I guess the Book of Kings really has ended:
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https://www.monarchmilkweedmapper.org/monarch-conservation/
So the national geographic gives a very dramatised account of what’s happening and likes to just blame climate change which is fair as it’s a contributing factor. However it’s not the only factor, in the NG it also says that a more toxic species of milkweed is being planted instead of native species. Which is pretty significant as there is a toxicity sweet spot that the butterflies can tolerate. But what NG doesn’t say is that there are other recent contributions such as the fires in California producing poor air quality, a lack of rain in march might have affected them in a vulnerable stage of their development and the ecosystem still recovering from drought’s that could have affected this year’s numbers. These factors might have caused this year’s low numbers but long term factors such as habitat loss for breeding and migration, pesticides, disease and climate change are affecting them. The best way to combat this is to plan more native milkweed and avoid pesticides such as neonicotinoids. Rewilding has been proven to be a successful strategy in saving and reintroducing native species, look at Yellowstone for an example. I’d wait till next year’s count before panicking though as it’ll start to give a clearer picture of what’s going on. The book of kings is not over yet not as long as there are those willing to keep fighting for the environment!
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Oh, that’s so sad…
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