▲ Monarch butterflies in the El Rosario sanctuary, in the municipality of Ocampo, in Michoacán. IUCN reports that the population of the ledidoptera fell between 22 and 72 percent during the past decade.Photo Ignacio Juarez
Angelica Enciso L.
Newspaper La Jornada
Friday, July 22, 2022, p. eleven
The migration of the monarch butterfly, a species that resides in Canada and travels 4,000 kilometers through the United States, where it breeds and spends the winter in the fir forests of the state of Mexico and Michoacán, entered the category of danger of extinction in the red list of threatened species of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN, for its acronym in English).
For the first time the butterfly was included in this list because its annual migration faces risks due to the destruction of its habitat and climate change, although since the 1990s it was in the category of vulnerability. The species can be found in other parts of the world, but migration is unique to North America.
The update of the red list highlights the fragility of the wonders of nature, such as the unique spectacle of monarch butterflies that migrate thousands of kilometers, said Bruno Oberle, director general of the IUCN, announcing the red list that includes 147,000 517 species, of which 41 thousand 459 are in danger of extinction.
Arguing for the inclusion of the lepidoptera in danger of extinction, the IUCN indicated that its population fell between 22 percent and 72 percent during the past decade, and behind this reduction in its population is legal and illegal logging for the expansion of land for agriculture and urban development, which leads to deforestation and the destruction of their hibernation sanctuaries
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This has destroyed substantial areas of winter refuge for butterflies in Mexico and California, while pesticides and herbicides used in intensive agriculture throughout the mountain range kill butterflies and milkweed, the host plant on which monarch butterfly larvae feed.
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He adds that climate change has also impacted it, drought limits milkweed growth and increases the frequency of catastrophic wildfires, extreme temperatures trigger earlier migrations before milkweed is available, while severe weather has killed millions. of butterflies.
WWF and Conanp reported in February that last winter the presence of the monarch in the fir forests of Michoacán was in 2.84 hectares of forest, while in the 1996-1997 cycle it occupied 18 hectares.
Over the past two decades, 80 percent of the monarch’s population has declined in the eastern United States, which winters in the country. He explained that between 1994 and 2004 the loss of specimens was observed due to the use of herbicides in the US, especially Round Up (which is associated with the use of GMOs) and between 2004 and 2018 due to climate change, explained Eduardo Rendón of the Global Fund. for Nature (WWF).
