Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) Blog

March 2011 MLMP Update

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Oberhauser) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:40:00 +0000

Dear Monarch Larva Monitoring Project Volunteers and Friends,

Greetings from the U of MN Monarch Lab! We are preparing our 2011 newsletter, which should arrive in your mailboxes (electronic or otherwise) sometime in the next month. But reports of the first monarchs trickling into the US prompted an earlier communication.

First, and most importantly, thanks for your contributions to our understanding of monarchs and their interactions with their habitats, milkweed host plants, and natural enemies. We welcome our new volunteers, and hope that you plan to join us for another season of monarch monitoring. As always, let us know if you have questions, comments, or exciting observations.

Our 15^th year of MLMP monitoring is about to begin, and, not surprisingly, our protocols have undergone some modifications over this time. We hope that the changes aren’t confusing; they all reflect things we’ve learned as the program evolved. Here is a brief summary of MLMP activities, with hints to maximize the value of your data, and a description of things that have changed and why. Remember that you can pick and choose, doing just what you have the interest and time to do.

Activity 1. The heart and soul of the MLMP is measuring monarch per plant density. Every week, MLMP volunteers visit their monitoring site, search milkweed plants for monarch eggs and larvae, and record the number of plants they observe and the number of eggs and larvae they see on these plants. Over the 14 years, we have 15,280 (!) lines of data, each of which represents a visit by an MLMP volunteer to a monitoring site.

We are VERY interested in an absence of monarchs.So, whenever you monitor your site, even if you don’t see any monarchs, report your data.As soon as your milkweed comes up, it’s time to start looking!

Last year, we added a new twist to our monarch density data collection. Instead of simply recording the number of milkweed plants and monarchs you observe, you can now record more detail about how the monarchs are distributed among the plants, using data sheet 1C. Recent analyses of MLMP and Project MonarchHealth (www.monarchparasites.org) data showed a relationship between monarch density and infection by the protozoan parasite Ophryocystis elektroschirrha. This detailed information will help us to better understand this density/disease relationship. For example, imagine that you observed 100 milkweed plants, two of which had monarch eggs on them. One plant had 3 eggs and one had 1 egg. The other 98 plants had zero eggs. In the old data collection method, you simply told us that you observed 100 plants and found 4 eggs. Now you can tell us that there were 3 eggs on one plant and 1 on another. However, we can still learn a lot about monarch density from the simple monarchs per plant data, so if you’d rather stick to the old methods, that’s fine. If you have questions about the new format, ask us!

Our data analyses are set up for weekly monitoring, but please don’t decide not to monitor if that’s too much for you. Even if you only monitor once or twice during the season, your data are valuable. However, if you can monitor every week, we are better able to understand population dynamics on your site.

Our new activity 1 data sheets ask whether you see the bright yellow Aphis nerii aphids at your site each week. Please remember to look for these interesting (and sometimes overly abundant!) herbivores.

Activity 2. Weather patterns. We used to collect daily temperature data, but now we only collect temperature data from the day that you monitor (on activity 1 datasheets). We are still collecting rainfall data. If you have a rain gauge at your site that you empty regularly, information on the precipitation at your site will be very valuable as we analyze detailed influences of precipitation on monarch populations.

Activity 3. Estimating parasitism rates. This year, we will make detailed identifications of the parasitoids from monarchs that you rear. The new activity 3 datasheet provides instructions for preserving the parasitoids and a Fed Ex shipping number.

In the past, it has been difficult to for us receive parasitoid data if you collected monarchs at a site other than your usual monitoring site. We are fixing that for this season. Data from any monarchs that you collect and rear will be combined with our large monarch rearing data base. You’ll collect the same information that you’ve been collecting on the activity 3 data sheet, and be able to enter this information online.

We’ve also added information on sampling for the protozoan parasite Ophryocystis elektroschirrha to our Activity 3 protocol. This is optional, but your involvement in this activity will add a lot to our ability to understand monarch population dynamics.

Activity 4. Comparing occupied to unoccupied milkweed plant. This activity hasn’t changed much. It’s the most time-consuming of all of the MLMP activities, but also probably the best way for you to really get to know your milkweed plants and everything that’s on them. We are learning a great deal about the features that make some plants attractive to monarchs. If you do this activity, be sure to assess the condition of plants that do and do not have monarchs on them.

