Why do monarch butterflies hang out in the southern United States? : NPR

Researchers are asking for the public's help to find monarch butterflies that overwinter in southern states instead of migrating. It is unclear why so many people are staying put.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Here's an environmental mystery scientists are trying to solve: Why do monarch butterflies hang out in the southern United States? Scientists hope the public can help Molly Samuel of member station WABE in Atlanta.

MOLLY SAMUEL, BYLINE: Just so we start on the same page…

ANNA YELLIN: Monarchs are confusing.

SAMUEL: Anna Yellin is a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Generally, in North America, west of the Rockies, monarchs migrate to the California coast in winter. East of the Rockies, they fly south to Mexico.

YELLIN: Some of these butterflies will come from Canada. They can fly up to about 3,000 miles.

SAMUEL: Many pass through the Southeast on their way, but you could be forgiven for thinking of much of the South as some sort of monarch flyover country. But then there is this.

MICHAEL KENDRICK: We have evidence that monarchs are overwintering and have been overwintering in South Carolina for some time.

SAMUEL: I'm not going to Mexico at all. Instead, spend the winter on coastal South Carolina. Michael Kendrick is a scientist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. He says these wintering monarchs were first noticed in a few places in the 1990s.

KENDRICK: I think we're looking at something that's been under our noses for a while.

SAMUEL: Researchers are now trying to determine whether there are other hidden pockets of monarchs wintering in the South. Susan Meyers volunteers with the group Monarchs Across Georgia.

SUSAN MEYERS: How much of the population stays here and what do they do?

SAMUEL: Meyers and others are asking for help from the public in South Carolina, Georgia and the Gulf Coast states to document winter monarch sightings and report them on the Journeynorth.org website or at iNaturalist app. Meyers says once they understand where the monarchs spend the winter, they can start asking other questions like…

MEYERS: Why aren't they in Mexico?

SAMUEL: A changing climate with milder winters could contribute, as could a parasite that infects monarchs. Non-native tropical milkweeds planted in their gardens might entice the monarchs to stay instead of continuing south. Or maybe some have been wintering quietly in the South for a long time. Sonia Altizer is a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia. She says this community science project could help protect monarchs as the world around them changes.

SONIA ALTIZER: I'm really interested in trying to understand what the new normal will look like for monarchs.

SAMUEL: One thing to remember, she says, maybe this house shouldn't be seen as just monarch flyover country.

ALTIZER: I think the southern United States has been largely ignored and dismissed as unimportant to monarch conservation.

SAMUEL: But she says this house could end up playing a critical role in the future of monarch butterflies.

For NPR News, I'm Molly Samuel in Atlanta.

(SOUNDBITE OF SBGB SONG, “BUTTERFLY”)

MARTIN: Steve, we have some good news on the pest front. The murder hornet has been declared eradicated from the United States.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Well, that's probably not good news for the murder hornet. But what is the murder hornet?

MARTIN: Okay. It is an insect known for its powerful sting and its way of decapitating bees…

INSTITUTE: Ah.

MARTIN: …And other prey. It is native to Asia and was first reported in Washington state five years ago.

INSKEEP: And now he's decapitated his last bee.

MARTIN: Federal and Washington state agricultural officials announced the eradication yesterday, three years after it was last seen.

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