WASHINGTON (AP) — The monarch butterfly fluttered one step closer to extinction Thursday as scientists placed the iconic orange-and-black insect on the endangered list due to its rapidly declining numbers.
“It’s just a devastating decline,” said Stuart Pym, an ecologist at Duke University who was not involved in the new registration. “It’s one of the most recognizable butterflies in the world.”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has added the migrating monarch butterfly for the first time to its “red list” of threatened species and categorized it as “threatened” — two steps away from extinction.
The group estimates that the monarch butterfly population in North America has declined between 22% and 72% over 10 years, depending on the method of measurement.
“What we’re concerned about is the rate of decline,” said Nick Haddad, a conservation biologist at Michigan State University. “It’s very easy to imagine how quickly this butterfly could become even more endangered.”
Haddad, who was not directly involved in the listing, estimates that the monarch butterfly population he studies in the eastern United States has declined between 85% and 95% since the 1990s.
In North America, millions of monarch butterflies undertake the longest migration of any insect species known to science.
After wintering in the mountains of central Mexico, the butterflies migrate north, breeding multiple generations along the way for thousands of miles. Offspring that reach southern Canada then begin the journey back to Mexico in late summer.
“It’s quite a sight, and it’s so awe-inspiring,” said Anna Walker, a conservation biologist with the New Mexico BioPark Society, who helped determine the new listing.
A smaller group spends the winter in coastal California, then disperses in the spring and summer to several states west of the Rockies. This population has seen an even steeper decline than eastern monarchs, although there was a small rebound last winter.
Emma Pelton of the nonprofit Xerces, which monitors western butterflies, said the butterflies are threatened by habitat loss and increased use of herbicides and pesticides for agriculture, as well as climate change.
“There are things people can do to help,” she said, including planting milkweed, a plant the caterpillars depend on.
Non-migratory monarch butterflies in Central and South America are not listed as endangered.
The United States has not listed monarch butterflies under the Endangered Species Act, but several conservation groups believe they should be listed.
The International Union also announced new estimates of the global tiger population, which are 40% higher than the last estimates in 2015.
The new numbers, between 3,726 and 5,578 wild tigers worldwide, reflect better methods of counting tigers and, potentially, an increase in their total numbers, said Dale Mickel, coordinator of the nonprofit Tiger Program for the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Over the past decade, tiger populations have increased in Nepal, northern China and possibly India, while tigers have disappeared entirely from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, Michele said. They remain listed as endangered.
___
Follow Christina Larson on Twitter: @larsonchristina
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Division is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Division of Science Education. AP is solely responsible for all content.
Add Comment