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Monarch Joint Venture Partnering Across the U.S MONARCH JOINT VENTURE Partnering across the U.S. to conserve the monarch migration www.monarchjointventure.org The Monarch Joint Venture Monarch Citizen Science is a partnership of federal and state agencies, non- Volunteer contributions to understanding an iconic insect governmental organizations, and academic programs that Citizen Science are working together to protect There is a long history of public participation the monarch migration across in science. Prior to the late 19th century, most the lower 48 United States. scientific research was conducted by untrained, yet PARTNERS passionate, citizens. Today, we use the term citizen scientist to describe volunteers who collect data for U.S. Forest Service research but who are not professional scientists. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service U.S. Geological Survey Citizen science and monarch monitoring have Bureau of Land Management been closely tied together for years. Starting Natural Resources in the 1950s, Dr. Fred Urquhart’s “Insect Conservation Service Migration Association” involved hundreds of Iowa Department of Natural Resources volunteers in a search of the then mysterious overwintering grounds of migrating monarchs. Cibolo Nature Center • Since 2000, two-thirds of papers on field- Cincinnati Nature Center This tagging project allowed Urquhart to track based research outside of the Mexican Green Schools Alliance the flights of individual butterflies, and ultimately Reserve (where only scientists with permits Journey North led to the 1975 discovery that monarchs from are allowed) used citizen science data. Lady Bird Johnson the northern U.S. and southern Canada were Wildflower Center (Oberhauser and Ries, in press) overwintering in central Mexico. Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy • Citizen science volunteers engage in many Monarch Alert Public involvement in monarch citizen science Monarch Butterfly Fund actions that have important conservation programs has been growing since 1990. Several outcomes, from teaching others to improving Monarch Health citizen science programs focus on different Monarch Lab and creating habitat. Monarch Watch aspects of monarch biology, including migration, population dispersal, parasites, and overwintering. • Data generated by citizen scientists allow National Wildlife Federation researchers to answer questions that could North American Countless hours spent by thousands of dedicated Butterfly Association volunteers have allowed scientists to answer basic never be considered using traditional academic Pacific Grove Museum of questions about how and when monarchs use research methods. Natural History available habitat, how their numbers change within Pheasants Forever and and among years, how environmental perturbations Quail Forever Pollinator Partnership affect these changes, and how monarch populations Links and Resources Southwest Monarch Study are responding to contemporary global change and Monarch Citizen Science: Tallgrass Prairie Center conservation efforts. www.monarchjointventure.org/get-involved/study-mon- Wild Ones: Native Plants, archs-citizen-science-opportunities Natural Landscapes Citizen Science Contributions Citizen Science Central: The Xerces Society for Citizen scientists make large-scale studies www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit/projects/find Invertebrate Conservation possible by providing data, time, and other Resources: resources at continental scales over several Oberhauser, K. S., and L. Ries. In Press. A Citizen-Army for University of Minnesota years. The importance of their contributions is Science: Quantifying Contributions of Citizen Scientists to Monarch Joint Venture reflected in many ways: our Understanding of Monarch Butterfly Biology. Bioscience. 2003 Upper Buford Circle Oberhauser, K.S., L. Ries, S. Altizer, R. Batalden, J. Kudell- • 17% of peer-reviewed publications that focused 135 Skok Hall Ekstrum, M. Garland, E. Howard, S. Jepsen, J. Lovett, M. on monarchs since 1940 have used data from Monroe, G. Morris, E. Rendón-Salinas, R. G. Rubino, A. Saint Paul, MN 55108 Ryan, O. R. Taylor, R. Treviño, F. Villablanca, and D. Walton. Ph. 612.624.8706 citizen science projects. (Oberhauser and Ries, in press). Many project websites provide 2015. Contributions to Monarch Biology and Conservation [email protected] through Citizen Science: 70 Years and Counting. pp 13-30 summaries of project findings and publications, in K.S. Oberhauser, K. Nail, and S. Altizer, eds., Monarchs in raw data, and other information. a Changing World: Biology and Conservation of an Iconic Butterfly, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. Tracking the Migration Overwintering Site Management (Western) Since Fred Urquhart’s tagging success, researchers and citizen Western monarchs migrate from states west of the Rocky Mountains scientists have continued tracking the migration by reporting to many sites along the coast of California. Citizen science volunteers their observations of migrating monarchs and tagging. help to track