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A trans‐national monarch butterfly population model and implications for regional conservation priorities
Author(s) -
OBERHAUSER KAREN,
WIEDERHOLT RUSCENA,
DIFFENDORFER JAY E.,
SEMMENS DARIUS,
RIES LESLIE,
THOGMARTIN WAYNE E.,
LOPEZHOFFMAN LAURA,
SEMMENS BRICE
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/een.12351
Subject(s) - monarch butterfly , butterfly , habitat , population , population growth , biology , ecology , danaus , range (aeronautics) , population size , geography , environmental resource management , demography , economics , lepidoptera genitalia , materials science , sociology , composite material
1. The monarch has undergone considerable population declines over the past decade, and the governments of M exico, C anada, and the U nited S tates have agreed to work together to conserve the species. 2. Given limited resources, understanding where to focus conservation action is key for widespread species like monarchs. To support planning for continental‐scale monarch habitat restoration, we address the question of where restoration efforts are likely to have the largest impacts on monarch butterfly ( D anaus plexippus L inn.) population growth rates. 3. We present a spatially explicit demographic model simulating the multi‐generational annual cycle of the eastern monarch population, and use the model to examine management scenarios, some of which focus on particular regions of N orth A merica. 4. Improving the monarch habitat in the north central or southern parts of the monarch range yields a slightly greater increase in the population growth rate than restoration in other regions. However, combining restoration efforts across multiple regions yields population growth rates above 1 with smaller simulated improvements in habitat per region than single‐region strategies. 5. S ynthesis and applications: T hese findings suggest that conservation investment in projects across the full monarch range will be more effective than focusing on one or a few regions, and will require international cooperation across many land use categories.