Monarch Citizen Science
I participated in two monarch citizen science projects: Monarch Watch tagging and Monarch Larva Monitoring Project.
Monarch Watch tagging
Another citizen science project involves tagging monarchs. If you look closely, you'll see that the tag has a number on it. I got it on upside down unfortunately - I'll try to improve my technique next year. Why is this important? Experts can actually read the numbers through binoculars, which is a little more difficult when they're upside down.
When this butterfly is found down in Mexico, they'll record the find and send the information in to Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas.
Monarch Watch is a program of the University of Kansas. From Monarch Watch: "Many questions remain unanswered about the fall migration of the monarch population east of the Rocky Mountains. How do the monarchs move across the continent, i.e. do they move in specific directions or take certain pathways? How is the migration influenced by the weather and are there differences in the migration from year to year? We need data to answer these questions and we need your help! Only through the cooperative efforts of volunteer taggers will we be able to obtain sufficient recoveries and observations of the migration to answer these questions."
I purchased a set of 25 tags in 2007. I'm awaiting my first results: will someone in Mexico find one of my monarchs?
Larva Monitoring Program results
The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) began in 1997 at the University of Minnesota. It involves citizens in collecting data that will help to explain the distribution and abundance patterns of monarch butterflies in North America.
So far, I have submitted results only from monarchs I raise inside, collected from eggs and caterpillars collected from my own yard. Here are my results from 2007.
| Date submitted |
Eggs | Instar 1 | Instar 2 | Instar 3 | Instar 4 | Instar 5 | Adult males |
Adult females |
| 7/1 | 30 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7/8 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 27 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 7/15 | 48 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 7/21 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 8 | 9 | 21 | 6 | 11 |
| 7/28 | 23 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 20 | 26 | 20 |
| 8/4 | 28 | 18 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 36 | 15 | 19 |
| 8/21 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 38 | 29 |
| 8/29 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| 9/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 4 | 6 |
| 9/11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 9/18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 5 |
| 9/25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10/2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Altogether, in 2007 I released 104 males and 99 females for a total of 203.
