The sweet spot: Science and conservation converging for Monarch

Now, with the help of many partners, the Montréal Space for Life Insectarium has launched the Mission Monarch Expert (MMx) program! Although MMx may sound like some kind of extreme sport, in reality, it’s taking professional Monarch butterfly research and monitoring to the next level in Canada.

Largely inspired by the Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program (IMMP) from the United States, MMx has been adapted to the Canadian context while ensuring the data is compatible with IMMP so it can be analyzed on a North American scale. This will allow experts to learn more about the Monarch population and their breeding habitats across Canada and the United States.

“This program essentially erases the border between Canada and the US for Monarch research,” said Greg Mitchell, a Research Scientist at Environment and Climate Change Canada whose work focuses on Monarch. “It will get more boots on the ground to help us learn more about Monarch and their habitat, and help expand and round out the data collected by the Mission Monarch community science program.”

Over the past 20 years, we know Monarch butterfly populations have experienced dramatic declines, as measured at their overwintering habitats in Mexico and California. On the other hand, little is known about Monarch population sizes in the summer, when they breed in Canada and the United States.

“We’ve been monitoring Monarch and milkweed in National Wildlife Areas in Ontario and other parts of Canada using the original Mission Monarch program for several years,” said Elisabeth Shapiro, Species at Risk Biologist, Canadian Wildlife Service, a branch of Environment and Climate Change Canada. “But that has only ever told part of the story. The MMx program will mobilize professional biologists and conservationists across the country to help us learn more about Canadian Monarch populations and their habitats. Answering these questions will help us better prioritize conservation action for Monarch and many other pollinator species across the country.”

In its pilot year, MMx has trained 50 professionals, representing 15 different organizations, ranging from Parks Canada to the Canadian Wildlife Federation. To cover the Monarch’s vast range in Canada, MMx is tapping into an established network of community members, biologists, resource managers, students, landowners, and other professional conservationists to collect data.

“The data collected will feed into the Trinational Monarch Knowledge Network, an open-access database that assembles observations of monarch butterflies and milkweed across North America,” said Alessandro Dieni, Mission Monarch Project Manager at the Montreal Insectarium, Space for Life. “This is an important component of the MMx program. Having the data more widely available online will remove a lot of financial, legal and technical barriers for those interested in accessing the information to advance Monarch conservation.”

This concerted effort for Monarch is an excellent example of how science continues to inform conservation efforts for Species at Risk in Canada. Together, with partners and professionals across the country, Mission Monarch Expert is on its way to helping us learn more about the Monarch and their Canadian habitat. Guided by this new data, experts will be better positioned to evaluate and prioritize conservation action to protect the iconic butterfly.