: Not only did monarch and milkweed declines begin decades before GM crops were introduced, but other variables, particularly a decline in the number of farms, predict common milkweed trends more strongly over the period studied here.
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James, DG. "Effect of Temperature Upon Energy Reserves of the Monarch Butterfly, Danaus-Plexippus (L) (Lepidoptera, Danaidae)." Australian Journal of Zoology 34, no. 3 (1986): 373. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/zo9860373.
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The effects of three day temperatures (high, 36 � 1�C; medium, 20-30�C; low, 10-18�C) on lipid accumulation and lean dry weights of monarch butterflies when night temperatures are <10�C are described. Reproductively dormant monarchs accumulated lipid when held at high or low daily temperatures. Lipid accumulated until day 15 and then diminished. Lipids were not stored at medium temperatures. Reproductively active butterflies did not store lipid. Lean dry weights of reproductively dormant monarchs pre-treated with low temperatures were higher than those of other groups. These data, together with information on other aspects of monarch winter biology, suggest that behavioural modification of body temperature is important in energy reserve storage.
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Stevenson, Misty, Kalynn L. Hudman, Alyx Scott, Kelsey Contreras, and Jeffrey G. Kopachena. "High Survivorship of First-Generation Monarch Butterfly Eggs to Third Instar Associated with a Diverse Arthropod Community." Insects 12, no. 6 (June 21, 2021): 567. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12060567.
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Based on surveys of winter roost sites, the eastern migratory population of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in North America appears to have declined in the last 20 years and this has prompted the implementation of numerous conservation strategies. However, there is little information on the survivorship of first-generation monarchs in the core area of occupancy in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana where overwinter population recovery begins. The purpose of this study was to determine the survivorship of first-generation eggs to third instars at a site in north Texas and to evaluate host plant arthropods for their effect on survivorship. Survivorship to third instar averaged 13.4% and varied from 11.7% to 15.6% over three years. The host plants harbored 77 arthropod taxa, including 27 predatory taxa. Despite their abundance, neither predator abundance nor predator richness predicted monarch survival. However, host plants upon which monarchs survived often harbored higher numbers of non-predatory arthropod taxa and more individuals of non-predatory taxa. These results suggest that ecological processes may have buffered the effects of predators and improved monarch survival in our study. The creation of diverse functional arthropod communities should be considered for effective monarch conservation, particularly in southern latitudes.
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Preston, Stephanie D., Julia D. Liao, Theodore P. Toombs, Rainer Romero-Canyas, Julia Speiser, and Colleen M. Seifert. "A case study of a conservation flagship species: the monarch butterfly." Biodiversity and Conservation 30, no. 7 (May 4, 2021): 2057–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02183-x.
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AbstractWhat makes a flagship species effective in engaging conservation donors? Large, charismatic mammals are typically selected as ambassadors, but a few studies suggest butterflies—and monarchs in particular—may be even more appealing. To gather more information about people’s responses to monarchs, we conducted an empirical study of member submissions to a successful conservation campaign, the Monarch Story Campaign, conducted by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The set of 691 stories along with their associated demographic and donation data was analyzed in a mixed-methods study using qualitative analysis and tests of association. The results showed that people often described encounters with monarchs in childhood and as adults. They expressed strong, positive emotions, and lauded the monarch’s beauty and other “awe-inspiring” qualities and expressed wonder at their lifecycle (i.e., metamorphosis and migration). They also raised conservation themes of distress at monarch loss, calls for action, and caretaking, such as being “fragile” and “in need.” Sharing personal encounters was associated with current efforts to save the species and more past financial donations, while a second pattern tied more donations to awe at the monarch’s mass migration. These results imply that conservation campaigns built around species people encounter may build lifelong awareness, concern, and actions towards conservation.
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Giordano, Bryan V., Bethany L. McGregor, Alfred E. Runkel, and Nathan D. Burkett-Cadena. "Distance Diminishes the Effect of Deltamethrin Exposure on the Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus." Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 36, no. 3 (September 1, 2020): 181–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.2987/20-6927.1.
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ABSTRACT The monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), is threatened by substantial loss of habitat, extreme weather events linked to global climate change, and nontarget impacts of broad-spectrum insecticides. To investigate the impact of chronic ingestion of pyrethroids on monarchs, wild-type Florida D. plexippus were reared on milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) that was exposed to ultra-low volume applications of DeltaGard by a truck-mounted fogger, at distances of 25 and 50 m. We observed significant negative impacts on monarchs reared on milkweed at 25 m from the DeltaGard spray route, including significant decreases in survival, and significantly longer development times, compared with untreated controls. Larvae reared on host plants closest to the truck spray route were 3 times more likely to experience a mortality event than the control cohort in trial 1 and 6 times in trial 2. Survival of monarch caterpillars reared on milkweed sprayed at 50 m was not significantly different from controls. For monarchs that survived to adulthood, we did not observe statistically significant differences among cohorts for variables measured. These data demonstrate that ultra-low volume treatments of pyrethroids can result in significant mortality in monarchs, but that the effects diminish with distance from the spray route.
