The extinction risk for monarch butterflies has been worrying some conservation experts, but recent data on the species revealed that more of the butterflies are wintering in Mexico than expected. Despite this good news, Brice Semmens, assistant professor at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, claims that the monarch isn't "out of the woods" yet. In fact, 85 percent of the monarch population has disappeared, and the species still faces the possibility of extinction in the next 10 to 20 years.
Semmens also claims that one of the biggest factors in the monarch's approaching extinction is the fact that we have become too effective at eradicating milkweed, which they rely on to reproduce, leading to a destruction of their habitat and preventing their breeding.
"If you look at where corn is grown, and where monarchs are in terms of density, there's almost perfect overlap," he said. "It really is that sort of corn-breeding ground, that really fertile Midwestern ground, and it's where we need to get milkweed back, in order to recover the monarchs."
Our current herbicides and production agriculture techniques are eliminating milkweeds, and Semmens points to the fact that monarchs can only reproduce or lay eggs on milkweed, meaning that a decline in their numbers leads to a decline in their ability to reproduce.
The Missouri Department of Conservation is currently working with various environmental groups to reintroduce milkweeds into some areas and get the monarch population back on track. One strategy is attempting to push homeowners to plant milkweed in their yards in order to create breeding areas for the endangered butterfly species.
Even if each homeowner planted a little bit of milkweed, the monarch population could be pulled back from extinction risk.
"You only have one garden, but if we collectively are doing it, that results in a lot of potential monarch breeding habitat, even in our urban areas," Semmens said.
"They only can reproduce or lay eggs on milkweed, and no other plant," he added. "So, it really doesn't matter if you're in Maryland or in Arkansas, or if you're in Indiana - milkweed is the thing that they need in order to reproduce."
In addition to monarchs, other species of insects also use milkweed as their primary food source, making it an important plant despite its weed classification.
