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Monarch butterfles: The problem with herbicides

Monarch butterfly populations are shrinking. New research makes a strong case that the reasons for this decline go far beyond what's happening on the wintering grounds and addresses a current controversy about the primary causes of the specie's decline.Unlike other migratory species, which have distinct summer and winter grounds, monarchs take multiple generations to travel from Mexico to Texas, from Texas to the Midwest, from the Midwest and into Canada, and finally, back from the upper Midwest and Canada to Mexico.The team's research could generate answers that eventually help reverse the nearly 20-year decline of monarch butterflies observed in Mexico. It gives hope to anyone, scientists and the public alike, who has ever witnessed the mass of overwintering butterflies in Mexico or cheered a flitting monarch as it traverses vast distances across the United States.

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Michigan State University
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