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Strumberger, Ivana, Milan Tuba, Nebojsa Bacanin, and Eva Tuba. "Cloudlet Scheduling by Hybridized Monarch Butterfly Optimization Algorithm." Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks 8, no. 3 (August 11, 2019): 44. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jsan8030044.
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Cloud computing technology enables efficient utilization of available physical resources through the virtualization where different clients share the same underlying physical hardware infrastructure. By utilizing the cloud computing concept, distributed, scalable and elastic computing resources are provided to the end-users over high speed computer networks (the Internet). Cloudlet scheduling that has a significant impact on the overall cloud system performance represents one of the most important challenges in this domain. In this paper, we introduce implementations of the original and hybridized monarch butterfly optimization algorithm that belongs to the category of swarm intelligence metaheuristics, adapted for tackling the cloudlet scheduling problem. The hybridized monarch butterfly optimization approach, as well as adaptations of any monarch butterfly optimization version for the cloudlet scheduling problem, could not be found in the literature survey. Both algorithms were implemented within the environment of the CloudSim platform. The proposed hybridized version of the monarch butterfly optimization algorithm was first tested on standard benchmark functions and, after that, the simulations for the cloudlet scheduling problem were performed using artificial and real data sets. Based on the obtained simulation results and the comparative analysis with six other state-of-the-art metaheuristics and heuristics, under the same experimental conditions and tested on the same problem instances, a hybridized version of the monarch butterfly optimization algorithm proved its potential for tackling the cloudlet scheduling problem. It has been established that the proposed hybridized implementation is superior to the original one, and also that the task scheduling problem in cloud environments can be more efficiently solved by using such an algorithm with positive implications to the cloud management.
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Fisher, Kelsey E., James S. Adelman, and Steven P. Bradbury. "Employing Very High Frequency (VHF) Radio Telemetry to Recreate Monarch Butterfly Flight Paths." Environmental Entomology 49, no. 2 (March 11, 2020): 312–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvaa019.
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Abstract The overwintering population of eastern North American monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) has declined significantly. Loss of milkweed (Asclepias sp.), the monarch’s obligate host plant in the Midwest United States, is considered to be a major cause of the decline. Restoring breeding habitat is an actionable step towards population recovery. Monarch butterflies are highly vagile; therefore, the spatial arrangement of milkweed in the landscape influences movement patterns, habitat utilization, and reproductive output. Empirical studies of female movement patterns within and between habitat patches in representative agricultural landscapes support recommendations for habitat restoration. To track monarch movement at distances beyond human visual range, we employed very high frequency radio telemetry with handheld antennae to collect movement bearings on a biologically relevant time scale. Attachment of 220–300 mg transmitters did not significantly affect behavior and flight capability. Thirteen radio-tagged monarchs were released in a restored prairie, and locations were estimated every minute for up to 39 min by simultaneous triangulation from four operators. Monarchs that left the prairie were tracked and relocated at distances up to 250 m. Assuming straight flights between locations, the majority of steps within the prairie were below 50 m. Steps associated with exiting the prairie exceeded 50 m with high directionality. Because butterflies do not fly in straight lines between stationary points, we also illustrate how occurrence models can use location data obtained through radio telemetry to estimate movement within a prairie and over multiple land cover types.
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Gustafsson, Karin M. "Narrating the Monarch Butterfly: Managing Knowledge Complexity and Uncertainty in Coproduction of a Collective Narrative and Public Discourse." Science Communication 39, no. 4 (July 25, 2017): 492–519. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1075547017719548.
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In January 2014, the monarch butterfly reached North American political agendas due to reports of a long-term population decline. Requests were made for reliable descriptions of what was known about the butterfly, its population and migration, and the actions needed to protect it. This article studies the construction of the collective narrative that has come to dominate the public discourse on the butterfly. The analysis demonstrates how complexity and uncertainty in monarch knowledge have been managed through a process of coproduction, where focus has been on emphasizing knowledge certainty by portraying science and conservation as two separate but dependent social spheres.
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Marsico, Travis D. "The monarch butterfly: biology and conservation." American Midland Naturalist 154, no. 2 (October 2005): 479–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031(2005)154[0479:br]2.0.co;2.
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Zhan, Shuai, and Steven M. Reppert. "MonarchBase: the monarch butterfly genome database." Nucleic Acids Research 41, no. D1 (November 7, 2012): D758—D763. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gks1057.
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Yakubu, Abdul-Aziz, Roberto Sáenz, Julie Stein, and Laura E. Jones. "Monarch butterfly spatially discrete advection model." Mathematical Biosciences 190, no. 2 (August 2004): 183–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mbs.2004.03.002.
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Gustafsson, Karin M. "Latest News on the Monarch Butterfly." BioScience 65, no. 12 (October 15, 2015): 1190–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biv145.
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Feng, Yanhong, Suash Deb, Gai-Ge Wang, and Amir H. Alavi. "Monarch butterfly optimization: A comprehensive review." Expert Systems with Applications 168 (April 2021): 114418. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2020.114418.
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Kesler, Karen, and Rick Bunch. "Modeling Migratory Patterns of the Eastern Monarch Butterfly." International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research 11, no. 4 (October 2020): 42–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijagr.2020100103.
