Global warming can turn monarch butterflies' favorite food into poison

Science Daily ^ | April 4, 2018 | by Louisiana State University

[Oldeconomybuyer]

LSU researchers have discovered a new relationship between climate change, monarch butterflies and milkweed plants. It turns out that warming temperatures don't just affect the monarch, Danaus plexippus, directly, but also affect this butterfly by potentially turning its favorite plant food into a poison.

Bret Elderd, associate professor in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences, and Matthew Faldyn, a Ph.D. student in Elderd's lab from Katy, Texas, published their findings today with coauthor Mark Hunter of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. This study is published in Ecology.

"A lot of global climate change research focuses on a single species, and how that species will be affected by climate change," Elderd said. "But we know that in reality, species interact, and they are often tightly linked together."

One such species interaction is that of the monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant, genus Asclepias. The monarch is an obligate feeder on milkweed. Individuals always lay their eggs on a milkweed plant, and the larvae only develop on various species of this particular plant.

Unfortunately, invasive milkweed plants are everywhere throughout the southern U.S. Faldyn hopes to raise awareness among plant sellers, gardeners and home owners that given global climate change, it's better to plant the native milkweed rather than the pervasive, non-native tropical milkweed plant for the monarch

[Hot Tabasco]

My friend has a small backyard and his wife has planted a small plot of milkweeds for the monarch butterflies. Every year the butterflies manage to find them and lay their eggs which she then brings in the leaves and puts them in an insect cage I built for her. The eggs hatch and the caterpillers eventually grow and climb to the top of the cage and create their chrysalis then hatch into the butterflies.

Depending on how many eggs she finds, she'll usually give me a few and I'll put them in my cage......

She also puts out a pot of parsley plants which the tiger swallowtails seem to find and lay their eggs on.........cool stuff.

[Yaelle]

You guys need to have more sex. We need unicorns. No matter what, unicorns give us all the hope for the impossible. Dreams. Flying white horned beasts pooping down skittles from the skies.

[b4its2late]

Yep! Hahaha. You can’t make this stuff up though they try to.

[blueunicorn6]

M&Ms.

Unicorns poop M&Ms.

Leprechauns poop Skittles.

And unicorns don’t kiss and tell....or horn and tell.....whatever.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Actually the problem is they are importing non-native plants and letting them run wild.

Come to think of it they are doing the same with people.

[faucetman]

“... potentially turning its favorite plant food into a poison.”

I guess it won’t be their favorite food for long.

What good does this study do? Are they going to WARN all the butterflies?

How has the earth and all of its life survived all this time WITHOUT “scientists”?

Oh, right... God.

[faucetman]

Well, the butterflies will just have to work it out..... or not, dodos.

[Yaelle]

I am sorry I triggered you.

And after I hit post, I realized I had made a grave error re your skin color as well. I had made the assumption you were white. Then I paid more attention to your screen name and I did feel really bad to have injected race into this discussion. I love m&ms. I was even listening to Eminem on Monday night. And blue is my favorite color. I’m truly sorry.

[blueunicorn6]

“I triggered you”

Leave Roy Rogers horse out of this.

[daler]

Don’t forget the devastating effect global warming had on unicorn populations worldwide.

[blueunicorn6]

What?

It did?

I blame The Beatles.

[Yaelle]

Sorry. I didn’t know you two had a thing. ;)

[<1/1,000,000th%]

And it can turn earthworms into whales.