We have worked with Ba Rea, first author of the field guide Milkweed, Monarchs and More, to update and improve this handy guide to most of the insects that you’ll see on milkweed plants.

Activity 5. Monitoring milkweed for aphids. This activity is new, and still in the pilot phase. We don’t have the capacity to receive data online for aphid densities, but if you are interested in making detailed observations of the aphids you see on milkweed plants, please let us know. Data forms, pictures of aphids, and direction are available on our website.

Thanks for all that you do!

Karen Oberhauser and the U of MN MLMP Team

Monarch Summer 2010 Wrap -Up From Denny Brooks

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Word came Monday, 10/25 from Mexico that Monarchs are being seen in the sanctuaries. A long extended migration is coming to an end. A long hot and humid summer gave us a marvelous butterfly year. Other than the skippers the majority of common butterflies made an appearance. We had two uncommon visitors this year at Chippewa Nature Center, Buckeye butterflies made a prolonged August visit and we had American Snouts in July. Our monarchs returned to mid-Michigan in mid May, which is typical for early springs. We had a short period of limited sightings and then virtually everyday thereafter there were monarchs seen everywhere. As a whole the monarchs made a fantastic recovery from last year’s woeful numbers. The proof will be in February, when the various agencies do their winter sanctuary surveys.

Unfortunately, due to family and work commitments I got a late start on my summer projects. Here is a brief recap of the summer data. I surveyed 56 Monarchs: 28 female, 28 male. 51 were tested for parasites with 6 testing positive. I did 13 weeks of formal larva surveys for the Monarch Larva Monitoring Program on the Chippewa Nature center site, which yielded 11 eggs, 23 caterpillars, and 105 adult monarchs for 3148 milkweeds. I did another 11 casual surveys that yielded 26 eggs, 11 caterpillars and 141 adult monarchs for 1148 milkweeds. That means that we officially checked 4296 milkweed plants this year. We tagged 20 monarchs: 13 females, 7 males.

I only had five outreach programs this year, but I'm at 1767 people for my outreach programs since 2004. Despite having a cool windy day that was threatening rain we had a successful monarch tagging program on Labor Day weekend, at the Chippewa Nature Center. We found four adults and one caterpillar for the day. I have to thank Jamie Dietch, Stephen Wilson, Lucas Kraenzlein, and CNC educator Jeanne Henderson for there valiant effort to get the butterflies. We have been given the OK by CNC to do it again next year. So mark your calendars for Labor Day Saturday for our monarch tagging day.

Steve Griffin was kind enough to do an article about my projects and our CNC tagging day for the Midland Daily News.

http://www.ourmidland.com/news/article_eb0f6234-a31d-597a-8d13-918ae7348a48.html

I sent the article to the MLMP group at the University of Minnesota, my
primary agency. The article then went to Monarch.Net, where I was recognized
for the work that I do for my various projects.

http://www.monarchnet.org/

Thanks to all of you for your questions, comments, and support; it's greatly appreciated.

Associated agencies:

Monarch Larva Monitoring Project, University of Minnesota: (http://www.mlmp.org/)
Monarch Watch, University Of Kansas: (http://www.monarchwatch.org/)
Monarch Health, University of Georgia: (http://www.monarchparasites.org/)
Journey North: (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/)
Monarch.net: (http://www.monarchnet.org/)

DENNY BROOKS
Mid-Michigan Monarch Field Study
Midland, Michigan
43.36 - 84. 26
denbroo@aol.com

July Update

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:48:00 +0000

As I walked through the residential neighborhood to the U of MN campus today, I passed a female monarch fluttering around a blooming common milkweed, taking sips from the flowers and quickly laying an egg on the underside of a leaf. Then, a block later, another monarch quickly flew by at eye level, on its way to a milkweed plant in a nearby garden, I imagine. All these sightings got me wondering what was happening in all your neighborhoods across North America. I also wanted to remind you that this is a GREAT time of season to collect your once-a-year milkweed density data while the milkweed is at its height. Find the datasheet and directions on the MLMP website at:

http://www.mlmp.org/Monitoring/datasheets/Measuring-Milkweed-Density.pdf

I hope the new website, the new detailed monarch density data collection activity, as well as the new aphid data collection activity are serving you well. Let us know how it is going! We would love any feedback from YOU in the monarch habitat trenches. And of course do not hesitate to email us (info@mlmp.org) with absolutely any comments or questions. You can also email any photos, art, or cool monarch monitoring observations to that same email address.