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The purpose of this research was to relate the influence of specific site suitability variables to eastern monarch butterfly migratory patterns and behavior. Elevation, temperature, precipitation, and land use data layers were overlaid to collectively consider how these variables affected the way that butterflies migrated and recolonized during the 2016/2017 migratory cycle. The variables were reclassified into layers ranking suitability as either unsuitable, suitable, or optimal with respective scores of one, three, and five. Three uninhabitable variables were identified that deemed a site unsuitable despite the influence and possible optimal suitability of the other variables. The results of this study indicated that site suitability was a large driving factor for migratory monarchs with a heavier emphasis placed on average temperature and land/cropland use. Possible displaced and sink populations were identified for further study, while the effects of agriculture, development, and climate change were considered regarding flyway connectivity and behavior.
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Hashizume, Hideki, Atsuko Mutoh, Shohei Kato, Tsutomu Kunitachi, and Hidenori Itoh. "Emergence of Cross-Generational Migration Behavior in Multiagent Simulation." Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics 13, no. 3 (May 20, 2009): 304–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.20965/jaciii.2009.p0304.
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We describe an artificial ecosystem consisting of five areas and evolving artificial creatures (called agents). The ecosystem is for an analysis of cross-generational migrations of the monarch butterfly. The monarch butterfly is famous for its migration. We report simulations on the emergence of migration behavior pertaining to the monarch butterfly. The area has two kinds of environmental changes: long-term and short-term changes. We focus on temperature as an environmental parameter. Under long-term change, temperature is gradually rising, and under short-term change temperature changes periodically as same as seasonal change. We put agents on the areas. The agent has two genetic components: an environmental adaptation scale and an action decision table. These components represent the physical features of the agent and select an action on the basis of sensory information, respectively. The agent also has a temperature sensor that functions with its environmental adaptation scale. It enables the agent to adapt dynamic temperature changes and to evolve to obtain optimal behaviors. With the ecosystem, we conduct one experiment. The result was that we observed that the range of migration expanded as the temperature rose. Also, we report the result of migration patterns obtained by the agents. These results show that the biology of the monarch butterfly is well modeled by the ecosystem and our evolutionary method.
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Pérez-Miranda, Ramiro, Víctor Javier Arriola-Padilla, and Martín Enrique Romero-Sanchez. "Characterizing New Wintering Sites for Monarch Butterfly Colonies in Sierra Nevada, Mexico." Insects 11, no. 6 (June 21, 2020): 384. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11060384.
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Every year, Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus, 1758) travels to hibernate in oyamel fir forests located between the limits of the states of Michoacán and Mexico in Mexico. Climate change and anthropogenic actions are diminishing oyamel fir forests in Mexico, putting pressure on the habitats of monarch butterflies. In the last decade, new colonies outside their usual range have been predicted through modeling and reported by the National Commission on Protected Areas of Mexico. The objectives of the study were to recover information on the historical and new hibernation sites, reported or modeled, from different literature sources. We also aimed to perform a bioclimatic and forest biometric characterization of new monarch butterfly colonies located in Sierra Nevada in Mexico to provide information to aid in conservation strategies for the monarch butterfly population. We conducted field trips to georeference the colonies at sites located in the Atlautla municipality in Mexico State. Climatic, topographic, and forest biometric variables were used to characterize the sites physically. It was found that the butterfly’s roosts occurred at a higher elevation than those recorded by other sources. The locations where the monarch’s colonies were established, in the east of Mexico State, provide information relevant to defining and developing policies for their conservation.
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Halbritter, Dale, Johnalyn Gordon, Kandy Keacher, Michael Avery, and Jaret Daniels. "Evaluating an Alleged Mimic of the Monarch Butterfly: Neophasia (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) Butterflies are Palatable to Avian Predators." Insects 9, no. 4 (October 29, 2018): 150. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects9040150.
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Some taxa have adopted the strategy of mimicry to protect themselves from predation. Butterflies are some of the best representatives used to study mimicry, with the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) a well-known model. We are the first to empirically investigate a proposed mimic of the monarch butterfly: Neophasia terlooii, the Mexican pine white butterfly (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). We used captive birds to assess the palatability of N. terlooii and its sister species, N. menapia, to determine the mimicry category that would best fit this system. The birds readily consumed both species of Neophasia and a palatable control species but refused to eat unpalatable butterflies such as D. plexippus and Heliconius charithonia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Given some evidence for mild unpalatability of Neophasia, we discuss the results considering modifications to classic mimicry theory, i.e., a palatability-based continuum between Batesian and Müllerian mimicry, with a quasi-Batesian intermediate. Understanding the ecology of Neophasia in light of contemporary and historical sympatry with D. plexippus could shed light on the biogeography of, evolution of, and predation pressure on the monarch butterfly, whose migration event has become a conservation priority.
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Kang, Chang-kwon, Madhu Sridhar, Rachel Twigg, Jeremy Pohly, Taeyoung Lee, and Hikaru Aono. "Power Benefits of High-Altitude Flapping Wing Flight at the Monarch Butterfly Scale." Biomimetics 8, no. 4 (August 8, 2023): 352. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics8040352.
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The long-range migration of monarch butterflies, extended over 4000 km, is not well understood. Monarchs experience varying density conditions during migration, ranging as high as 3000 m, where the air density is much lower than at sea level. In this study, we test the hypothesis that the aerodynamic performance of monarchs improves at reduced density conditions by considering the fluid–structure interaction of chordwise flexible wings. A well-validated, fully coupled Navier–Stokes/structural dynamics solver was used to illustrate the interplay between wing motion, aerodynamics, and structural flexibility in forward flight. The wing density and elastic modulus were measured from real monarch wings and prescribed as inputs to the aeroelastic framework. Our results show that sufficient lift is generated to offset the butterfly weight at higher altitudes, aided by the wake-capture mechanism, which is a nonlinear wing–wake interaction mechanism, commonly seen for hovering animals. The mean total power, defined as the sum of the aerodynamic and inertial power, decreased by 36% from the sea level to the condition at 3000 m. Decreasing power with altitude, while maintaining the same equilibrium lift, suggests that the butterflies generate lift more efficiently at higher altitudes.
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Ramírez, M. Isabel, Joaquín G. Azcárate, and Laura Luna. "Effects of human activities on monarch butterfly habitat in protected mountain forests, Mexico." Forestry Chronicle 79, no. 2 (April 1, 2003): 242–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.5558/tfc79242-2.
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Since the monarch butterfly overwintering habitat was discovered in the mountainous fir forests in central Mexico three presidential decrees have been issued (1980, 1986, 2001) to protect it. But these forests are the source of livelihood for many local people, whose activities (wood extraction and clearance for subsistence farming) represent a major threat to the forests, and thus to the butterfly population. This study identifies important deforestation, disturbance, and recovery processes caused by human activities in the protected areas and their surroundings. Contrary to our expectations, the protected areas have been most negatively affected by human activities, whereas areas devoted to multiple uses have been more adequately preserved. Key words: monarch butterfly habitat, deforestation, forest disturbance, protected areas
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Pandian, Anand. "Butterfly Crossings." Environmental Humanities 14, no. 2 (July 1, 2022): 438–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/22011919-9712500.
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Abstract Migration is a bedrock reality of earthly life. This truth invites us to imagine the span of the Americas beginning not with borders and walls but instead with movement beyond them. What might our continents and countries begin to look and feel like if we acknowledged the necessity of these crossings, the kinship and well-being that movement sustains? The essay explores these questions through a series of meditations on the monarch butterfly, a creature that has become in recent years the symbol of a more expansive vision of North American belonging. Anand Pandian describes affinities for the butterfly articulated and expressed by artists, migrant rights activists, butterfly enthusiasts, and migrants themselves, in the United States and in Mexico. In the company of migrants, both human and lepidopteran, Pandian explores an alternative vision of collective life beyond national walls and borders. With the lifeways of the monarch butterfly, the most crucial lesson has to do with the relationships that propel movement across borders, the ties that draw together those within and those without. A society of rigid walls and borders may seek to repudiate their reality, or their necessity. And yet these relationships remain at work in our world of pervasive motion and migration, binding our fates together with living beings and distant places far beyond the span of the lines we draw.
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Brower, L. "Monarch butterfly orientation: missing pieces of a magnificent puzzle." Journal of Experimental Biology 199, no. 1 (January 1, 1996): 93–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.199.1.93.
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From late August to early September, millions of adult monarch butterflies of the eastern North American population cease reproducing, become highly gregarious and begin migrating southwards. By mid-October, they migrate through central Texas into Mexico where they follow the Sierra Madre Oriental across the Tropic of Cancer. They then shift direction westwards towards the Transverse Neovolcanic Belt of mountains where they overwinter without breeding. A rapid exodus northwards occurs at the spring equinox, and by early April both sexes reach the Gulf Coast states where the females lay eggs on the resurgent spring milkweed (Asclepias) flora and die. Adults of the new generation continue the migration to the northernmost breeding range, arriving by early June. Two or more short-lived breeding generations are produced over the summer, spread eastwards across the Appalachian Mountains and, by September, the autumn migration is again under way. This paper presents a new hypothesis that the orientation of adult monarchs undergoes a continual clockwise shifting throughout the 3-5 generations, rotating by 360 in the course of the year. This hypothesis is consistent with the timing of arrivals and the relative abundances of the successive generations of monarchs throughout eastern North America, with the directions of movement of their spring, summer and autumn generations, and with the timing of their arrival at the overwintering area in central Mexico.
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Mullins, Alexander N., Steven P. Bradbury, Thomas W. Sappington, and James S. Adelman. "Oviposition Response of Monarch Butterfly (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) to Imidacloprid-Treated Milkweed." Environmental Entomology 50, no. 3 (May 19, 2021): 541–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvab024.
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Abstract Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) populations have declined over the last two decades, attributable in part to declines in its larval host plant, milkweed (Asclepias spp.), across its breeding range. Conservation efforts in the United States call for restoration of 1.3 billion milkweed stems into the Midwestern landscape. Reaching this goal will require habitat establishment in marginal croplands, where there is a high potential for exposure to agrochemicals. Corn and soybean crops may be treated with neonicotinoid insecticides systemically or through foliar applications to provide protection against insect pests. Here, we investigate whether ovipositing monarchs discriminate against milkweed plants exposed to the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid, either systemically or through foliar application. In our first experiment, we placed gravid females in enclosures containing a choice of two cut stems for oviposition: one in 15 ml of a 0.5 mg/ml aqueous solution of imidacloprid and one in 15 ml water. In a second experiment, females were given a choice of milkweed plants whose leaves were treated with 30 µl of a 0.825 mg/ml imidacloprid-surfactant solution or plants treated with surfactant alone. To evaluate oviposition preference, we counted and removed eggs from all plants daily for 3 d. We also collected video data on a subset of butterflies to evaluate landing behavior. Results indicate that neither systemic nor foliar treatment with imidacloprid influenced oviposition behavior in female monarchs. The implications of these findings for monarch conservation practices will be informed by the results of ongoing egg and larval toxicity studies.
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Su, Qi, Haibo Wang, Xiaochen Shi, Guixin Li, and Kuo Sun. "Research on Energy Supply and Demand Forecast and Carbon Neutralization Path Based on Grey-Monarch Butterfly Optimization Model." Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2247, no. 1 (April 1, 2022): 012008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2247/1/012008.
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Abstract Energy and electricity are the key areas for China to achieve the double carbon target, and accurate forecasting of future energy supply and demand and carbon emissions is beneficial to develop a feasible path for low carbon transition. The gray prediction model GM (1, 1) is one of the most widely used dynamic prediction models in the field of energy forecasting, but it requires high raw data and the model may fail when the development coefficient of GM (1, 1) is large. On the other hand, the gray action of GM (1, 1) directly determines the model prediction accuracy, this paper introduces a novel population intelligence algorithm monarch butterfly optimization (MBO), which has excellent performance in practical optimization problems, into the optimization process of gray action of GM (1, 1), and proposes a new Gray-Monarch Butterfly optimization prediction model to realize the prediction. By comparing the prediction data with the classical literature, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed Gray-monarch butterfly optimization prediction model are confirmed.Finally a carbon neutral pathway is given for Tianjin based on the prediction results.
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Davis, Andrew K., Brenden Herkenhoff, Christina Vu, Paola A. Barriga, and Mostafa Hassanalian. "How the monarch got its spots: Long-distance migration selects for larger white spots on monarch butterfly wings." PLOS ONE 18, no. 6 (June 21, 2023): e0286921. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286921.
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Elucidating the adaptations that promote flight in animals can aid the understanding of evolution and species divergence, and/or provide inspiration for aerospace engineering and the design of better aerial vehicles. The famed long-distance migration of monarch butterflies in North America still holds many questions and opportunities for inspiration. For example, there is little research on whether the monarch’s primary wing colors themselves (black, orange, or white) have any aerodynamic or migration function. Dark colors on wings of other animals have recently been shown to aid flight by enhancing solar absorption, which reduces drag forces. However, too much black surface could be problematic for monarchs, which are exposed to increasing amounts of solar energy along their flightpath. This paper describes the results of two related investigations that attempt to elucidate the importance of wing color to the monarch migration. By measuring the color proportions of nearly 400 monarch wings collected at different stages of their journey, we found, surprisingly, that successful migrants tended to have less black on their wings (about 3% less), but also more white pigment (about 3% more); monarchs have a band of light-colored marginal wing spots. Second, image analysis of museum specimens revealed migratory monarchs had significantly larger white spots, proportional to the wing area, than most non-migratory, New World Danaid butterflies, which argues spot size has evolved along with migratory behavior. Combined, these findings strongly suggest that the long-distance migration itself selects for larger white spots every fall, so that only those individuals with large spots will survive to pass on their genes. Further experimental work is needed to elucidate how the spots aid the migration, but it is possible that they enhance aerodynamic efficiency; other work by the authors demonstrates how alternating white and black pigment on wings can reduce drag. These results will serve as a useful starting point for such endeavors, which should improve understanding of one of the world’s most fascinating animal migrations, and also provide practical knowledge for the field of aerospace engineering.
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Mach, Bernadette M., William Long, Jaret C. Daniels, and Adam G. Dale. "Aphid infestations reduce monarch butterfly colonization, herbivory, and growth on ornamental milkweed." PLOS ONE 18, no. 7 (July 26, 2023): e0288407. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288407.
