Public asked to report monarch butterfly sightings in South, including Florida and Georgia

ATLANTA – Researchers are calling connected the nationalist to study monarch butterfly sightings successful 8 confederate and Gulf states to effort to amended recognize the insect’s migration and wintering behavior.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources announced the effort connected Thursday. Scientists privation to perceive astir sightings from Dec. 1 to March 1 successful North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The observations should beryllium reported astatine journeynorth.org.

The accusation whitethorn assistance conservation efforts by determining if the butterflies tin walk the wintertime arsenic non-breeding adults successful the confederate U.S., Sonia Altizer, an ecology prof astatine the University of Georgia, said successful a quality release.

It could besides shed airy connected however breeding during the wintertime whitethorn beryllium affecting the butterfly's yearly migration to Mexico.

Monarch populations person declined importantly implicit the past 2 decades. Last year, the insect became a campaigner for listing nether the Endangered Species Act.

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Monarchs successful the eastbound U.S. and Canada mostly watercourse crossed the South each autumn connected their mode to wintering grounds successful cardinal Mexico. They past instrumentality successful the outpouring to breed. But a akin reporting effort past wintertime led to much than 5,800 observations of monarch butterflies successful confederate and Gulf states, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

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