Opposing global change drivers counterbalance trends in breeding North American monarch butterflies.

ABSTRACT: Many insects are in clear decline, with monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) drawing particular attention as a flagship species. It is well documented that, among migratory populations, numbers of overwintering monarchs have been falling across several decades, but trends among breeding monarchs are less clear. Here, we compile >135,000 monarch observations between 1993 and 2018 from the North American Butterfly Association's annual butterfly count to examine spatiotemporal patterns and potential drivers of adult monarch relative abundance trends across the entire breeding range in eastern and western North America. While the data revealed declines at some sites, particularly the US Northeast and parts of the Midwest, numbers in other areas, notably the US Southeast and Northwest, were u

SUBMITTER: Crossley MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9542617 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature