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WOW-National Pollinator Week- focus on Monarchs

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This week is National Pollinator Week: Pollinator week: http://www.pollinator.org/pollinator_week_2014.htm

Butterflies are some of our most attractive insects and are important as pollinators of many plants. Butterflies that drink the nectar of plants also carry the pollen on their bodies and therefore help with pollination. One butterfly in particular, has attracted a lot of attention because of reports of declining numbers. this is the Monarch Butterfly. This creature has an amazing life cycle. Large numbers of Monarchs spend the winter in the mountains of Mexico, and other warm places. Then, in the spring they fly north to reproduce and spend time in North America before returning to Mexico again for the winter. Monarchs go through four life cycles in one year. This means that the butterflies that winter over in warm places fly north and lay eggs, form caterpillars, chrysalis and then a butterfly. They go through this process four times every year. They need nectar rich plants for food and they need Milkweed plants for reproduction. They like to lay their eggs on Milkweed plants and then the caterpillars that develop from the egg like to eat the Milkweed before they form a chrysalis and become a butterfly. The butterflies that fly south to Mexico for the winter are four generations later than the ones that flew north in the spring. There are a number of problems for the Monarch. One problem is the deforestation that is occurring in Mexico. The forests that have been the winter home for the butterflies are being logged. The Monarchs need the forest for their winter home. Next is the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides on plants in the United States and Canada. These chemicals can kill the plants the Monarchs need for food and for the places they reproduce. And in addition, because of the loss of habitat for Milkweed to grow they lose their host plants for reproduction. Much of the mid-west that once was open prairie and home to milkweed and other nectar producing plants is now under cultivation for corn and other agricultural crops. So, as you see this is a very complicated problem. And there is no one simple solution. There are a number of changes that would be needed. One of the changes would be to set aside certain areas as habitat for milkweed. Farmers could be required to leave “islands” of milkweed within their fields. Also, the roadsides could be planted with milkweed and left to grow instead of being mowed. We could also discourage the use of chemical herbicides. The problem of deforestation in Mexico is one that country would need to solve. On a small local level we could encourage planting milkweed seeds in open areas around us. What if everyone with a backyard left one area for pollinators and planted milkweed and other plants that are attractive to butterflies and bees? What if we asked our towns and cities to set aside places in parks or in the medians of streets to be attractive to pollinators? Maybe you have other ideas. You can let us know at dlc.wow@gmail.com.

More about the life cycle of the Monarch: http://www.monarch-butterfly.com

An article about planting to attract butterflies:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/06/12/4973051/set-out-plants-to-attract-butterflies.html#.U5xU0RYtq18

Article about monarch butterflies

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/29/the-monarch-butterfly-population-just-hit-a-record-low-heres-why/

link to Monarch Watch

http://www.monarchwatch.org

 


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