scholarly journals Two centuries of monarch butterfly collections reveal contrasting effects of range expansion and migration loss on wing traits

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (46) ◽  
pp. 28887-28893
Author(s):  
Micah G. Freedman ◽  
Hugh Dingle ◽  
Sharon Y. Strauss ◽  
Santiago R. Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Range Expansion ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Common Garden ◽  
Monarch Butterfly ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Seasonal Migration ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
The World ◽  
And Migration

Migratory animals exhibit traits that allow them to exploit seasonally variable habitats. In environments where migration is no longer beneficial, such as oceanic islands, migration-association traits may be selected against or be under relaxed selection. Monarch butterflies are best known for their continent-scale migration in North America but have repeatedly become established as nonmigrants in the tropical Americas and on Atlantic and Pacific Islands. These replicated nonmigratory populations provide natural laboratories for understanding the rate of evolution of migration-associated traits. We measured >6,000 museum specimens of monarch butterflies collected from 1856 to the present as well as contemporary wild-caught monarchs from around the world. We determined 1) how wing morphology varies across the monarch’s global range, 2) whether initial long-distance founders were particularly suited for migration, and 3) whether recently established nonmigrants show evidence for contemporary phenotypic evolution. We further reared >1,000 monarchs from six populations around the world under controlled conditions and measured migration-associated traits. Historical specimens show that 1) initial founders are well suited for long-distance movement and 2) loss of seasonal migration is associated with reductions in forewing size and elongation. Monarch butterflies raised in a common garden from four derived nonmigratory populations exhibit genetically based reductions in forewing size, consistent with a previous study. Our findings provide a compelling example of how migration-associated traits may be favored during the early stages of range expansion, and also the rate of reductions in those same traits upon loss of migration.

scholarly journals Effects of early-life exposure to sublethal levels of a common neonicotinoid insecticide on the orientation and migration of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)

2020 ◽  
Vol 224 (4) ◽  
pp. jeb230870
Author(s):  
Alana A. E. Wilcox ◽  
Amy E. M. Newman ◽  
Nigel E. Raine ◽  
Greg W. Mitchell ◽  
D. Ryan Norris
Keyword(s):  
Danaus Plexippus ◽  
Monarch Butterfly ◽  
Flight Simulator ◽  
Testing Time ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
Early Life Exposure ◽  
Neonicotinoid Insecticide ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
And Migration

ABSTRACTMigratory insects use a variety of innate mechanisms to determine their orientation and maintain correct bearing. For long-distance migrants, such as the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), these journeys could be affected by exposure to environmental contaminants. Neonicotinoids are synthetic insecticides that work by affecting the nervous system of insects, resulting in impairment of their mobility, cognitive performance, and other physiological and behavioural functions. To examine how neonicotinoids might affect the ability of monarch butterflies to maintain a proper directional orientation on their ∼4000 km migration, we grew swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) in soil that was either untreated (0 ng g−1: control) or mixed with low (15 ng g−1 of soil) or high (25 ng g−1 of soil) levels of the neonicotinoid clothianidin. Monarch caterpillars were raised on control or clothianidin-treated milkweed and, after pupation, either tested for orientation in a static flight simulator or radio-tracked in the wild during the autumn migration period. Despite clothianidin being detectable in milkweed tissue consumed by caterpillars, there was no evidence that clothianidin influenced the orientation, vector strength (i.e. concentration of direction data around the mean) or rate of travel of adult butterflies, nor was there evidence that morphological traits (i.e. mass and forewing length), testing time, wind speed or temperature impacted directionality. Although sample sizes for both flight simulator and radio-tracking tests were limited, our preliminary results suggest that clothianidin exposure during early caterpillar development does not affect the directed flight of adult migratory monarch butterflies or influence their orientation at the beginning of migration.

Systematics, Biogeography, and Morphological Character Evolution of the Hemiepiphytic Subfamily Monsteroideae (Araceae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Zuluaga ◽  
Martin Llano ◽  
Ken Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
R Package ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Seed Shape ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Tropics

The subfamily Monsteroideae (Araceae) is the third richest clade in the family, with ca. 369 described species and ca. 700 estimated. It comprises mostly hemiepiphytic or epiphytic plants restricted to the tropics, with three intercontinental disjunctions. Using a dataset representing all 12 genera in Monsteroideae (126 taxa), and five plastid and two nuclear markers, we studied the systematics and historical biogeography of the group. We found high support for the monophyly of the three major clades (Spathiphylleae sister to Heteropsis Kunth and Rhaphidophora Hassk. clades), and for six of the genera within Monsteroideae. However, we found low rates of variation in the DNA sequences used and a lack of molecular markers suitable for species-level phylogenies in the group. We also performed ancestral state reconstruction of some morphological characters traditionally used for genera delimitation. Only seed shape and size, number of seeds, number of locules, and presence of endosperm showed utility in the classification of genera in Monsteroideae. We estimated ancestral ranges using a dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis model as implemented in the R package BioGeoBEARS and found evidence for a Gondwanan origin of the clade. One tropical disjunction (Monstera Adans. sister to Amydrium Schott–Epipremnum Schott) was found to be the product of a previous Boreotropical distribution. Two other disjunctions are more recent and likely due to long-distance dispersal: Spathiphyllum Schott (with Holochlamys Engl. nested within) represents a dispersal from South America to the Pacific Islands in Southeast Asia, and Rhaphidophora represents a dispersal from Asia to Africa. Future studies based on stronger phylogenetic reconstructions and complete morphological datasets are needed to explore the details of speciation and migration within and among areas in Asia.