We look forward to hearing monarch news, getting your rich data, and learning more about monarchs together.

Happy monitoring!

Dina Kountoupes
MLMP Coordinator
U of MN, St. Paul, MN

Activity #3 (Parasitism) Revised

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Wed, 26 May 2010 03:50:00 +0000

Dear Monarch Monitors,

There are monarchs in Minnesota, which probably means they're almost everywhere! Be sure to catch the monarchs as they return to your monitoring sites, and submit any data you've collected before they arrive. We can only confirm when they arrive in an area if we have some "absence data" before the "presence data" start.

We have a modified version of the datasheet and directions for Activity 3, Estimating Parasitism Rates, on our website. We are working with Project MonarchHealth to obtain a more complete picture of monarch parasites, and this datasheet describes how to collect data on Oe (Ophryocystis elektroschirrha) infections. You'll need to request a sampling kit from the MonarchHealth folks at the University of Georgia, but this is easy to do and will cost you nothing. This is optional, but will be interesting and valuable.

We hope that you're finding the new MLMP website and other new activities easy to use. Be sure to let us know if you have questions, concerns or comments!

All the best, Karen Oberhauser

Updates from Karen Oberhauser

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Oberhauser) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 21:45:00 +0000

Dear MLMP Monitors:

There’s no milkweed up in central Minnesota yet, but it’s good to read reports of monarchs moving north from southern MLMP team members. I’m sending a few quick reminders about the upcoming monitoring season, our new website, and exciting data analyses. Since we’ve made a few changes to our data sheets, please download them from the website to make sure you’re using the most current versions. As always, please let us know if you have questions or comments, and THANKS for your great work.

Report your data even if you don’t see monarchs! This is so important, especially this year when we expect monarch numbers to be low. If you don’t report data, we can’t know for sure where monarchs are and are not.
Update your site coordinates. Our Webmaster, Amy Witty, has added a wonderful tool to the website that allows you to locate your site exactly and easily. Simply go into “update site information” and check the map below the coordinates. If it doesn’t show the exact location of your site, click to find the precise coordinates. This click will take you to a Google map, where you can move a marker to get the exact latitude and longitude. Exact locations will help us to understand fine-scale details about monarch habitat use. You can use the map, satellite, or terrain view; the satellite image is fun to play with.
New (optional) monarch density activity. If you’re interested in learning even more about how monarchs use milkweed, check out our new version of the monarch density activity. This version allows you to track the number of monarchs on individual milkweed plants, and to keep track of monarch use of different milkweed species in your monitoring site. Recent evidence that monarch density on individual plants may affect susceptibility to disease prompted up to add this activity. You’ll use a different data sheet and enter the data a little differently, which takes some getting used to, but it worked well for us in a trial run last summer.
New (optional) aphid monitoring activity. We hear a lot about the bright yellow aphids (Aphis nerii) on your milkweed plants, and we’re now tracking their distribution. The monarch density data sheets (online and hard copy) now have a box to check every week to let us know if you have or haven’t seen these aphids (or if you didn’t look). If you’d like to collect more detailed aphid data, please contact either Karen (oberh001@umn.edu) or Emily Mohl (mohlx@umn.edu).
Project MonarchHealth. If you raise monarchs for the parasitoid study, consider checking these monarchs for the parasite Oe through MonarchHealth (www.monarchparasites.org or email monarch@uga.edu to get a free monitoring kit).
Monarch monitoring data analysis. A group of ecologists and citizen science program coordinators is working to conduct a collaborative analysis of 18 (!) different monarch monitoring data sets, including the MLMP. This joint effort, called MonarchNet, is looking at impacts of disease, population trends, habitat use, effects of climate, and many other features of monarch biology.

Here’s to a good summer for monarchs, and for all of you!

