GMO Crops Destroying Milkweed And Monarch Butterflies

Monarch butterflies numbers have been declining at an alarming rate due to the rapid loss of milkweed. Milkweed are the plants monarch caterpillars feed on and as milkweed coverage has declined so has the monarch butterflies.

GMO and herbicide-tolerant crops, such as corn as well as soybeans, and the herbicides used to protect them against weeds has done its job in killing of milkweed.

Karen Oberhauser, a monarch biologist from the University of Minnesota, co-authored a study in the Conservation Letters, that revealed some alarming numbers of the decline of the monarch butterflies.

Every year millions of monarch butterflies travel 3000 miles from Canada to Mexico, and this annual movement is one of nature’s most astonishing sights.

The monarch butterfly is revered across America and several they are celebrated in several festivals throughout the year.

The monarch numbers have been declining across America for the last fifteen years. Scientists have been able to calculate the monarch number by analyzing their coverage in their wintering grounds in Mexico.

From 1994-2004 the average monarch coverage was 6.39 hectares. Recently though that number hasn’t taken a dramatic plunge. The monarch butterflies only covered 0.67 hectares in Mexico’s woodlands during the 2013-2014 winter, which was a decrease of 44 percent from 2012.

The 2013-2014 number was ten times less than the average number from 1994-2004.

Karen Oberhauser stated that issues with claimed breeding, moving, and overwintering environment were also major factors influencing the decline of the monarch populations.

Fortunately the study also revealed that most Americans wanted to protect the monarch butterfly and were willing to speand billions of dollars to do so.

Seventy percent of those questioned thought saving monarchs was important, while 3 percent stated it was trivial.