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Anthropogenic disturbance is driving global biodiversity loss, including the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), a dietary specialist of milkweed. In response, ornamental milkweed plantings are increasingly common in urbanized landscapes, and recent evidence indicates they have conservation value for monarch butterflies. Unfortunately, sap-feeding insect herbivores, including the oleander aphid (Aphis nerii), frequently reach high densities on plants in nursery settings and urbanized landscapes. Aphid-infested milkweed may inhibit monarch conservation efforts by reducing host plant quality and inducing plant defenses. To test this, we evaluated the effects of oleander aphid infestation on monarch oviposition, larval performance, and plant traits using tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), the most common commercially available milkweed species in the southern U.S. We quantified monarch oviposition preference, larval herbivory, larval weight, and plant characteristics on aphid-free and aphid-infested milkweed. Monarch butterflies deposited three times more eggs on aphid-free versus aphid-infested milkweed. Similarly, larvae fed aphid-free milkweed consumed and weighed twice as much as larvae fed aphid-infested milkweed. Aphid-free milkweed had higher total dry leaf biomass and nitrogen content than aphid-infested milkweed. Our results indicate that oleander aphid infestations can have indirect negative impacts on urban monarch conservation efforts and highlight the need for effective Lepidoptera-friendly integrated pest management tactics for ornamental plants.
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James, David G. "Western North American Monarchs: Spiraling into Oblivion or Adapting to a Changing Environment?" Animal Migration 8, no. 1 (January 1, 2021): 19–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ami-2021-0002.
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Abstract Monarch butterflies in western North America typically migrate each fall from the Pacific Northwest to overwintering sites in California. Winter 2020/21 saw the lowest number of overwintering western monarch butterflies ever recorded, but was also marked by a winter-breeding population in the San Francisco bay area that appeared to be the largest ever seen. Recoveries of monarchs with wing tags from the Pacific Northwest suggested that many non-reproductive migrants in fall 2020 became reproductive in the San Francisco bay area and did not reach coastal overwintering sites. Mean daily maximum temperatures for San Francisco during fall and winter increased by ~1 °C during the past decade and were 2.5 °C above the 30 year mean during September-October 2020. Warm fall and winter temperatures along with the availability of non-native milkweeds likely caused the increase in winter breeding in winter 2020/21. The outcome of continued winter-breeding in the San Francisco bay area is uncertain. Whether it becomes a sink or source will be dependent on whether winter-breeding monarchs can re-enter their migratory state during spring. However, endemic levels of infection by the protozoan parasite, Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE), are often high in winter-breeding monarchs which can limit migration success. The eventual co-existence of winter-breeding and non-breeding monarch populations in northern and central California is probable, with an optimistic view suggesting that the adaptability of the monarch butterfly will allow it to persist in a changed environment.
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Miller, Jacqueline Y., S. B. Malcolm, and M. P. Zalucki. "Biology and Conservation of the Monarch Butterfly." Florida Entomologist 80, no. 3 (September 1997): 416. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3495777.
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Hammerschmidt, Dale E. "About the cover illustration: Emerging monarch butterfly." Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 127, no. 5 (May 1996): 516. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0022-2143(96)90069-4.
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Harborne, Jeffrey B. "Biology and conservation of the monarch butterfly." Phytochemistry 36, no. 5 (August 1994): 1339. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0031-9422(00)89664-8.
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Hughes, Patrick R. "Biology and Conservation of the Monarch Butterfly." American Entomologist 40, no. 1 (1994): 59–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ae/40.1.59.
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Thomas, Chris D., S. B. Malcolm, and M. P. Zalucki. "Biology and Conservation of the Monarch Butterfly." Journal of Animal Ecology 63, no. 1 (January 1994): 210. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/5598.
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Flockhart, D. T. Tyler, Leonard I. Wassenaar, Tara G. Martin, Keith A. Hobson, Michael B. Wunder, and D. Ryan Norris. "Tracking multi-generational colonization of the breeding grounds by monarch butterflies in eastern North America." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280, no. 1768 (October 7, 2013): 20131087. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.1087.
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Insect migration may involve movements over multiple breeding generations at continental scales, resulting in formidable challenges to their conservation and management. Using distribution models generated from citizen scientist occurrence data and stable-carbon and -hydrogen isotope measurements, we tracked multi-generational colonization of the breeding grounds of monarch butterflies ( Danaus plexippus ) in eastern North America. We found that monarch breeding occurrence was best modelled with geographical and climatic variables resulting in an annual breeding distribution of greater than 12 million km 2 that encompassed 99% occurrence probability. Combining occurrence models with stable isotope measurements to estimate natal origin, we show that butterflies which overwintered in Mexico came from a wide breeding distribution, including southern portions of the range. There was a clear northward progression of monarchs over successive generations from May until August when reproductive butterflies began to change direction and moved south. Fifth-generation individuals breeding in Texas in the late summer/autumn tended to originate from northern breeding areas rather than regions further south. Although the Midwest was the most productive area during the breeding season, monarchs that re-colonized the Midwest were produced largely in Texas, suggesting that conserving breeding habitat in the Midwest alone is insufficient to ensure long-term persistence of the monarch butterfly population in eastern North America.
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Hudman, Kalynn L., Misty Stevenson, Kelsey Contreras, Alyx Scott, and Jeffrey G. Kopachena. "Experimental Suppression of Red Imported Fire Ants (Solenopsis invicta) Has Little Impact on the Survival of Eggs to Third Instar of Spring-Generation Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus) Due to Buffering Effects of Host-Plant Arthropods." Diversity 15, no. 3 (February 24, 2023): 331. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d15030331.
