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Monarch Butterfly Populations In the West Are Down an Order of Magnitude (qz.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: Far fewer [monarch butterflies] were heading south this year, and those that have arrived did so a month late, according to Xeres, a non-profit conservation group for invertebrates. One researcher said it was the fewest monarch butterflies in central California in 46 years. Surveyors at 97 sites found only 20,456 monarchs compared to 148,000 at the same sites last year, an 86% decline. It's possible more insects will make the journey late this year, says Xeres, but that now seems unlikely. The minimum population size before the species experiences "migration collapse" is unknown, but a 2017 modeling paper in Biological Conservation (pdf) found that 30,000 butterflies adult butterflies are probably the smallest viable population. Without this critical mass, there aren't enough insects in the western monarch population to continue one of the world's most remarkable lifecycles.
Why not set aside a small percentage for wild grasses, wild flowers and specifically for the Monarchs: milkweed
He had sex with a woman?
*mouth-breathe*
Like, a real woman?
*mouth-breathe*
He's my hero!
Are we discussing this right? Also, Citation Needed.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Why you gotta spoil our sob story about pretty butterflies with your eighties crime drama? Let it go and we will try to forget and forgive your your one track mind.
affects lots of species
Fortunately monarch butterflies live in many parts of the world , even NZ
Like, a real woman?
Really, a woman. A really unconscious woman.
That's the nicest explanation for why "only 1.5 degrees" matter so much, that I've seen:
In nature, everything is in a stable balance of many dependent cycles, where everything is juuust right. Even for life itself to even exist.
Nudge one of those balances off only a bit too much, and the entire thing goes over the edge and spirals out of control. Taking things with it, that you never thought of.
To me, this is also the best approach, to make sense of "chaotic" behavior. (As in: chaos theory)
Only lossless cycles can go on forever. Everything that isn't in such a balance, is very obviously by definition bound to die. Because it means it goes towards infinity or towards zero. And that is not possible in reality, with its limited resources. ... but exponential growth.
And we, as humanity, are the prime example of that. The "economy" is the most extreme example. Since it demands not only infinite growth... which by itself is already so absurd, a small child would realize it,
The only other things I know, that do that, are deadly pathogens, and explosions.
I also don't see how "we", would turn that around.
I'm certainly pulling my weight.
But the loud morons once again go the ManBearPig route.
30 yrs. living in SoCal, the wildfires in San Diego County began in the 80's where it was first noticed effect on Monarch migration. Each February Point Loma which stuck out into the sea would afford the Monarch a nutritious waypoint on their migration northward. The surrounding canyon's wild milkweed air would flow for days in a stream of butterflies. With successive wildfires the drop in Monarch sightings transitioned official narrative from migration change to population tragedy to loss of food source.
Today the coastal flyway is host to few Monarchs and the loss for those hoping for a return defies the Monarch apocalypse. Now, living NoCal, the Monarchs flew through the Bay Area's Marin wetlands on their way south this October. It was a happy reminder however brief, one afternoon, that they aren't dead - yet.
It must be terrible to live in fear all the time. But we don't care about your problems. Sucks to be you!
The reason the butterfly population is down is because of urban sprawl in Washington and Oregon destroying their habitat. This is a direct case of cities causing extinction of other species.
Farms, by their very nature, cannot eliminate all weeds, and the milkweed these butterflies need to feed on is plentiful in the countryside, but is considered a noxious weed by urban rules.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Will do. Thanks for the tip
Soon we will have the migration of the monarch butterfly (singular).
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Some folks have planted milkweed beside the roads near natgas corridors - a lot. The number of Monarchs flitting around last year and this has been impressive. So that bubble of butterflies should be reaching the west in a few years, assuming food sources in the midwest can accomodate them.
Side note: I often take the Cape May - Lewes Ferry, which crosses the Chesapeake bay between New Jersey and Delaware. Monarch butterflies often ride the slipstream behind the ship with us during the late summer and fall.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Hint: words don't mean the same after they leave their native language.
Maybe they were tired of all the riff raff and went somewhere else?
So God intentionally tries to deceive his creation that he claims to love? That makes him kind of a dick. And also kind of self-absorbed and prideful if the desired end goal for Christians is to surround him by the millions and eternally worshiping him.
Bill Cosby told him about this great pick up spot for women: the floor.
Apocalypse means "uncovering" just as much as Alexander means "the man who doesn't/can't read".
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
On the bright side all the stuff they should have eaten is still alive.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Not quite. But He does enable the disbelief that was chosen when the forbidden fruit was eaten. "For this reason,"
It is your choice; it has been accommodated. You can choose the truth, or you can choose the lie.
Working of Error
It's ok to be white.
Apocalypse means "uncovering" just as much as Alexander means "the man who doesn't/can't read".
Tell it to the Greeks. Apocalypse
Working of Error
I live in central Iowa, in a city that has lots of trees and (in the 1980's anyway) had large areas of the city that were not heavily developed and basically had little islands of forrest in the middle of the city. Around 1985, I got to see an incredible sight. The monarch migration passed right through town, specifically stopping to rest at a wooded area not 300 feet from my apartment.
