"SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- When this monarch butterfly hits the sky it won't be traveling alone. In fact, an energetic team of researchers will be following along with a revolutionary technology that's already unlocking secrets that could help the entire species survive. "I've described this technology as a spaceship compared to the wheel, like using a using a spaceship compared to the invention of the wheel. It's teaching us so, so much more," says Ray Moranz, Ph.D., a pollinator conservation specialist with the Xerces Society."
"Moranz is part of a team that's been placing tiny tracking devices on migrating monarchs. The collaboration is known as Project Monarch Science. It leverages solar powered radio tags that are so light they don't affect the butterfly's ability to fly. And they're allowing researchers to track the Monarch's movements in precise detail. With some 400 tags in place, the group already been able to get a nearly real time picture of monarch migrations east of the Rockies, with some populations experiencing dramatic twists and turns before making to wintering grounds in Mexico."
Researchers attach tiny, lightweight solar-powered radio tags to migrating monarch butterflies to collect precise movement data without affecting flight. About 400 tags are producing near-real-time migration maps east of the Rockies and revealing unexpected wind-driven northward displacements of 50–200 miles that delayed some migrations by two to three weeks. Migrating monarch populations have declined roughly 80% nationwide, with coastal California populations especially low this winter and wintering core zones clustered near Santa Cruz. The tracking technology offers unprecedented movement detail to inform targeted conservation responses for threatened monarch populations.
Read at ABC7 San Francisco
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