Tag, You’re It! How Citizen Scientists Tag and Track Monarch Butterflies for Research
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Monarch butterfly migration in North America is quite the feat. Each fall, millions of monarch butterflies gather to travel thousands of miles from southern Canada to California and Mexico to stay the winter, and then travel back in the spring. There were stories of the monarch migrations, but there was little formal research into their migration route until the Urquharts began their investigation in the late 1930s.
Canadian researchers Fred and Norah Urquhart aimed to identify the butterflies’ route. Recognizing that neither they themselves nor even a small group of collaborators could track the migration, they solicited the help of volunteer citizen scientists – community members interested in assisting research with observations.
Over the course of their long scientific career, the Urquharts and their citizen scientist collaborators identified multiple migratory paths covering Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The overwintering sites in Mexico are now classified as a World Heritage Site to help monarch butterfly conservation efforts. The Urquharts also initiated an early method of tagging individual butterflies to track their migration. Many organizations still use some form of tagging to track migration and estimate population size. Fred published the books The Monarch Butterfly in 1960 and The Monarch Butterfly: International Traveler in 1987 to document their research.
Though citizen science was formally added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2014, citizen scientists existed before the professionalization of science at universities and government labs. A few famous people who could be classified as a citizen scientist include Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, and Florence Nightingale. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a renewed effort to reengage the public in scientific studies. The Urquharts’ monarch butterfly studies are just one example of how impactful citizen science efforts can be.
The citizen science support of monarch butterfly migration and population studies continues today. An incredible community effort to study monarch butterfly migration every year is informally organized by Monarch Watch. Founded in 1992 by Orley “Chip” Taylor at the University of Kansas, Monarch Watch facilitates a large-scale tagging program to help track migration routes and estimate population size as well as provide educational resources about monarch butterfly conservation. Teachers, students, and community members are provided resources to help collect data each fall and are encouraged to plant native milkweed along migration routes to support conservation efforts. According to a 2018 post on their website, Monarch Watch has collected tagging data from over 1.5 million monarch butterflies since it started.
Community science is a growing effort, from species-specific organizations like Monarch Watch to larger international platforms like iNaturalist. Recording observations with these types of organizations helps generate data for conservation and biodiversity research. A university near you may have a local organization you can join and iNaturalist is an app for anyone, anywhere.
Additional fun fact: Monarch butterflies are poisonous! They feed on milkweed and store a compound from the plant that is poisonous to potential predators like birds and mice. While this protects them on their migration route, some studies have identified a few bird and mouse species that have developed a tolerance to the poison in order to prey on the butterflies at the Mexico roosting sites.
Bring your monarch butterfly sticker, print, or card home today.
References:
The Monarch Butterfly: International Traveler