>> To better understand the stresses on these migratory species, scientists at Lighthouse Field are testing a new ultralight radio tag. Weighing less than a tenth of a gram, these tags, when placed on butterflies, can passively ping Bluetooth- and location-enabled cellphones of anyone nearby.
They put a solar powered tracking tag on a butterfly...
Then made an app and gamified it to get people to use their phones to collect, track, and upload the processed monarch migration data. It's like Pokemon Go meets SETI@Home for butterflies.
I'll never forget my first week working housing demolition in the Japanese countryside a few years ago. We were outside tearing down an old house, when I saw what I thought were bats. In broad daylight. But they were moving slowly... and I could see their wings beating. Holy crap, those are butterflies. Huge, stunningly beautiful, butterflies. And not just one or two, but many of them. When I was able to get a bit closer, they had dark purple lines and swirls, so not completely black. Housing demolition was a brutal job for many reasons but seeing that kind of thing made it more than worth it.
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everdrive
Everything's in decline these days. We lack the political will to solve some of these large scale problems. This confuses people, since we do actually have the technology to solve a lot of these problems. But it's a coordination problem. How do you motivate millions of people across 2-3 countries to care about one particular issue? It sounds simple on paper, but for most people "their cup is already full" of other people's pet causes.
They're maxed out, and there's a limit to how many causes they can 1) be convinced to care about and 2) how many causes they actually have the impulse control to keep strict about.
pfdietz
One thing you notice if you spend much time outdoors in the US is how many invasive species there are and how they've taken over so much space. These species are often dead spaces for native insects (which is one reason they are so invasive, not being held back as native plants are). Not only is this bad for butterflies, but also for other kinds of insects, and for species like birds that prey on the insects.
I've long thought we need to be more aggressive at bringing in biological controls of these invasives. There's a tendency to be conservative about this, to not make mistakes, to study not act, but I think increasing risks have to be taken there because the existing situation is also a huge risk.
At the same time, I enjoy planting native plants in my garden. One of my favorite discoveries there was Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), a low plant with pale blue-green leaves. When I first planted it, it was absolutely covered with caterpillars of the American (Painted) Lady butterfly. They ate down to bare stalks that then died. I thought it was done but it came back strongly and seeded enough to spread the next year. I think it's evolved to survive this sort of brutal spring pruning. I've since seen it in the wild, which was a treat.
tastyfreeze
It is my hope that humans can ditch their love affair with pesticides. This is just one example of the unintended impact of pesticides.
I have also found dying birds in my yard a few days after the neighbor sprayed their house perimeter for ants. No toxicology report but there was no sign of any physical damage.
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nemo
I live in Austin, we used to have huge butterfly migrations long ago, they were amazing to see, big swarms of Queen butterflies as well as Monarchs and other species. Last year's was heartbreaking to see, handfuls where there once were swarms, though I think that was driven by the drought. I have a pollinator garden and have been tracking butterflies in iNaturalist for a decade, last few years the numbers have been showing real decline. I think it's mostly habitat loss for my area.
tabbytown
I planted narrow leaf milkweed in my yard for the first time this spring. This is the first time I've planted something with the intention of it being eaten.
triage8004
I'm seriously worried about how few fireflies butterflies and bees are left. We aren't changing our pesticides and they are disappearing
bradley13
Mass agriculture and pesticides.
fooqux
I wish clover lawns would at least make a comeback. Still extremely hard to find seed for it though.
show comments
picafrost
All wildlife populations are in a severe decline [1][2]. More should be done about this, but I guess as a species we will have to learn the hard way.
A small way to help is to replace some or all of your lawn with native species. A lawn should be a throw rug, not wall to wall carpet that is functionally a desert. If you won't get fined for doing so.
Gen X and Millenials don't share Boomers' obsession with green lawns, so it's a race against time, whether Boomers or lightning bugs will go extinct first
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Rover222
Pesticides... messing up everything from butterflies to human colon cells at the moment.
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wewewedxfgdf
We need the poison we spray through the entire environment to kill only non-beautiful insects.
Startup opportunity, anyone?
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sholladay
Stop planting butterfly bushes! It’s a trap. Instead, plant milkweed. Support their entire lifecycle.
The names of these plants ought to be changed.
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DivingForGold
In decline ? Really ? Come take the dozens of passionflower butterflys away from my yard whose caterpillars are gnawing my plants to the ground !