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The eastern migratory population of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) has shown evidence of declines in recent years. During early spring, when the population is at its smallest, red imported fire ants (RIFA) (Solenopsis invicta) have been implicated as having devastating effects on monarch egg and larval survival, but there are no conclusive experimental data to support this contention. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of RIFA on the survival of spring monarch eggs to third instar larvae. Three treatments were analyzed: control plots, RIFA-suppressed plots, and RIFA-enhanced plots. Other host-plant arthropods were also documented. In control plots, monarch survival was unrelated to RIFA abundance on or around the plants. For both years combined, RIFA suppression had little impact on monarch survival. In one of the two years, higher survival occurred in the suppressed treatment, but confidence in this difference was low. In control plots, monarch survival increased with increasing numbers of other arthropods (not including RIFA) on the host plant. Predator pressure did not vary relative to arthropod abundance, and RIFA only occupied plants in large numbers when large numbers of other arthropods were also present. The presence of RIFA did not affect predator pressure. RIFA artificially drawn onto host plants created artificially high predator pressure, and monarch survival was low. Long-term use of bait to control RIFA may not be cost-effective provided surrounding biodiversity is high. Efforts to promote spring monarchs should focus on promoting biodiversity in addition to planting milkweed.
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Grodsky, Steven, Leslie Saul-Gershenz, Kara Moore-O’Leary, and Rebecca Hernandez. "Her Majesty’s Desert Throne: The Ecology of Queen Butterfly Oviposition on Mojave Milkweed Host Plants." Insects 11, no. 4 (April 21, 2020): 257. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11040257.
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Butterfly–host plant relationships can inform our understanding of ecological and trophic interactions that contribute to ecosystem function, resiliency, and services. The ecology of danaid–milkweed (Apocynaceae) host plant interactions has been studied in several biomes but is neglected in deserts. Our objective was to determine effects of plant traits, seasonality, and landscape-level host plant availability on selection of Mojave milkweed (Asclepias nyctaginifolia A. Gray) by ovipositing monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) and queen butterflies (Danaus gilippus thersippus) in the Californian Mojave Desert. We surveyed all known Mojave milkweed locations in the Ivanpah Valley, California (n = 419) during early, mid-, and late spring in 2017. For each survey, we counted monarch and queen butterfly eggs on each Mojave milkweed plant. We also measured canopy cover, height, volume, and reproductive stage of each Mojave milkweed plant. We counted a total of 276 queen butterfly eggs and zero monarch butterfly eggs on Mojave milkweed host plants. We determined that count of queen butterfly eggs significantly increased with increasing Mojave milkweed canopy cover. Additionally, count of queen butterfly eggs was: (1) greater on adult Mojave milkweed plants than on juvenile and seedling plants and greater on juvenile Mojave milkweed plants than on seedling plants; and (2) greater during early spring than mid-spring—we recorded no eggs during late spring. Based on aggregation indices, queen butterfly eggs occurred on Mojave milkweed plants in a nonrandom, clustered pattern throughout the Ivanpah Valley. We provide the first evidence of trophic interactions between queen butterflies and Mojave milkweed at multiple spatial scales in the Mojave Desert, suggesting that conservation and management practices for both species should be implemented concurrently. Given its role as an herbivore, pollinator and prey, the queen butterfly may serve as a model organism for understanding effects of anthropogenic disturbance (e.g., solar energy development) on “bottom-up” and trophic interactions among soils, plants and animals in desert ecosystems.
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Ries, Leslie, Naresh Neupane, Kristen A. Baum, and Elise F. Zipkin. "Flying through hurricane central: impacts of hurricanes on migrants with a focus on monarch butterflies." Animal Migration 5, no. 1 (December 1, 2018): 94–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ami-2018-0010.
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Abstract Hurricanes are becoming more frequent and intense, so understanding the consequences for biodiversity, including migratory species, has become critical. Studies suggest that migrants may avoid most of the direct harm of hurricanes by shifting their flight trajectories to less-impacted regions, but the majority of this research has focused on birds. We review the literature on migratory bird responses to hurricanes and also describe other taxa likely to be affected. We then focus on the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), whose fall migratory pathway goes through Texas during hurricane season. Like birds, monarchs may be able to avoid direct damage from hurricanes. However, it may be more important to determine how they respond to shifts in availability of critical resources during migration. In fall, when a storm-triggered flush of out-of-season vegetation growth is especially likely, hurricanes could reasonably cause indirect impacts that could be positive (increased nectar) or negative (out-of-season host plants that could disrupt migration), or both. The monarch butterfly is an especially good target for this research because of its distinct migratory phases, the importance of hurricane-impacted zones to its annual cycle, and the large quantity of data available through an extensive network of citizen science programs.
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Freedman, Micah G., Hugh Dingle, Sharon Y. Strauss, and Santiago R. Ramírez. "Two centuries of monarch butterfly collections reveal contrasting effects of range expansion and migration loss on wing traits." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 46 (November 2, 2020): 28887–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2001283117.
