(www.monarch-butterfly.com)In a New York Times article there is a dispute against whether or not the population of monarch butterflies is being altered due to chemically decreasing their habitat.
Monarch butterflies live for a majority of the time in hotter climates, such as Mexico. For reproduction they migrate to plant larvae on milkweed plants. Milkweeds, however, are a weed to farmers which result in the farmer's own personal crops having difficulties growing. Due to this, the farmers are using chemical pesticides to get rid of the weed. This is a good thing for the farmers because their crops can grow better now without the weed. However, by getting rid of the milkweed plants it decreases the habitat of the monarch butterflies during migration season. Without these milkweeds the butterflies will have no where to place their larvae during their migration.
There is dispute in this idea because some scientists believe that the decrease of milkweed plants is not the only valuable reason for the decrease in monarch butterflies over the past couple of years. One scientist states that changing climate can also be a factor in why numbers are changing. This article does place important reasons on why the decrease in milkweed plants would affect the monarchs, however, there are always multiple sides to one story. Climate is definitely an important factor for many organisms and its rapid change over the past years would have an affect on these beautiful creatures. Hopefully in time there can be a way to help keep the monarch butterflies at a safe population number.
It seems as though there are so many animals that are threatened or close to extinction due to either natural causes or man made causes. It's a shame to watch all of these animals fighting for their lives. I wish more people would get involved to try to save animals.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rebecca, it is a shame. More people should become involved to try and save animals, especially the ones that are close to extinction. Instead of farmers using pesticides I wish there was a different alternative of killing weeds, so it won't kill the animal's environment as well.
ReplyDeleteI saw the stories of Monarch butterflies from TV before. The most amazing thing is the "travel" of its life. But now human strain the environment to our own advantages. Most importantly, people must learn to care for their living environment, because it is ont only to protect them but also helping ourselves.
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