>> To better understand the stresses on these migratory species, scientists at Lighthouse Field are testing a new ultralight radio tag. Weighing less than a tenth of a gram, these tags, when placed on butterflies, can passively ping Bluetooth- and location-enabled cellphones of anyone nearby.
They put a solar powered tracking tag on a butterfly...
Then made an app and gamified it to get people to use their phones to collect, track, and upload the processed monarch migration data. It's like Pokemon Go meets SETI@Home for butterflies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8ZyJn6BENc
https://swmonarchs.org/ProjectMonarch.php
https://celltracktech.com/pages/project-monarch-press-releas...
I'll never forget my first week working housing demolition in the Japanese countryside a few years ago. We were outside tearing down an old house, when I saw what I thought were bats. In broad daylight. But they were moving slowly... and I could see their wings beating. Holy crap, those are butterflies. Huge, stunningly beautiful, butterflies. And not just one or two, but many of them. When I was able to get a bit closer, they had dark purple lines and swirls, so not completely black. Housing demolition was a brutal job for many reasons but seeing that kind of thing made it more than worth it.
Everything's in decline these days. We lack the political will to solve some of these large scale problems. This confuses people, since we do actually have the technology to solve a lot of these problems. But it's a coordination problem. How do you motivate millions of people across 2-3 countries to care about one particular issue? It sounds simple on paper, but for most people "their cup is already full" of other people's pet causes.
They're maxed out, and there's a limit to how many causes they can 1) be convinced to care about and 2) how many causes they actually have the impulse control to keep strict about.
One thing you notice if you spend much time outdoors in the US is how many invasive species there are and how they've taken over so much space. These species are often dead spaces for native insects (which is one reason they are so invasive, not being held back as native plants are). Not only is this bad for butterflies, but also for other kinds of insects, and for species like birds that prey on the insects.
I've long thought we need to be more aggressive at bringing in biological controls of these invasives. There's a tendency to be conservative about this, to not make mistakes, to study not act, but I think increasing risks have to be taken there because the existing situation is also a huge risk.
At the same time, I enjoy planting native plants in my garden. One of my favorite discoveries there was Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), a low plant with pale blue-green leaves. When I first planted it, it was absolutely covered with caterpillars of the American (Painted) Lady butterfly. They ate down to bare stalks that then died. I thought it was done but it came back strongly and seeded enough to spread the next year. I think it's evolved to survive this sort of brutal spring pruning. I've since seen it in the wild, which was a treat.
It is my hope that humans can ditch their love affair with pesticides. This is just one example of the unintended impact of pesticides.
I have also found dying birds in my yard a few days after the neighbor sprayed their house perimeter for ants. No toxicology report but there was no sign of any physical damage.
I live in Austin, we used to have huge butterfly migrations long ago, they were amazing to see, big swarms of Queen butterflies as well as Monarchs and other species. Last year's was heartbreaking to see, handfuls where there once were swarms, though I think that was driven by the drought. I have a pollinator garden and have been tracking butterflies in iNaturalist for a decade, last few years the numbers have been showing real decline. I think it's mostly habitat loss for my area.
I planted narrow leaf milkweed in my yard for the first time this spring. This is the first time I've planted something with the intention of it being eaten.
I'm seriously worried about how few fireflies butterflies and bees are left. We aren't changing our pesticides and they are disappearing
Mass agriculture and pesticides.
I wish clover lawns would at least make a comeback. Still extremely hard to find seed for it though.
All wildlife populations are in a severe decline [1][2]. More should be done about this, but I guess as a species we will have to learn the hard way.
A small way to help is to replace some or all of your lawn with native species. A lawn should be a throw rug, not wall to wall carpet that is functionally a desert. If you won't get fined for doing so.
[1] https://www.worldwildlife.org/news/press-releases/catastroph...
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00063...
Gen X and Millenials don't share Boomers' obsession with green lawns, so it's a race against time, whether Boomers or lightning bugs will go extinct first
Pesticides... messing up everything from butterflies to human colon cells at the moment.
We need the poison we spray through the entire environment to kill only non-beautiful insects.
Startup opportunity, anyone?
Stop planting butterfly bushes! It’s a trap. Instead, plant milkweed. Support their entire lifecycle.
The names of these plants ought to be changed.
In decline ? Really ? Come take the dozens of passionflower butterflys away from my yard whose caterpillars are gnawing my plants to the ground !