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Migratory animals exhibit traits that allow them to exploit seasonally variable habitats. In environments where migration is no longer beneficial, such as oceanic islands, migration-association traits may be selected against or be under relaxed selection. Monarch butterflies are best known for their continent-scale migration in North America but have repeatedly become established as nonmigrants in the tropical Americas and on Atlantic and Pacific Islands. These replicated nonmigratory populations provide natural laboratories for understanding the rate of evolution of migration-associated traits. We measured >6,000 museum specimens of monarch butterflies collected from 1856 to the present as well as contemporary wild-caught monarchs from around the world. We determined 1) how wing morphology varies across the monarch’s global range, 2) whether initial long-distance founders were particularly suited for migration, and 3) whether recently established nonmigrants show evidence for contemporary phenotypic evolution. We further reared >1,000 monarchs from six populations around the world under controlled conditions and measured migration-associated traits. Historical specimens show that 1) initial founders are well suited for long-distance movement and 2) loss of seasonal migration is associated with reductions in forewing size and elongation. Monarch butterflies raised in a common garden from four derived nonmigratory populations exhibit genetically based reductions in forewing size, consistent with a previous study. Our findings provide a compelling example of how migration-associated traits may be favored during the early stages of range expansion, and also the rate of reductions in those same traits upon loss of migration.
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Dargent, Felipe, Sydney M. Gilmour, Emma A. Brown, Rees Kassen, and Heather M. Kharouba. "Low prevalence of the parasite Ophryocystis elektroscirrha at the range edge of the eastern North American monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterfly population." Canadian Journal of Zoology 99, no. 5 (May 2021): 409–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2020-0175.
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Every year monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus, 1758)) from the eastern North American population migrate from Mexico to southern Canada in the spring. This northward migration has been shown to reduce monarch infection with the host-specific parasite Ophryocystis elektroscirrha McLaughlin and Myers, 1970 (OE); yet, the prevalence of OE at their range limits and the mechanism(s) responsible are unknown. We assessed OE infection levels of monarchs at the northern edge of the eastern population distribution around Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and found extremely low levels of infection (∼1% with upper confidence intervals close to 3%). Low OE infection levels are likely due to low densities of monarchs in this region and (or) migratory escape effects, where migrating individuals leave behind areas with high density of conspecifics and high potential for parasite accumulation and transmission. Future work should aim to disentangle the relative contribution of these two mechanisms for governing the decrease in parasitism at the range limits of migratory populations.
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Feng, Yu, and Wang. "A Novel Monarch Butterfly Optimization with Global Position Updating Operator for Large-Scale 0-1 Knapsack Problems." Mathematics 7, no. 11 (November 4, 2019): 1056. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/math7111056.
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As a significant subset of the family of discrete optimization problems, the 0-1 knapsack problem (0-1 KP) has received considerable attention among the relevant researchers. The monarch butterfly optimization (MBO) is a recent metaheuristic algorithm inspired by the migration behavior of monarch butterflies. The original MBO is proposed to solve continuous optimization problems. This paper presents a novel monarch butterfly optimization with a global position updating operator (GMBO), which can address 0-1 KP known as an NP-complete problem. The global position updating operator is incorporated to help all the monarch butterflies rapidly move towards the global best position. Moreover, a dichotomy encoding scheme is adopted to represent monarch butterflies for solving 0-1 KP. In addition, a specific two-stage repair operator is used to repair the infeasible solutions and further optimize the feasible solutions. Finally, Orthogonal Design (OD) is employed in order to find the most suitable parameters. Two sets of low-dimensional 0-1 KP instances and three kinds of 15 high-dimensional 0-1 KP instances are used to verify the ability of the proposed GMBO. An extensive comparative study of GMBO with five classical and two state-of-the-art algorithms is carried out. The experimental results clearly indicate that GMBO can achieve better solutions on almost all the 0-1 KP instances and significantly outperforms the rest.
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Bacanin, Nebojsa, Timea Bezdan, Eva Tuba, Ivana Strumberger, and Milan Tuba. "Monarch Butterfly Optimization Based Convolutional Neural Network Design." Mathematics 8, no. 6 (June 8, 2020): 936. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/math8060936.
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Convolutional neural networks have a broad spectrum of practical applications in computer vision. Currently, much of the data come from images, and it is crucial to have an efficient technique for processing these large amounts of data. Convolutional neural networks have proven to be very successful in tackling image processing tasks. However, the design of a network structure for a given problem entails a fine-tuning of the hyperparameters in order to achieve better accuracy. This process takes much time and requires effort and expertise from the domain. Designing convolutional neural networks’ architecture represents a typical NP-hard optimization problem, and some frameworks for generating network structures for a specific image classification tasks have been proposed. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose the hybridized monarch butterfly optimization algorithm. Based on the observed deficiencies of the original monarch butterfly optimization approach, we performed hybridization with two other state-of-the-art swarm intelligence algorithms. The proposed hybrid algorithm was firstly tested on a set of standard unconstrained benchmark instances, and later on, it was adapted for a convolutional neural network design problem. Comparative analysis with other state-of-the-art methods and algorithms, as well as with the original monarch butterfly optimization implementation was performed for both groups of simulations. Experimental results proved that our proposed method managed to obtain higher classification accuracy than other approaches, the results of which were published in the modern computer science literature.