The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project: a University/Citizen
Research Initiative
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Outline Protocol and Initial Findings Extensions Outcomes
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MLMP Protocol Volunteer and Choose a Site Gardens, parks,
roadsides, prairies (need milkweed) Site Description Location,
size, type Milkweed species and density Weekly Monitoring (2-3
hours) Estimate monarch densities Quantify milkweed quality
Estimate parasitism rates Track weather conditions
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MLMP Volunteers Range in age from 20-85 (77% monitor with
children) Variety of occupations (from teacher to aircraft
inspector) More than half participate for > 1 year
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MLMP Training www.mlmp.org
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Past and Current Monitoring Locations as of Summer 2002
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Weekly Monitoring Densities 1999 data from Cindy Petersen and
students, Chanhassen, MN
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Temporal Patterns Egg and L5 Densities in Upper Midwestern
Sites, 1999
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Egg densities in the Upper Midwest
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Spatial Patterns
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Spatial and Temporal Patterns: Monarchs in Southern US 2000
data from Kathy Phelps, Harrisburg, IL
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Population Dynamics Total # of 5ths Total # eggs approximate
measure of survival from egg to 5 th instar =
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Upper Midwest Survival 2799 179 1223 10951 2423 1997* 2799 (#
of eggs in blue) 3015 5539 10988 1223 180
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Photo by Anurag Agrawal
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Tachinid Fly Parasitism
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MN and WI Survival
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Data Quality Issues Incomplete/unusable data Too few plants No
plant numbers Inaccurate data No eggs, lots of larvae Too many eggs
Over-representation of late-instar larvae Training, reviewing hard
copies of data, and recognition of normal patterns help to address
these issues
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MLMP Extensions
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Risk Assessment: Bt Corn and Monarchs Losey et al. 1999
Consuming Bt corn pollen can kill monarch larvae Milkweed is a
common agricultural weed
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Relative Usage of Habitats: MN/WI Anthesis: 7/19 - 8/7
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Corn field in Rosemount, MN Overlap of pollen anthesis and
monarch larvae
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Round-up Ready TM Crops
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Documenting Impacts of Environmental Perturbations January 2002
Mexico Storm
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Research Questions Sources of mortality: temporal/spatial
variation Tachinid flies: effects of habitat type, presence of
other hosts, location and season Host plant choice Changing
landscape and ag practices Multi-trophic level interactions
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MLMP Outcomes
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Key Motivators My work may help promote monarch conservation My
work is leading to increased understanding of monarch biology I am
involved in real scientific research
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Potential Obstacles ~20% of volunteers feel that Monitoring
takes too much time Finding a site to monitor is difficult Filling
out the forms takes too much time
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Scientific Outcomes Much can be learned from basic distribution
and abundance data In addition, data can provide direction for
experimental and theoretical research inform public policy and
conservation efforts