Karen

Website Redesign, 2010 Newsletter, and more!

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Dear Monarch Larva Monitors and Friends:

There are monarchs in southern Texas, there is a new MLMP newsletter out, AND we are very excited to announce the launching of the new MLMP website at www.mlmp.org. The website has a completely new look, and many new exciting features. Please take some time to check it out. We hope that the organization will be much clearer, and that you'll find lots of new and useful features.

One of the first things you should try out is the Google Maps method for locating the exact latitude and longitude coordinates of your monitoring site. Once you enter these coordinates, your old data will be correctly placed in the world. Next, you should check out the new, optional version of Activity 1, estimating monarch density. Then, if you haven't seen it in your mailbox, find our 2010 newsletter!

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions. And, if you find any technical glitches, send them to webadmin@mlmp.org right away.

Thanks, Karen, Amy, Dina and the rest of the MLMP team

MLMP Website Redesign Coming!

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:37:00 +0000

We will be shutting down the MLMP website temporarily beginning on Friday evening, March 5, 2010. It will be down for several days while we migrate all of the monitoring data into our new database format. When the site comes back online, it will have a whole new look and feel. If you have any questions, comments, or experience any technical difficulties, please contact us.

Monarchs in Maryland

noreply@blogger.com (Monarch Larva Monitoring Project) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:23:00 +0000

"We seemed to have an abundant year by the number of chrysalids that I saw in our gazebo. I even had a chrysalis on our soda vending machine that I had to rescue." -Stephanie Jacob, Upper Marlboro, MD

Hello and happy autumn to all MLMP volunteers!

noreply@blogger.com (Monarch Larva Monitoring Project) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:22:00 +0000

I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your participation in the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project in 2009. Your contribution is an invaluable part of monarch conservation research!

The Northern U.S. monarch season is over (with 2 inches of snow here today in St. Paul, MN!) yet the Southern U.S is still going strong with welcomed rains bringing new growth and vigor to the milkweed. As the monarchs begin their migration south to Mexico, I wanted to bring your attention to an interesting article on monarch migration research recently covered by the BBC. There are some very cool findings about how those little butterflies find their way back to those Fir trees on that same mountain in Mexico every year. You can read the article by clicking on the link below.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8273069.stm

I would also like to remind participants to please send in your original monitoring data sheets, if you haven’t already. It’s important that we have original data for validity of this 12-year-long citizen science research project.

This year we received many comments from participants about the low numbers of monarchs observed. Well, you are correct; the numbers are indeed lower this year than some previous years. We have analyzed monitoring data from the upper mid-west to look for trends and came up with a nice graph to support the data. We will post the the MLMP data, graph, and written discussion on our MLMP blog for you to check out.

Speaking of our blog…… Jump onto http://blog.mlmp.org/ to read about the latest research, stories, and findings about monarchs from MLMP headquarters at the University of MN and volunteers all around the nation. Free and easy with no need to sign up or join anything!

The blog is easy to use! If you would like to make a comment or sign up for updates, there’s a little primer below with easy instructions:

To subscribe to blog – You will receive an email when a new writing is posted to the MLMP blog

At site, on upper right side of page it says “subscribe via email”
- enter your email address in the box
- click on the “subscribe” button
- verify a code word you see
- And that’s it!

To comment on a blog posting - Make a comment on the writings you have read and a discussion may even ensue!

At the end of the submission there is a small blue highlighted “comment” word.
- Click on the word “comment”
- write your comment on the box
- under the box you verify a code word you see
- under that you “chose an identity” that will be your signature on your comment. If you do not have a Google account, just click on the circle by “anonymous” or “name” and your comment will be posted with that signature after it.
- Then click on the “publish your comment” button and that’s it!

Thank you again monarch enthusiasts for everything you do for monarch butterfly conservation!

Dina Kountoupes
MLMP Coordinator
University of Minnesota

Monarch population analysis for the Upper Midwest of the U.S. based on MLMP monitoring data.

noreply@blogger.com (Monarch Larva Monitoring Project) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:52:00 +0000

Click on graph (at right) for larger view.

