Citizen Science Observations of Monarch Butterfly Overwintering in the Southern United States
Joint Authors
Howard, Elizabeth
Davis, Andrew K.
Aschen, Harlen
Source
Issue
Vol. 2010, Issue 2010 (31 Dec. 2010), pp.1-6, 6 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2010-09-22
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
6
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Members of the public have long had a fascination with the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, because of its amazing long-distance migration to overwintering sites in central Mexico, and many participate in online citizen-science programs where they report observations of its life history in North America.
Here, we examine a little-studied aspect of monarch biology, the degree of overwintering in the southern United States.
We compiled 9 years of sightings of overwintering monarchs in the southern United States that were reported to Journey North, a web-based citizen science program, to map the distribution of areas where monarchs are capable of surviving during the winter (i.e., in January and February), differentiating between adult sightings and sightings of breeding activity.
We also statistically compared the latitudes of adult and breeding sightings, examined differences across years in latitude of sightings, and quantified the number of monarchs reported with each sighting.
Of all 254 sightings, 80% came from Florida and Texas, with the remainder coming from South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, and even one in Virginia.
This distribution was generally consistent with the winter range predicted by prior investigators based on climatic conditions of this region.
Sightings of adults were on average from higher latitudes than reports of breeding activity and there was significant variation across years in the average latitude of all sightings.
The majority of sightings (94.2%) were of fewer than 10 adult monarchs per location, and there were no reports of clustering behavior that is typical of monarch overwintering in California and Mexico.
The results of this investigation broaden our collective understanding of this stage of the monarch life cycle and, more generally, highlight the value of citizen science programs in advancing science.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Howard, Elizabeth& Aschen, Harlen& Davis, Andrew K.. 2010. Citizen Science Observations of Monarch Butterfly Overwintering in the Southern United States. Psyche،Vol. 2010, no. 2010, pp.1-6.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-490719
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Howard, Elizabeth…[et al.]. Citizen Science Observations of Monarch Butterfly Overwintering in the Southern United States. Psyche No. 2010 (2010), pp.1-6.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-490719
American Medical Association (AMA)
Howard, Elizabeth& Aschen, Harlen& Davis, Andrew K.. Citizen Science Observations of Monarch Butterfly Overwintering in the Southern United States. Psyche. 2010. Vol. 2010, no. 2010, pp.1-6.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-490719
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-490719