Prevalence of monarch (Danaus plexippus) and queen (Danaus gilippus) butterflies in West Texas during the fall of 2018

Matthew Z Brym,Natasja Van Gestel,Ronald J Kendall,Cassandra Henry,Shannon P Lukashow-Moore,Brett J Henry

doi:10.1186/s12898-020-00301-x

Abstract

BackgroundThe monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a conspicuous insect that has experienced a drastic population decline over the past two decades. While there are several factors contributing to dwindling monarch populations, habitat loss is considered the most significant threat to monarchs. In the United States, loss of milkweed, particularly in the Midwest, has greatly reduced the available breeding habitat of monarchs. This has led to extensive efforts to conserve and restore milkweed resources throughout the Midwest. Recently, these research and conservation efforts have been expanded to include other important areas along the monarch’s migratory path.ResultsDuring the fall of 2018, we conducted surveys of monarch eggs and larvae through West Texas. We documented monarch and queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) reproduction throughout the region and used the proportion of monarch and queen larva to estimate the number of monarch eggs. Peak egg densities for monarchs were as high as 0.78 per milkweed ramet after correction for the presence of queens. Despite our observations encompassing only a limited sample across one season, the peak monarch egg densities we observed exceeded published reports from when monarch populations were higher.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first study to correct for the presence of queens when calculating the density of monarch eggs. This research also provides insight into monarch utilization of less well-known regions, such as West Texas, and highlights the need to expand the scope of monarch monitoring and conservation initiatives. While the importance of monarch research and conservation in the Midwest is unquestionable, more comprehensive efforts may identify new priorities in monarch conservation and lead to a more robust and effective overall strategy, particularly given the dynamic and rapidly changing global environment.

Highlights

The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a conspicuous insect that has experienced a drastic population decline over the past two decades
Proportion of eggs based on larva The proportion of monarch larva observed was consistently higher than that of queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) larva across the majority of our study sites and survey sessions (Table 1)
There were only 6 of the 48 surveys where queen larva exceeded that of monarchs, and these only occurred on 2 of the sites

Summary

Introduction

The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a conspicuous insect that has experienced a drastic population decline over the past two decades. In the United States, loss of milkweed, in the Midwest, has greatly reduced the available breeding habitat of monarchs. This has led to extensive efforts to conserve and restore milkweed resources throughout the Midwest. The threats to monarchs are varied and range from extreme weather events [12] and parasites [2, 6] to predation by invasive pests [13] and numerous insect taxa [23]. The loss of breeding habitat, in particular, is well supported as a primary cause of monarch declines [52]

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