Recently, we have looked at our volunteers’ monitoring data and have been doing some analyses of the Upper Midwestern monarch population. Above is a graph that shows a compilation of data - eggs per milkweed plant observed – throughout the upper Midwest. The data represented in the graph combine all sites in that region. The height of the bar is the proportion of plants occupied by a monarch egg on the peak July week for each year (eggs per milkweed) from 1996-2009. The data for 2009 are incomplete, since not all volunteers have reported in yet.

Overall, it's hard to see a clear trend - certainly the last few years have been below average (the average is 0.13 eggs per milkweed), and we haven't had a "big year" for a long time. Note that in both 2002 and 2004 there were freezes at the two largest monarch overwintering sites in Mexico, causing the deaths of tens of millions of monarchs. We can see the dips in the monarch population during those years on the graph.

Dina Kountoupes and Karen Oberhauser
MLMP
University of Minnesota

Monarchs in Texas - October 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Oberhauser) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:40:00 +0000

MLMP volunteers are really helping us to understand the dynamics of the fall southward migration. For years, we've been noting the occurence of eggs as monarchs move through Texas in the fall. This year, after months of terrible drought, monarchs are moving into a well-watered central Texas, and are responding to the fresh milkweed by laying eggs - perhaps breaking diapause in response to these ideal conditions for reproduction. Read the following Oct 3 post from Kip Kiphart, volunteer MLMP coordinator at Cibolo Nature Center in Boerne TX, for more:

"What an incredible day at Cibolo Nature Center Wildlife Field Research doing MLMP@CNC monitoring. We checked 114 milkweeds and found 50 eggs and 9 1st instar monarch larvae. Both double WOWs. Two weeks ago there were no milkweeds found in our milkweed patch. Last Saturday 40 milkweeds and 3 eggs were found. What a difference the rains have made! The hanky - panky is not confined to CNC. Monarchs are fooling around in Mary Kennedy's garden, and one of the MLMP@CNC volunteers sent me a photo of a 5th instar munching on A. texana in his garden." Kip Kiphart MLMP@CNCBoerne, TX

What good is a butterfly?

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Oberhauser) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:06:00 +0000

I received the below on the Pollinator Listserv, and thought that it was well worth reading to the end.

Best, Karen

From Bill Hilton:

There have been lots of butterflies flitting around as of late, which reminded us of a query once posed by Marston Bates: "What good is a butterfly?" That odd question long ago had major impact on the way we study and teach about natural history, so we decided "This Week at Hilton Pond" to ruminate on a butterfly's value. To view our latest photo essay for 22-31 August 2009, visit http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek090822.html. While you're there, please scroll down for a list of all birds banded and recaptured during the period, plus some miscellaneous nature notes--including one about a significant local increase in hummingbird numbers. Happy Nature Watching!

BILL HILTON JR. Executive Director
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
1432 DeVinney Road, York, South Carolina 29745 USA
(803) 684-5852

Monarchs on Minnesota Public Radio

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Oberhauser) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:24:00 +0000

I was recently interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio, discussing monarch numbers (as reported by MLMP volunteers) in Minnesota this year. You can read or hear the interview at

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/08/19/minnesota-monarch-butterfly-population-falls/

Ilse Gebhard, MLMP volunteer from Kalamazoo Michigan, just got back from a week in Michigan's upper peninsula. She and her husband stopped at Peninsula Point (Stonington Peninsula) on 8/13/09 and saw no monarchs aggregating there. They did see monarchs daily flying (no directional flight) or nectaring as they were driving or walking east and north of Peninsula Point in the central and eastern UP wherever they went.

It's also been dry in central Michigan, where Ilse lives. They only had .55 inches rain on 5 different sprinkle events in a 7 week period between 6/20 and 8/8/09. They've had adequate rain since then.

Monarchs in North Central MN

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:21:00 +0000

We recently received this great photo from Dallas Hudson in Hubbard County, North Central MN

The migrating monarchs suddenly showed up in big numbers on these purple blazing star plants. Dallas reported seeing about 200 monarchs in one small patch!

Thanks for sending this in, Dallas!

August 2009 Update

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Oberhauser) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:37:00 +0000

Dear MLMP Volunteers,

August 15 is always a bit of a milestone in the UM Monarch Lab; after this date, most monarchs that emerge in our part of the country are in reproductive diapause and will head south. We’re definitely seeing a large drop off in monarch egg and larva numbers here. In honor of this date, I’m sending one of our sporadic updates.

We’ve been following the droughts in south central Texas and east central MN and west central WI. The US Drought Monitor website, run by the USDA and NOAA (http://drought.unl.edu/dm/index.html, click on the link to Drought Monitor) shows exceptional drought in both areas. Kip Kiphart, MLMP coordinator and volunteer at the Cibolo Nature Center in Boerne Texas recently noted that “monarchs are going to have to fly some 250 miles through South Central Texas which is currently pretty much devoid of native nectar plants. And if the drought extends into Northern Mexico as suggested by the satellite photo, there will be an additional nectarless area to cross.” We can all join Kip in hoping for rain!

We aren’t posting a summary of 2009 MLMP data yet because many volunteers enter all of their data at the end of the season, but unusual weather has caused some unusual patterns. In the Upper Midwest, we had extremely cool weather in June just after the monarchs returned, causing a big drop in numbers just when we normally see monarch numbers increasing toward their first peak. Since then, numbers have bounced back somewhat, but in Minnesota we’re seeing our lowest numbers since 1998 (when we had another bad drought) and 2002 (after the big die-off in Mexico).

We’re working on the analysis of your responses to our survey last fall and early this year. You are doing amazing things for monarch and habitat conservation, and we’ll keep you posted as we continue this analysis.

Finally, and most importantly, thanks for all of your monarch monitoring work!

Best, Karen Oberhauser

Project MonarchHealth

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:42:00 +0000

Do you have monarchs near your home or garden? Then sign up to participate in Project MonarchHealth! Project MonarchHealth surveys monarch butterflies for infection by the protozoan parasite Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE). This parasite is not harmful to humans; however, it can affect the monarchs by lowering butterfly survival in the wild. The survey is easy to do, participation is free, and we send you the sampling materials and instructions in a participation kit! The testing process does not injure the butterfly. Your observations are needed to better understand this butterfly disease and track changes in infection over space and time.

Anyone interested in monarch butterflies can participate. MonarchHealth is conducted by people of all skills, ages, and backgrounds including families, retired persons, classrooms, monarch organizations, nature centers, and individuals. To sign up and learn more about the project, visit: http://www.monarchparasites.org/ or email monarch@uga.edu.

Importance of Monitoring When You're Not Finding Anything

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:37:00 +0000

Dear Monarch Larva Monitoring Project Volunteer,

We often talk about the importance of monitoring monarchs when you're not finding anything. Even though it's not as much fun, the data you collect during low years are incredibly important in advancing our understanding of the factors that drive monarch populations. Early indications suggest that this might be a very low year in the Upper Midwestern US, and possibly other areas as well. So we really hope that you'll go out and monitor your plants, and report your data on the MLMP website (www.mlmp.org). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact either Karen (oberh001@umn.edu) or Dina (kount002@umn.edu).

Thanks so much for all that you do! And a huge welcome to all of our new Texas volunteers!

All the best,
Karen

Dr. Karen Oberhauser
Associate Professor

MLMP Participation Survey Closing in 2 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:19:00 +0000

Dear MLMP Volunteers,

A big thank you to all who contributed to filling out the MLMP online survey on conservation outcomes of the MLMP. If you responded already, you should be receiving your free copy of the North American Monarch Conservation Plan in the next couple days!

I wanted to let you all know that the survey is going to be up and active for two more weeks. If you haven't had a chance to fill it out you can still do so by clicking on the link below. (Please only fill out the survey once!) And, again, thank you so much to those of you who took the time to fill it out already. You can either click on the link below or cut and paste it into the url address bar.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8AwEW9gZZ1NjKp5Uoimhdw_3d_3d

The short online survey will help us learn more about how actions taken by MLMP monitors contribute to monarch conservation. We already know that many of you are helping conserve monarch habitat, individual monarchs, milkweed, and native plant habitat. We'd like to be able to collect data to know more about how much and in what way you all are making a difference.

Thanks so much for your time and contribution. REMEMBER, As a token of our appreciation we are offering to send you a free copy of the North American Monarch Conservation Plan as a thank you for taking the survey!

Dina Kountoupes
MLMP Coordinator
info@mlmp.org

MLMP Participation Survey

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:38:00 +0000

Dear MLMP Volunteer,

Happy New Year and greetings from Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) headquarters at the University of Minnesota! We hope that you had a great monitoring season in 2008, and that monitoring monarchs continues to be source of pleasure and learning for you.

Since you are a cornerstone of this citizen science project, we need your feedback to maximize its benefits: to science knowledge, to our participants, and to monarch and habitat conservation. We have designed a web-based survey, and hope that you will take a few minutes to fill it out. Depending on your answers, it should take from about 10-25 minutes to answer all of the questions. To access the survey, please click on the following web link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8AwEW9gZZ1NjKp5Uoimhdw_3d_3d

Please do take the time to take the survey, even if you did not get a chance to monitor as frequently as you might have planned or hoped in 2008. Even if you were not able to monitor monarchs at all in 2008, we are very interested in how we could make the process more convenient or manageable for you. As a Thank You for your time, we will send you a copy of the North American Monarch Conservation Plan, recently released to the public. MLMP director Karen Oberhauser is the primary author of the plan, which addresses monarch conservation throughout the breeding range, migratory flyway and overwintering sites in Canada, the US and Mexico.

If you haven't visited our website (www.mlmp.org) recently, please check it out. There's a lot of new information on monarchs and MLMP findings. We also look forward to a new and improved website design coming soon!

Our project continues to be successful through the dedication that volunteers like you have for the project. We hope you continue to monitor in 2009 and help aid in our understanding of monarch butterfly biology. If you have any questions, or suggestions to improve the project we greatly appreciate your feedback.

Thanks for all that you do, and best wishes for the new year!

Dina Kountoupes, Karen Oberhauser and the MLMP team

If you have questions or comments, please contact us at info@mlmp.org.

Who's Who, New Blog, and Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:01:00 +0000

Hello MLMP monitors!

The season of monitoring is upon us! Monarchs have finally arrived in Minnesota and there is plenty of milkweed popping up all over. MLMP volunteers over the entire northern part of the summer breeding range are reporting their first eggs.

WHO’s WHO at MLMP

We wanted to introduce you all briefly to the 2008 MLMP team. Below is a little bit about each person, as well as their area of expertise, so you’ll know the best person to direct any MLMP questions you may have. Even more information and full color pictures of each team member can also be found on our website, www.mlmp.org, under the tab “About us”.

Karen Oberhauser - MLMP Director: oberh001@umn.edu
Karen and her graduate and undergraduate students at the University of MN have studied monarch reproduction, disease dynamics, overwintering biology, larval nutritional requirements, and larval ecology. Some of their more applied work has included a risk assessment of the potential impacts of genetically modified corn on monarchs, and impacts of common garden insecticides. Karen is excited by the way in which the MLMP blends monarch conservation, education and research; and is happy to have made the acquaintance of such a wonderful group of volunteers throughout the US.

Dina Kountoupes - MLMP Coordinator: kount002@umn.edu
Dina just completed her Master’s degree in environmental education. Her thesis evaluated the MLMP to learn how it could better serve a youth audience. She has continued to look at ways the MLMP contributes to monarch conservation and education, and is involved with developing curriculum materials for our Schoolyard Ecology Explorations program. She also helps coordinate the nuts and bolts of the MLMP programming and can answer many logistical questions you may have about monitoring.

Alma P. DeAnda - U of MN PhD student researcher: deand003@umn.edu
Alma is interested in plant-insect interactions and predator-prey dynamics. Currently she is working on predator-prey dynamics using monarch butterflies as a model system. Her work will provide the first comprehensive study of monarch population regulation during the breeding portion of their annual migratory cycle. Alma knows a lot about the insect world in a monarch habitat and would be a wonderful contact for questions you had about that subject.

Reba Batalden - U of MN PhD student researcher: smit2007@umn.edu
Reba’s research focuses on the effect that climate change could have on monarchs' summer and migratory habitat. This project relies heavily on data collected by MLMP volunteers. Reba would be a great person to contact with questions about monarch migration trends both locally and internationally.

