![]() What is special about the monarch? Can the monarch’s popularity be applied to generate broader conservation support? Flagship species For example, the monarch butterfly is the only insect described as “iconic” by the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resource Defense Council, and the World Wildlife Fund (Horsley et al. Efforts to save the monarch also benefit from the fact that it is a well-known and beloved creature. Without strong public support, these funding sources may fall short of what is needed to save the monarch.įortunately, the general public, scientists, and conservationists appear to be rallying and uniting to save the monarch (Gustafsson et al. Conservation organizations rely upon varied sources of financial support, including public funding, private donors, foundations, and individual annual memberships. These efforts will require large financial contributions and broad societal support, from agriculture, industry, citizens group, conservation organizations, and all levels of government, which will likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars (Thogmartin et al. 2017) and through changes to agricultural policies (Nail et al. Efforts to save the species from extinction will be expensive, as feeding habitats must be restored across a wide swath of North America through planting milkweed and nectar-producing plants (Thogmartin et al. ![]() The monarch’s recovery will require an unprecedented collaborative conservation effort (Jepsen et al. Based on this unprecedented coalition of conservation activity, the monarch came to represent the decline of biodiversity and broader environmental issues across North America (Gustafsson et al. Monarch conservation efforts also align with sustainable farming practices to address habitat, water quality, and erosion through changes like vegetated field buffers, which also provide food for migrating butterflies (Gustafsson et al. Concurrently, a wide array of longstanding and new conservation groups (from local to national in scope) have coalesced around this cause through a new organization: The Monarch Joint Venture (Monarch Joint Venture 2020). Fish and Wildlife Service (White House 2014). President Barack Obama requested the establishment of a federal strategy to save the monarch, which initiated a status assessment by the U.S. 2015 Lewandowsky and Oberhauser 2017).īut since the turn of the century, wildlife habitat loss, herbicide use, and climate change have caused a rapid decline in the monarch population (Thogmartin et al. Thanks to school programs and large-scale monitoring projects, public awareness of monarchs has grown over generations who are interacting with monarchs “in the wild” (Young-Isebrand et al. Monarch migration and overwintering sites now draw thousands of ecotourists each year (Lemelin and Jaramillo-López 2019 Lemelin et al. ![]() In the 1950s, Fred and Norah Urquhart chose monarchs for the first citizen science research project on, “Where do monarchs go in the winter?” (Urquhart and Urquhart 1976). Articles about monarchs appear frequently in the popular press for example, the New York Times published (on average) one each month from 1995 to 2015 (cf. Monarch butterflies ( Danaus plexippus) are among the most popular insect species in the world, and are easily recognizable in gardens and fields across North America (Oberhauser et al. These results imply that conservation campaigns built around species people encounter may build lifelong awareness, concern, and actions towards conservation. They also raised conservation themes of distress at monarch loss, calls for action, and caretaking, such as being “fragile” and “in need.” Sharing personal encounters was associated with current efforts to save the species and more past financial donations, while a second pattern tied more donations to awe at the monarch’s mass migration. They expressed strong, positive emotions, and lauded the monarch’s beauty and other “awe-inspiring” qualities and expressed wonder at their lifecycle (i.e., metamorphosis and migration). The results showed that people often described encounters with monarchs in childhood and as adults. The set of 691 stories along with their associated demographic and donation data was analyzed in a mixed-methods study using qualitative analysis and tests of association. To gather more information about people’s responses to monarchs, we conducted an empirical study of member submissions to a successful conservation campaign, the Monarch Story Campaign, conducted by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). What makes a flagship species effective in engaging conservation donors? Large, charismatic mammals are typically selected as ambassadors, but a few studies suggest butterflies-and monarchs in particular-may be even more appealing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |