Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 31, 2025
07:10
At-Risk Butterfly Captive Propagation Programs to Enhance Life History Knowledge and Effective Ex Situ Conservation Techniques
Published on: February 11, 2020
7.2K
Multi-season climate projections forecast declines in migratory monarch butterflies
Erin R Zylstra1,2, Naresh Neupane3, Elise F Zipkin1
1Department of Integrative Biology, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.
Global Change Biology
|August 19, 2022
Summary
Climate change threatens monarch butterflies by altering breeding grounds. Projections show declining populations and shifting distributions, emphasizing the need for full-annual cycle conservation strategies.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Climate Science
- Conservation Biology
Background:
- Migratory species face unique climate change threats.
- Eastern monarch butterfly populations have declined significantly due to climate variations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model the impact of climate change on the eastern monarch butterfly population over the next century.
- To evaluate how climate projections in breeding grounds affect monarch abundance and distribution.
Main Methods:
- Combined a retrospective annual-cycle model with climate projections for breeding grounds.
- Analyzed climate change impacts on spring and summer breeding areas in the U.S. and Canada.
Main Results:
- Projected climate changes are likely to decrease monarch abundance.
- Overwintering populations may fall below historical minimums multiple times in the next two decades.
- Monarch distribution will shift, with increased abundance in wetter, cooler areas and decreased abundance in hotter regions.
Conclusions:
- Climate change poses a significant threat to monarch butterfly populations throughout their annual cycle.
- Targeted data collection can improve near-term population forecasts.
- Conservation efforts must consider the full annual cycle impacts of climate change on migratory species.
Related Concept Videos
00:53Migration
8.1K
Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism’s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.
8.1K
02:07Conservation of Declining Populations
9.7K
Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
9.7K
01:50Threats to Biodiversity
22.7K
There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...
22.7K
01:21Frequency-dependent Selection
22.2K
When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.
22.2K
01:16What is Climate?
18.8K
Climate refers to the prevailing weather conditions in a specific area over an extended period. As the saying goes, “Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.” Climate is influenced by geographic factors, such as latitude, terrain, and proximity to bodies of water.
18.8K
01:50Global Climate Change
24.7K
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
24.7K