Grant Bowers – MLMP community program assistant: bowe0182@umn.edu
Grant just finished his undergraduate degree in Biology at the U of MN in 2008. He has been working in the Monarch Lab since 2005. In addition, Grant has monitored monarchs, collecting data for both Alma and Reba’s research projects. Grant also took on his own monarch research as an undergrad, studying milkweed flower color inheritance patterns. Contact Grant about ordering monitoring supplies or any other monarch monitoring resources you may need.

Amy Witty – MLMP webmaster: webadmin@mlmp.org
Amy is our website guru. She manages the MLMP website as well as the monarchlab.org website. Along with collecting and organizing the huge amount of monarch data sent in from all over North America, she also takes any suggestions on how to make the interface for monitors as user-friendly as possible.

MLMP BLOG!

MLMP now has its own blog site at blog.mlmp.org (note that there is NO www in this URL). On the blog there are “posts” written by monarch lab team members that anyone can read. Anyone can also make a “comment” on the postings. To do this you simply click on the word “comments” under the posting and it will bring you to a new interface to write your comment. (*NOTE: you need to choose one of the authoring buttons on the bottom. I suggest clicking on the “name” button and just signing it in that way.) You do NOT have to have a Google account to leave a comment. You can also “subscribe” to the blog. When you subscribe you will receive email notifications whenever a new entry has been posted on the site. So check out what all the MLMP bloggers are talking about at blog.mlmp.org.

2008 NEWSLETTER now posted on website in FULL COLOR

Our latest newsletter has just hit the press and can also be printed off our website where it appears in full color. Just let us know if you would like a hardcopy by mail by contacting us at info@mlmp.org.

Happy monitoring!
From the MLMP Team at the University of Minnesota

Letter to 2008 Volunteers

noreply@blogger.com (MLMP Web Admin) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:38:00 +0000

Dear Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) Volunteers,

Welcome to a new season of monarch monitoring! This is the first of several periodic e-mails meant to increase communication among our monarch larva monitoring team. They’ll be short and infrequent to avoid clogging your in-boxes, and if you’d rather not receive them, please let us know.

1. Thanks so much for your contributions to the MLMP. With your data, we’ve learned a lot about monarch biology. We hope that monitoring monarchs provides an enjoyable way for you to learn more about your own corner of the world, and a good excuse to spend quality time outside.

2. There are two things that you should do once EVERY year, and we’ve noticed many volunteers (including us) forget these things. At the beginning of every season, you should update your site information. Even if nothing has changed, the site information data sheet asks when the milkweed first comes up at your site. A good strategy might be to do this on your first monitoring date every year. Sometime in the middle of the season, after the milkweed is up and before it starts senescing, or dying, you should estimate milkweed density, either by counting all of the plants on your site or using the sampling method described on the milkweed density data sheets. If you have an April or May birthday in the south, or a June or July birthday in the north, a good strategy would be to do it on the monitoring date closest to your birthday. Otherwise choose another date that you’ll remember from year to year.

3. We published two scientific papers using MLMP data in 2007. One looked at rates of parasitism by the tachinid fly parasitoid throughout the monarch’s eastern breeding range, and another used ecological niche and climate change models to predict where monarchs’ niche will be in 50 years. There are links to both of these papers on our website, as well as detailed summaries. We’re currently working with Dr. Leslie Ries from the University of Maryland and Scott Taron from the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network to come up with a comprehensive view of monarch movement and reproduction, using MLMP, NABA and datasets from Butterfly Monitoring Networks, particularly those in Illinois and Ohio.

Our next communication will include, among other things, a brief introduction to the folks at the U of M MonarchLab who are working on the MLMP. If you have suggestions for things to include, please let us know. We love hearing your monarch musings, questions and observations, and after you know more about what we all do, you can direct these to one of us specifically, or to all of us.

Thanks again, the University of Minnesota MLMP crew

Welcome to the MLMP Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Oberhauser) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:23:00 +0000

We hope that MLMP volunteers and other people interested in monarchs will contribute postings to this blog, sharing their thoughts, insights and observations. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for ways to improve the blog or ideas for things to include.

Karen