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LinkedInPosts Tagged: decline
'Climate Change' May Be a Key Factor in Declining Butterfly Populations
The public tends to blame habitat loss and pesticides for the declining butterfly populations in the Western United States. But climate change, aka global warming, may be an equal, if not more, of a factor. So indicates a 10-member team of scientists, including UC Davis distinguished professor...
Edith’s checkerspot (Euphydryas editha) is one of the species declining in at least two datasets quoted in the Science publication. (Photo courtesy of Walter Siegmund, Wikipedia)
UC Davis distinguished professor Art Shapiro monitoring butterfly populations along Gates Canyon Road, Vacaville. This image was taken Jan. 25, 2014. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Elizabeth Crone and the Declining Western Monarchs
"Why Are the Monarch Butterflies Declining in the West?" Professor Elizabeth Crone of Tufts University who researches monarchs (as well as bumble bees), drew a standing-room only crowd when she presented a UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar on the decline of Western...
Professor Elizabeth Crone delivering a seminar on Western monarchs to the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Professor Elizabeth Crone chats with scientists following her talk. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
If you see a Western monarch between Feb. 14 and April 22, report it to the Western Monarch Mystery Challenge.
Yes, You Can Attend the 'Saving a Bug's Life' Symposium
Yes, you can. If you've been wondering if there's still room for you at the innovative UC Davis symposium on "Saving a Bug's Life: Legal Solutions to Combat Insect Biodiversity Decline and the Sixth Mass Extinction," the answer is yes. The free public event, set from 8:30 to 6:30 p.m.,...
A flameskimmer dragonfly, Libellula saturata, perches on a stake in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A longhorned bee, Melissodes sp., in Davis, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, nectaring on a butterfly bush in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, spiked floral purple plant, nectaring on a Salvia indigo spires (Salvia farinacea x S. farinacea) in Sonoma. (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)
Those Disappearing Western Monarchs
It's good to see butterflies, especially monarchs, getting so much press. Now let's see if we can press the issue. The Washington Post just published an article in its style section: "Butterflies Were Symbols of Rebirth. Then They Started Disappearing," chronicling the history--as we know...
Monarchs on the fly in a Vacaville, Calif., pollinator garden in September 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
One of the monarchs reared in Vacaville, Calif. in 2016. It's ready to take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
