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LinkedInPosts Tagged: Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Monarch Population May Be 'Fluttering Back'
Let the count begin! Researchers and volunteers in a three-week project headed by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation are now counting the Western monarch population at overwintering sites along the California coast. It all began Saturday. An unofficial count estimates...
A cluster of monarchs overwintering in an 80-foot-high eucalyptus tree at the Natural Bridges State Park, Santa Cruz, on Nov. 14, 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
No Federal Protection for the Monarch Butterflies
Yes, monarch butterflies qualify for the Endangered Species list. But no, we can't protect them because we don't have the money. That's the gist of what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) said today. USFWS director Aurelia Skipwith announced in a news release: "We...
A monarch butterfly nectaring on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male monarch spreads its wings as it nectars on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Monarchs overwintering in the Natural Bridges State Park, Santa Cruz, in 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Memorable Year for the Western Monarchs
It's definitely going to be quite a memorable year for the Western monarch butterflies--memorable as in "record low populations at the overwintering sites along the California coast." Matthew Shepherd, director of communications and outreach at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate...
Monarchs overwintering in the Natural Bridges State Park, Santa Cruz, in 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male monarch nectaring on Mexican sunflower, Tithonia, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Troubling Question: Why Are the Monarchs Declining in the West?
The question is troubling: What's going on with the monarch butterfly population in the West? The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation reported this week that its Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count shows a decline for the second consecutive year. “Sadly, fewer than 30,000 monarchs...
A male monarch nectaring on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch sipping nectar from its host plant, milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Franklin's Bumble Bee May Be Protected: A Legacy of Robbin Thorp
The late Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, and a global authority on bees, worked tirelessly to try to include Franklin's bumble bee (Bombus franklini) as an endangered species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). In...
Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, with his screensaver, an image he took of Franklin's bumble bee. He passed June 7. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
