A Criticism On A Migratory Animal : Breeding Season Habitat Loss Drives Population Declines Of Monarch Butterfly Essay

The scale and pace of change is dramatic; for example, the extinction of species is occurring at around 100-fold pre-human rates4. The population sizes of vertebrate species have, on average, declined by half over the last 45 years5. More than 2.3 million km2 of primary forest has been felled since 20006. About

The article discussed the changes in many habitats due to anthropogenic activity. Anthropogenic is an adjective that describes changes in nature due to the people. Next, this article discussed climate change and the impact that it is having on species like clams, and fish due to ocean temperatures rising. The article also addressed carbon dating of fossils to look for cause of extinctions. Human development and agriculture have had a tremendous impact on the population of many species that are terrestrial. Deforestation is a big problem that has caused a decline in the bird species. Commercial fishing in many areas has led to a decline in fish populations. Furthermore this article

As a result of "human emissions of greenhouse gasses," numerous species of butterflies worldwide are facing the risk of extinction (World Wide Fund). Global warming is the gradual heating of the planet, which is triggered by human activities such as pollution from factories, results in climate change around the world (Rogers). Due to climate change, various species of butterflies need to adapt to these changes, but instead, they are dying out due to their sensitivity to fluctuating temperatures (Rogers). In the United Kingdom, scientists predict that “for every 1 °C increase in southwestern Europe’s temperature, some 14 different species of migratory butterflies and moths are forced to make the leap to England to cool off, which means making a long journey over open water” (Rogers). Climate change has required many species of butterflies to leave their migration paths and cross the treacherous oceans; this increases their risk of death

Native bird species will be forced to fly further north during migrating season, causing problems with repopulating.3

Since organisms living in communities form interdependent relationships, a change in the abundance of one species will not only affect the physical and more direct interactions, but could indirectly affect the number of other species within the community as a consequence (Wootton 1993). These indirect affects rise because the interactions between pairs of species are not independent of other species, such as increasing the density of vegetation may increase the survival rate of the prey, reducing the intensity of the interaction between the predator and prey (Wootton 1993, 1994). An

Circannual rhythms are based on the cycles of light and dark in the environment. If global climate changes, the bird’s rhythms may bring them to their destination before or after conditions are prime for reproduction and survival.

The monarch butterfly is something that we all have known and loved ever since we were children. During the present time, the monarch butterflies are becoming extinct. Due to human and natural activities, the monarchs population has been declining for two decades. Delaware and its citizens are taking action to save the monarchs from extinction. The monarch takes on a long migration from America and Canada to Mexico during the winter (vice versa). The monarch lives in three distinct population areas. People in Delaware are working hard to save an American icon.

Since humans are moving into the natural habitats plant species are dwindling in numbers. Which alters the habitats for which birds relied on for a camouflaged and protected home? Migratory birds are also moving to other areas due to the land pollution. Human waste, cigarette butts, snack wrappers, and beverage containers are all contributing to the growing land pollution.

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/05/are-monarch-butterflies-really-being-massacred-a-new-study-says-its-a-lot-more-complicated-than-it-seems/) Monarch butterflies are one of the only two-way migratory species other than birds. Every spring, they embark on a 3,000 mile journey north from the mountains of Mexico and return in the fall. The migration can make it a little harder to accurately estimate population numbers; even so, the severity of the decline is no accounting slip-up.

weather have hurt the ability for monarch to make their long journeys south and north

Migration-Monarchs spend their winter hibernation in mexico and southern california where it is hot all year long because their fragile bodies can’t withstand the cold.Also, the larval food plants do not grow in their winter overwintering sites, so the spring generation must fly back north to places where the plants are plentiful.

Lowered breeding times adversely affect the animals’ ability to nest, reproduce, and rear their young with adequate time. Scientist have found that some “species of migratory birds are arriving at summer nesting grounds in the northern hemisphere earlier than they did before global temperatures began increasing last century” (Travers 2015). Studies have also shown that the American Crow is less likely to colonize sites that continually get warmer (Epanchin 2014). The same research found that the crow will likely go extinct at sites that have been made warmer in subsequent years. Because of this information, one can deduce that the American Crow is temperature sensitive. These findings force us to ask, if temperature increases in a region, then will American crow populations decrease accordingly? It is my contention that if an area experiences increasing temperatures, then the crow population of the area will directly decrease. Measures must be taken to stop and reverse the effects of global warming if there is any chance of preserving American crow

When it is cold outside in the United States of America, monarch butterflies migrate to warmer places such as Mexico. This contributes to the decline of monarchs because in Mexico they are having deforestation problems. For example, there have been late winter storms causing over 100 acres of trees to fall down in Central Mexico (Deere, 2017). This causes a problem because monarch butterflies will have no place to live during the winter months in the United States of America. Researchers say that during the storm over 6.2 million butterflies have died (Deere, 2017). That is a lot of butterflies. This is a major problem because monarch butterflies are a food source for many animals and if they go extinct the food cycle will get messed up. This is a hard problem to fix to try to stop the decline of monarchs because you would have to get the monarchs to migrate to another place with lots of trees and that will not be destroyed.

Bridget Stutchbury is a biologist and ornithologist, who was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1962, but was brought up in Toronto, Canada. She received her M.Sc. from Queen’s University and her Ph.D. from Yale. She was also a postdoctoral fellow, a person doing research after receiving their doctorate degree, and a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution. Bridget became interested in songbirds in the 1980s. She studies the migrations of the tiniest birds and the threats posed upon them. (Cameron, 2013)

The health of the earth degrades with the destructive activity of human beings. A recent study by a group of scientists looked at twenty four different services that the earth’s ecosystems provide for humans, ecosystem services, and found that fifteen of them are in need of desperate help (Gazette 31 March 2005). These services are vital to the survival of both human and nonhuman life and include filtering water and providing nutrient rich soils and ocean waters. Many of the members of these various ecosystems are also decreasing in numbers. In a British survey of bird populations found that in the 200 birds of Britain tracked there was about a 54% population decrease between the 1968-1971 tacking period and the 1988-1991 tacking period. In two other surveys of 254 native plant species from the same area there was a decrease of about 28% during the past 40 years. Humans are pushing the sixth mass extinction (Gazette March 19, 2004).