Monitoring Project | Journey North | Larvae & Bt Pollen | Monarchs in the Classroom
Monarch Larval Monitoring Project
The Monarch Larval Monitoring Project is a citizen science project involving volunteers across the US and Canada. It was developed by U of MN grad student Michelle Prysby, working with Karen Oberhauser. The project’s goal is to help understand how and why monarch populations vary in time and space, with a focus on the breeding season. This is accomplished by documenting larval distribution and abundance throughout the breeding range; and estimating the effects of different mortality sources, host plant and habitat characteristics, and weather. Volunteers conduct weekly monarch and milkweed surveys, measuring monarch densities and milkweed quality. These efforts will aid us in conserving monarchs, and advance our understanding of butterfly ecology in general.
An equally important project goal is to provide citizens with hands-on experience in scientific research. Volunteers enhance their appreciation and understanding of monarchs, monarch habitat, and the scientific process. Check out the above web site if you’d like to join the Monitoring Team!
Journey North and the "Symbolic Monarch Migration"
Journey North, directed by Elizabeth Howard, is a science education program that uses the Internet to track migration and the seasons. Students share observations of monarch butterflies—and birds, mammals, the budding of plants, and changes in nature. Established in 1993, Journey North is used in 5,000 schools across the US and Canada, and serves 225,000 students. This year Journey North was named the best education program on the Internet.
Journey North's 4th annual "Symbolic Monarch Migration" is underway. Over 50,000 US and Canadian children have sent paper butterflies to Mexico for the winter. Mexican children are watching over the butterflies and will return them next spring as the real monarchs fly north. Many participating schools include a donation to MBSF.
An important goal of the symbolic migration is to educate US and Canadian children about the complexities of monarch conservation. While they think about their symbolic butterfly during the long winter, they're learning about life in the sanctuary region. In Mexico, the symbolic migration helps to build pride among the local children, who themselves may own the sanctuary land one day. They know that children in the north see the sanctuaries as a world treasure. We hope the project will build personal and ethical connections between the children of next generation.
Monarch Larvae and Genetically Engineered Corn
In June 1999 Cornell University scientists published a study showing that pollen from corn plants genetically engineered to contain the Bacillus thurigenensis (Bt) toxin kills monarch larvae. The researchers dusted Bt pollen onto milkweed leaves and the larvae died when they ate the leaves. The efficacy of this genetically-engineered corn in killing its targets, corn borer larvae, was well-know, but this was the first demonstration of non-target effects. The potential effect is enormous; within two years after EPA approval in 1996, the USDA reported that farmers had planted 25% of the 80 million acre US corn crop with the genetically altered seeds, and this percentage is increasing. The Cornell result shouldn’t have been a complete surprise, since the toxin kills all Lepidoptera, but spokesmen for the agro-industry downplayed the study. MBSF chair Lincoln Brower will serve as an independent reviewer of related studies funded by the industry, and both Karen Oberhauser and Lincoln Brower are helping government agencies to identify priority research areas with respect to non-target effects of this corn. This review will help the EPA and industry arrive at a balanced judgment on the negative side effects and possible mitigation of this technology.
MBSF
President Karen Oberhauser and her students Michelle Solensky and Michelle Prysby conducted studies at the U of
MN last summer on the potential impact of Bt on monarch populations. These studies, on long-term effects of exposure
to Bt toxin on monarch larvae and the potential for monarch populations to evolve resistance to the toxin, will
also help to inform government decisions on regulation of this technology.
Monarchs in the Classroom, founded by MBSF
president Karen Oberhauser, is an educational outreach program that promotes inquiry-based science, conservation,
and research in K-12 classrooms. MITC program components include instructional materials, workshops, classroom
visits, and student/teacher/scientist research collaborations. Over 3000 teachers are using the MITC curriculum
guides, scripted slide sets, larval field guide and classroom board game.
A guiding MITC premise is exemplified in a quote by Senegalese poet, Baba Dioum: "In the end we will conserve that which we love, we will love only that which we understand, and we will understand only that which we are taught." The focus of our curriculum is not the problems of monarch conservation, but the amazing biology of this unique insect. By teaching students to understand and love the monarch, we promote a conservation ethic. Many members of the nationwide team of Monarchs in the Classroom teachers have made conservation a participatory effort by engaging their students in fund-raising efforts to support MBSF’s work.
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