There were lots of older trees there, mainly maples, that stood 70-100ft tall, and they were dripping with butterflies. Every leaf had several butterflies on it, all of them slowly flexing their wings, making the entire tree look like it was breathing, in a shimmering silver-brown color. There was no green to be seen anywhere in the canopy, everything was covered with monarchs. The branches were even getting visibly weighed down from weight of butterflies, some branches that normally were ten feet off the ground were within hand's reach. You could reach up and slowly brush your hand through a living curtain of butterflies. It was amazing!
This went on for about three days. There were monarchs flying lazily around all over the place, and if you walked slowly though the area, you'd have several of them landing on you as you walked or stopped to stare at them. Monarchs are very large butterflies too. I wouldn't even want to attempt to count how many there were. I did't own a camera back then, but I wish I did. I would have taken so many pictures. But back then I was pretty young, and didn't recognize that this was a sight I would probably never get to see again, so all I have of it are the memories of the trees filled with butterflies.
We had a fair amount of "ditch weed" (milkweek) in the area, especially in the ditches along the gravel roads outside town. I used to go to the empty lots where there was still a lot of "prairie" type land between the neighborhoods, where milkweed could be plentiful, and see if I could find the vibrantly colored monarch caterpillars. They're striped yellow, white, and black. Sometimes if I found one I'd take it home along with some milkweed, and raise it. I'd have to go back and pick more milkweed from time to time. Then it would stop eating and climb to a stick in the jar and make a chrysalis and I'd have to wait a month or so for it to hatch and fly away. it started out a very interesting shape, colored green to match the milkweed, but with a ring of gold (like jewelwry gold) spots around the top crown area, like someone had painted drops of gold paint in a halo around the top of it (like https://naturetime.files.wordp...) A week or so before it hatched, the chrysalis would become transparent, and you could see the gold wings folded up inside, sometimes moving a little.
Nowadays, there are still quite a few trees in town, most yards have a tree, but there are very few vacant grass lots or clumps of trees inside town. Outside town, it's all farmland now, so again not much in the way of woods. But still lots of milkweed in the ditches around town, and I do see a monarch from time to time, but they're pretty rare. I've been considering planting some milkweed in my front yard now, to see if I can attract some monarchs. We don't really consider it a problem weed here in town. The plants are pretty solitary and don't spread fast like some other "weed" do. They have a somewhat attractive large flower also. Not something you want to eat though, they produce a large volume of a very thick white milky sap if you break off a leaf. Monarch caterpillars are one of the few insects that can eat them, and they retain the toxin as butterflies also, which is why the caterpillars and adults are so brightly colored - they're a toxic meal for most birds.
I miss those days!
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
it's okay to have white skin but cultural Whiteness is a threat to humanity's survival
Stories of this kind from the 70s and 80s don't count. In those days, women wanted sex too.
It doesn't "literally" mean "an uncovering," it literally means that the genital covering-skin has been pulled back, or is absent. A very specific uncovering.
So, OP is saying the problem simply boils down to the fact that there are too many Californians. As a Texan, we most definitely agree.
"Liberalism is a very noble idea, currently controlled by some very bad people. Be sure you do not get the two confused.
Can't have those bastards over there flapping their tiny little wings causing tornados over here. This is a good thing!
This is a stupid sentiment.
Human population is up.That's all that matters.
i know in our region, pesticides were massively reduced parks in the last 10 years, and nature has a way of stabilizing. my previous home owners used some bug company to spray the whole yard and I realized it was harmful to nature. Prior to, i did not see a single butterfly for 5 years, and afterwards, then suddenly 2, 5, 10, 20....per month.. now I see about 10-15 per week..
You can choose the truth, or you can choose the lie.
Yup. I quite believing in childish stories about invisible magical people a long, long time ago.
I suppose if your fantasy makes you happy, then feel free to keep believing.
Does this smell like chloroform to you?
Wow, nice editing.
Because humans are by far the biggest process that doesn't have its I/O in balanced cycles.
What weight are you pulling then, that makes you the judge?
I made the biggest sacrifice ever: I chose to have no kids, and stopped several other people from ever having kids too.
That's balancing my own bit of damage out, several times over.
Your turn.
I won't reply otherwise.
We planted our Milkweed garden a number of years ago. It look a few years but now we get Monarch's each year. In fact this year we had the most Caterpillars in all the time we had the garden. We see our Caterpillars in Late August and September, this year they wiped every Milkweed leaf in the garden.
It's not that toxic. They talk about it poisoning sheep if they have nothing else to eat, but generally livestock don't like it so they don't eat it.
Usually notes from a city to cut weeds means they reached over a certain height and are either on the fringe of a road or blocking line of sight at a corner.
I've seen 2-3 monarchs most years- mostly a curiosity. This year there were a few dozen around - order of magnitude checks out. Northern New England.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Microwave radiation bags another trophy.