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The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project: a University/Citizen Research Initiative

The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project: a University/Citizen Research Initiative. Outline. Protocol and Initial Findings Extensions Outcomes. MLMP Protocol. Volunteer and Choose a Site Gardens, parks, roadsides, prairies (need milkweed) Site Description Location, size, type

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The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project: a University/Citizen Research Initiative

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  1. The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project: a University/Citizen Research Initiative

  2. Outline • Protocol and Initial Findings • Extensions • Outcomes

  3. MLMP Protocol • Volunteer and Choose a Site • Gardens, parks, roadsides, prairies (need milkweed) • Site Description • Location, size, type • Milkweed species and density • Weekly Monitoring (2-3 hours) • Estimate monarch densities • Quantify milkweed quality • Estimate parasitism rates • Track weather conditions

  4. MLMP Volunteers • Range in age from 20-85 (77% monitor with children) • Variety of occupations (from teacher to aircraft inspector) • More than half participate for > 1 year

  5. MLMP Training www.mlmp.org

  6. Past and Current Monitoring Locations as of Summer 2002

  7. Weekly Monitoring Densities 1999 data from Cindy Petersen and students, Chanhassen, MN

  8. Temporal Patterns Egg and L5 Densities in Upper Midwestern Sites, 1999

  9. Egg densities in the Upper Midwest

  10. Spatial Patterns

  11. Spatial and Temporal Patterns: Monarchs in Southern US 2000 data from Kathy Phelps, Harrisburg, IL

  12. Population Dynamics approximate measure of survival from egg to 5th instar Total # of 5ths Total # eggs =

  13. Upper Midwest Survival 2799 179 1223 10951 2423 1997* 3015 5539 2799 10988 1223 180 (# of eggs in blue)

  14. Photo by Anurag Agrawal

  15. Tachinid Fly Parasitism

  16. MN and WI Survival

  17. Data Quality Issues • Incomplete/unusable data • Too few plants • No plant numbers • Inaccurate data • No eggs, lots of larvae • Too many eggs • Over-representation of late-instar larvae • Training, reviewing hard copies of data, and recognition of “normal” patterns help to address these issues

  18. MLMP Extensions

  19. Risk Assessment: Bt Corn and Monarchs • Losey et al. 1999 – Consuming Bt corn pollen can kill monarch larvae • Milkweed is a common agricultural weed

  20. Relative Usage of Habitats: MN/WI Anthesis: 7/19 - 8/7

  21. Overlap of pollen anthesis and monarch larvae Corn field in Rosemount, MN

  22. Round-up ReadyTM Crops

  23. Documenting Impacts of Environmental Perturbations January 2002 Mexico Storm

  24. Research Questions • Sources of mortality: temporal/spatial variation • Tachinid flies: effects of habitat type, presence of other hosts, location and season • Host plant choice • Changing landscape and ag practices • Multi-trophic level interactions

  25. MLMP Outcomes

  26. Key Motivators • “My work may help promote monarch conservation” • “My work is leading to increased understanding of monarch biology” • “I am involved in real scientific research”

  27. Potential Obstacles ~20% of volunteers feel that • Monitoring takes too much time • Finding a site to monitor is difficult • Filling out the forms takes too much time

  28. Scientific Outcomes • Much can be learned from basic distribution and abundance data • In addition, data can • provide direction for experimental and theoretical research • inform public policy and conservation efforts

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