Monarch butterfly population decline in North America: identifying the threatening processes
The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population in North America has sharply declined over the last two decades. Despite rising concern over the monarch butterfly's status, no comprehensive study of the factors driving this decline has been conducted. Using partial least-squares regressions...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2017-01-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.170760 |
| _version_ | 1828833756277899264 |
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| author | Wayne E. Thogmartin Ruscena Wiederholt Karen Oberhauser Ryan G. Drum Jay E. Diffendorfer Sonia Altizer Orley R. Taylor John Pleasants Darius Semmens Brice Semmens Richard Erickson Kaitlin Libby Laura Lopez-Hoffman |
| author_facet | Wayne E. Thogmartin Ruscena Wiederholt Karen Oberhauser Ryan G. Drum Jay E. Diffendorfer Sonia Altizer Orley R. Taylor John Pleasants Darius Semmens Brice Semmens Richard Erickson Kaitlin Libby Laura Lopez-Hoffman |
| author_sort | Wayne E. Thogmartin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population in North America has sharply declined over the last two decades. Despite rising concern over the monarch butterfly's status, no comprehensive study of the factors driving this decline has been conducted. Using partial least-squares regressions and time-series analysis, we investigated climatic and habitat-related factors influencing monarch population size from 1993 to 2014. Potential threats included climatic factors, habitat loss (milkweed and overwinter forest), disease and agricultural insecticide use (neonicotinoids). While climatic factors, principally breeding season temperature, were important determinants of annual variation in abundance, our results indicated strong negative relationships between population size and habitat loss variables, principally glyphosate use, but also weaker negative effects from the loss of overwinter forest and breeding season use of neonicotinoids. Further declines in population size because of glyphosate application are not expected. Thus, if remaining threats to habitat are mitigated we expect climate-induced stochastic variation of the eastern migratory population of monarch butterfly around a relatively stationary population size. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T17:26:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8c4657d95a7141ea9f3ef6187ef8f971 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T17:26:09Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-8c4657d95a7141ea9f3ef6187ef8f9712022-12-22T00:17:32ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032017-01-014910.1098/rsos.170760170760Monarch butterfly population decline in North America: identifying the threatening processesWayne E. ThogmartinRuscena WiederholtKaren OberhauserRyan G. DrumJay E. DiffendorferSonia AltizerOrley R. TaylorJohn PleasantsDarius SemmensBrice SemmensRichard EricksonKaitlin LibbyLaura Lopez-HoffmanThe monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) population in North America has sharply declined over the last two decades. Despite rising concern over the monarch butterfly's status, no comprehensive study of the factors driving this decline has been conducted. Using partial least-squares regressions and time-series analysis, we investigated climatic and habitat-related factors influencing monarch population size from 1993 to 2014. Potential threats included climatic factors, habitat loss (milkweed and overwinter forest), disease and agricultural insecticide use (neonicotinoids). While climatic factors, principally breeding season temperature, were important determinants of annual variation in abundance, our results indicated strong negative relationships between population size and habitat loss variables, principally glyphosate use, but also weaker negative effects from the loss of overwinter forest and breeding season use of neonicotinoids. Further declines in population size because of glyphosate application are not expected. Thus, if remaining threats to habitat are mitigated we expect climate-induced stochastic variation of the eastern migratory population of monarch butterfly around a relatively stationary population size.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.170760danaus plexippusextreme weatherforest lossglyphosatemilkweedneonicotinoid |
| spellingShingle | Wayne E. Thogmartin Ruscena Wiederholt Karen Oberhauser Ryan G. Drum Jay E. Diffendorfer Sonia Altizer Orley R. Taylor John Pleasants Darius Semmens Brice Semmens Richard Erickson Kaitlin Libby Laura Lopez-Hoffman Monarch butterfly population decline in North America: identifying the threatening processes Royal Society Open Science danaus plexippus extreme weather forest loss glyphosate milkweed neonicotinoid |
| title | Monarch butterfly population decline in North America: identifying the threatening processes |
| title_full | Monarch butterfly population decline in North America: identifying the threatening processes |
| title_fullStr | Monarch butterfly population decline in North America: identifying the threatening processes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Monarch butterfly population decline in North America: identifying the threatening processes |
| title_short | Monarch butterfly population decline in North America: identifying the threatening processes |
| title_sort | monarch butterfly population decline in north america identifying the threatening processes |
| topic | danaus plexippus extreme weather forest loss glyphosate milkweed neonicotinoid |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.170760 |
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