Missing Monarchs

Typically monarch butterflies arrive in Mexico just in time for their holiday The Day of the Dead, however, for the first time in history, the monarchs came in about a week later than this event just this year. Not only did they arrive late however, their numbers decreased by over 57 million from last year's already low amount of 60 million. It doesn't end there though, other insects such as the wild bee are facing similar troubles.

One of the main causes for this is a pesticide called neonicotinoid, still even if the pesticide wasn't used, insects would still be in trouble because of many other causes such as loss of vegetation. This is because farmers have recently increased their acreage, even extending into land that was originally preserved for conversational uses. 

In addition to this cause, the common herbicide, Roundup, kills many native plants, particularly milkweed, the main source of nutrients for monarch larvae. 

Also, many insects suffer from diseases, which, on top of everything else, makes there life that much harder.

Finally, humans have built roads and parking lots in areas where insect-supporting wildlife would have grown. Plus, many of the pretty plants we grow in our yards are completely useless for supporting insect life.  

Although one may not consider loss of bugs a significant impact to our world, bugs are in fact essential to our eco-system. Not only are they one of the main food sources for birds, they decompose plants, spread seeds, and pollinate about 80% of our crops. Although many organizations are working to fix this problem, the fact still remains that if we don't do something soon, this could become a huge problem for humanity. What will you do? 

For more information, check out http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/sunday-review/the-year-the-monarch-didnt-appear.html?emc=eta1

Next week: Happy Holidays!!