the movement and health of the western overwintering Journey North: This simple, online reporting population by participating in programs such as: project engages thousands of children and adults. Western Monarch Count: The Xerces Society for • Volunteers report sightings during the Invertebrate Conservation provides an opportunity spring and fall migrations through the for citizen scientists to aid in counting western project’s website. Spring reports include first monarch, overwintering monarchs. The primary volunteer opportunity is the first milkweed, first monarch egg, and first monarch larva. Western Monarch Thansgiving Count. For three weeks around the Fall reports include adult sightings, peak migration events, Thanksgiving holiday, volunteers visit overwintering sites and conduct roosting monarchs, and breeding monarchs. counts to estimate the number of monarchs using the sites and to • Data are aggregated and used to develop real-time maps of evaluate the condition of the habitat. Collectively, this project helps to spring and fall migration fronts. provide an accurate estimate of the western monarch population size. www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch www.westernmonarchcount.org Monarch Watch: With over 1 million butterflies Additionally, citizen scientists help Monarch Alert study western tagged and approximately 16,000 recovered tags, overwintering population characteristics. Volunteers tag monarchs the Monarch Watch volunteer tagging program at select California overwintering sites to help track movement helps us understand the eastern monarch fall between sites during the overwintering season. Visit www. migration to Mexico. Tagging and recovery data provide information monarchalert.calpoly.edu for more information. on the dynamics of the migration. Monitoring Eggs, Larvae, and Natural Enemies • Volunteers order circular, lightweight stickers that they place carefully on the wings of monarchs. Some monarchs are Monarch Larva Monitoring Project: This project captured as adults and tagged, others are captured as eggs or helps researchers understand factors that larvae and then the adult butterfly is tagged and released. affect monarch reproduction and development • A unique ID number on each tag is used to keep track of during the breeding season, determining how populations vary in time and space. information associated with each butterfly, tagger, and recovery. • Volunteers from across North America observe and www.monarchwatch.org report monarch eggs and larvae on milkweed plants. Many smaller, more localized, citizen science programs have been • Numerous activities provide different opportunities, implemented throughout the country, including: depending on volunteer interests and time commitment. • Activities include recording weekly monarch density, rainfall Southwest Monarch Study: Based in the desert southwest, this tracking, comparing characteristics of milkweed plants with program provides both tagging and monitoring of monarch and without monarchs, measuring rates of attack by parasitoids habitats in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, western (tachinid flies), and reporting single or anecdotal observations Colorado and the California deserts. Data collected from this of monarchs or milkweed plants during the breeding season. project help us to understand the migration, breeding, and www.mlmp.org overwintering strategies of monarchs in the southwest U.S. Visit www.swmonarchs.org for more information. Monarch Health: The spread of a protozoan parasite of monarch butterflies, Ophryocystis elektroscirrha Programs like the Cape May Migration Monitoring Project (OE), is tracked with the help of citizen scientists (New Jersey) and the Peninsula Point Migration Monitoring participating in Project Monarch Health. Project (Michigan) conduct regimented counts of all • Volunteers receive a parasite sampling monarchs they see during a fixed period of time. These, and kit from Monarch Health before capturing wild many other local monitoring programs, are vital sources of monarchs to sample. Samples can be from wild caught information about the state of the monarch migration and adults, or adults that have been collected as larvae and population in varying locations. raised in captivity. • To sample for the parasite, volunteers gently squeeze a small piece of tape around the abdomen of the butterfly. In addition to monarch based monitoring programs, These scale samples are preserved on a note card, which several general butterfly monitoring programs collect is sent to Monarch Health for analysis. data via counts, transects, and opportunistic sightings. The North American Butterfly Association (NABA) has the www.monarchparasites.org largest and longest-running butterfly monitoring program in North America. Butterfly Monitoring Networks (BMNs) conduct butterfly surveys in specific locations, repeating measurements year after year. Additionally, online Lepidoptera reporting sites include Butterflies and Moths of North America and eButterfly. MONARCH JOINT VENTURE Photo credits: Wendy Caldwell.
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