MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2021. BY XERCES SOCIETY.
Monarch butterfly larvae. (Photo: Charlie Starr IV)
Many insect pollinators are declining in California, including bees and butterflies. The Western monarch population has declined 99.9% since the 1980s, likely due to multiple factors including habitat loss and degradation, pesticides, and climate change. One important step we can take to protect these important animals is to increase the amount of habitat available to these species. To this end, The Xerces Society is offering habitat kits that contain climate-smart native plants to project partners who are willing to provide the time, labor, and land to develop habitats that support monarchs and other pollinators in California.
Walsh University Teacher of the Month: Kristen Misbrener, GlenOak
The Repository
COLLEGE Kent State University (undergraduate); currently attending University of Akron for graduate school.
FAMILY My partner, Kerry; our cat, Binx; my parents, Bob and Annette; and my sister, Kelsey.
WHAT SUBJECT DO YOU TEACH? I teach English II, Honors English II, and AP Language and Composition.
WHAT IS THE BEST PART OF YOUR JOB? The best part about my job is getting to play a part in the growth of my students and being able to see their identities flourish as they become the truest version of themselves.
WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF YOUR JOB? The most challenging part of my job is continuing to find new ways to engage my students, no matter the changing circumstances that each new year brings!
Walsh University Teacher of the Month: Shannon McPherson, North Canton
The Repository
SCHOOL – Orchard Hill Intermediate
COLLEGE – University of Akron (English Language Arts: Grades 7-12); Kent State University (Masters in Library Science); Malone University (Gifted Intervention Specialist Endorsement)
WHAT SUBJECTS DO YOU TEACH? – Gifted intervention specialist (grades two to five) and online ELA enrichment (grade seven).
WHAT IS THE BEST PART OF YOUR JOB – The best part of my job is that I often work with the same students for multiple years, so I get to witness their progression as they grow and learn from year to year. Also, my students genuinely make me laugh each day. They tell the best stories and keep me well-supplied with corny jokes to tell family and friends.
Brink of extinction for western monarch and other butterflies. Climate change plays a role
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A monarch butterfly feeds on a narrow leaf milkweed.Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
The numbers are grim. This year when the western monarch butterfly made its annual wintertime stop in Pacific Grove and other parts of California, the number of fluttering black-and-orange insects added up to only about 7% of last year’s population, which already was a fraction of its usual amount.
Probably the most beloved and recognized butterfly in the United States, the western monarch is essentially on the brink of extinction, said Katy Prudic, co-author of a new report from the University of Arizona that found that the monarchs, along with about 450 butterfly species in the Western United States, have decreased overall in population by 1.6% per year in the past four decades. The main culprit seems to be rising temperatures in the fall.
This is not a drill. California is poised to lose the Western monarch butterfly and its mysterious annual migration from the continent’s Western regions to the coastal areas between Baja and Mendocino.
The list for blame is long habitat destruction, insecticides, herbicides and, yes, good intentions, because if you’ve ever planted a showy orange and red milkweed in Southern California with the goal of helping the monarch, consider yourself part of the problem.
So why should we care? First off, caterpillars are a critical food source for most songbirds, which rely heavily on the insects to feed their young. Second, butterflies, like bees, are important pollinators. Adult monarchs sip nectar from many blossoms, and as they flit among flowers, they are also spreading pollen, helping the plants produce seeds, which also feed birds and other wildlife and, of course, help the plant reproduce.