For the first time, researchers are tracking the endangered western monarch butterfly using tiny, solar-powered electronic transmitters. Facing a 95% extinction risk over the next 60 years from habitat loss and pesticide exposure, western monarchs are migrating across the Pacific Northwest while revealing surprising behaviors to scientists.
In previous tracking efforts, paper stickers required tagging hundreds of butterflies just to gather point-to-point data. Now, electronic tags costing about $200 each provide continuous real-time movement data downloaded onto an app.
"It sort of allows us to find so much more information about the migration than the previous paper tag," David James, Ph.D., an associate professor of entomology at Washington State University, said.
The high-tech tags show monarchs flying up to 100 miles in a single day—far exceeding previous estimates. Tracking data also disproves long-held beliefs about physical geographic barriers. Researchers documented a monarch named Ed flying over Mammoth Mountain, and another named Molly traveling all the way from Idaho to Mexico.
"The old idea that the Rockies were a divide to the monarch is just completely wrong," James said.
The initiative relies heavily on citizen scientists and community support through the Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates and the Wings Rising "Adopt a Monarch" campaign.
More than 200 participants adopted and named tagged butterflies in this year's migration, allowing everyday people to follow individual flights on their smartphones. One butterfly named Simone, tagged in honor of a late advocate, flew 95 miles in a single day.
"It brings in the (human) population to experience the flight and where they stop and what they might be doing," Robert Coffan, co-founder of Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates, said.
With adoptions already opening for next fall's migration season, this real-time tracking provides helps fund the tracking project and provides vital insights to help position conservationists to try to save the species from extinction.
Invitation
- To adopt and name your own butterfly, and support Monarch migration research, visit adoptamonarch.org.
Guests
- David James, Ph.D., associate professor of entomology, Washington State University
- Robert Coffan, Co-founder, Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates
