Monarch Watch has published the monarch butterfly status for 2016-17. This info and graph is reprinted from Monarch Watch’s blog:
“World Wildlife Fund Mexico in collaboration with SEMARNAT and CONANP and the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) announced the total forest area occupied by overwintering monarch colonies. Thirteen (13) colonies were located this winter season with a total area of 2.91 hectares. Monarch Watch will provide additional details as they receive and process them.”
Figure 1. Total Area in Hectares Occupied by Monarch Colonies at Overwintering Sites in Mexico. (1 hectare is approx 2.5 acres)
Last year a late winter storm blew down more than 40 hectares (100 acres) of the forests in which the migrating monarchs typically spend their winters in Central Mexico. This is the same storm that killed millions of monarchs just beginning their migration north in 2016. Experts feel this new loss of forests may have affected the survival of the over-wintering monarchs, i.e., less area to cluster tightly in the pine and fir forests. (Science X network Phys.org)
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