scholarly journals Changes in the geomagnetic field has little effect on the overwintering range of Eastern North American fall migratory monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), indicating a lack of an innate magnetic map sense for navigation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Anthony Guerra ◽  
Stephen Matter
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
North American ◽  
Geomagnetic Field ◽  
Danaus Plexippus ◽  
Monarch Butterfly ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Earth’S Magnetic Field ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
Earth's Magnetic Field

Abstract BackgroundIndividuals of many species that perform annual long-distance migrations are capable of stopping at specific overwintering destinations, despite having not been there before. The iconic monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and its annual long-distance fall migration is a famous example of this phenomenon. During the fall, Eastern North American monarch butterflies use various compass mechanisms to properly orient their flight southwards, in order to leave their summer breeding grounds in Southern Canada and the Northern United States, and reach their overwintering sites in Central Mexico. It remains a mystery, however, how monarchs locate and stop at these specific, consistent overwintering sites, especially since these individuals are on their maiden voyage. MethodsWe test the hypothesis that fall migrant monarchs locate these overwintering sites by using an innate, inherited map sense based on sensing and responding to specific geomagnetic signatures that are correlated with the overwintering sites. Using a natural displacement approach, we examined if the locations of overwintering sites and the abundance of monarchs at them, changes with the natural shift of the Earth’s magnetic field over time (2004-2018).ResultsWe found that despite the natural displacement of the geomagnetic field over the years, the locations of the overwintering sites and monarch abundance were unaffected. For example, fall monarchs continued to overwinter at the most southern sites in Mexico, even when the geomagnetic coordinates associated with these sites would have shifted north due to the natural shift of the Earth’s magnetic field, placing these sites significantly outside the range of the overwintering area.ConclusionsOur results suggest that monarchs do not employ a map sense based on geomagnetic cues for finding their overwintering sites, and might instead use other mechanisms or strategies for locating them (potentially using localized sensory cues) once they are near or have arrived in Central Mexico. We suggest that future work should now focus on understanding what these cue parameters are, in order to inform conservation efforts that are aimed at protecting the threatened monarch butterfly and preserving its annual long-distance migration.

scholarly journals The immune response of bats differs between pre-migration and migration seasons

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian C. Voigt ◽  
Marcus Fritze ◽  
Oliver Lindecke ◽  
David Costantini ◽  
Gunārs Pētersons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Seasonal Migration ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Immune Challenge ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Migration Period ◽  
Immune Parameters ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Plasma Haptoglobin

Abstract Maintaining a competent immune system is energetically costly and thus immunity may be traded against other costly traits such as seasonal migration. Here, we tested in long-distance migratory Nathusius’ pipistrelles (Pipistrellus nathusii), if selected branches of immunity are expressed differently in response to the energy demands and oxidative stress of aerial migration. During the migration period, we observed higher baseline lymphocyte and lower neutrophil levels than during the pre-migration period, but no stronger response of cellular effectors to an antigen challenge. Baseline plasma haptoglobin, as a component of the humoral innate immunity, remained similar during both seasons, yet baseline plasma haptoglobin levels increased by a factor of 7.8 in migratory bats during an immune challenge, whereas they did not change during the pre-migration period. Oxidative stress was higher during migration than during pre-migration, yet there was no association between blood oxidative status and immune parameters, and immune challenge did not trigger any changes in oxidative stress, irrespective of season. Our findings suggest that humoral effectors of the acute phase response may play a stronger role in the first-line defense against infections for migrating bats compared to non-migrating bats. We conclude that Nathusius’ pipistrelles allocate resources differently into the branches of their immune system, most likely following current demands resulting from tight energy budgets during migration.

The botany of the southern oceanic islands

1960 ◽  
Vol 152 (949) ◽  
pp. 475-490 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Volcanic Material ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Continental Shelves ◽  
Westerly Winds ◽  
Temperature Ranges ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Antarctic

Botanical interest in the islands of the southern ocean has centred largely on the geographical relationships of their floras, problems of long-distance dispersal, and on the larger questions which their floras raise concerning the past distribution of land and sea in the southern hemisphere and the origins and migration-routes of the continental floras (references in Turrill 1953, pp. 184-88). This paper will deal with the vegetation types of the southern islands. The major types of native vegetation on the islands are compared with one another, and with similar types on the southern continents, and some of the ecological consequences of their insularity are discussed. Geographically, the islands considered all lie between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle (figure 10). With the exception of the mid-Atlantic and mid-Indian Ocean groups, all he within about a thousand kilometres of the nearest continental shelves. Most of them consist wholly or partly of volcanic material. Islands of both continental and oceanic origin (Wallace 1895) are included. Their climates are all extremely oceanic, with small temperature ranges, evenly distributed rainfall, constantly high humidities, and strong westerly winds. Air temperatures at sea level closely follow those of the surrounding seas (figure 11).

Race, Criminal Justice, and Migration Control

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Its Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Migration Control ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Way

In an era of mass mobility, those who are permitted to migrate and those who are criminalized, controlled, and prohibited from migrating are heavily patterned by race. By placing race at the centre of its analysis, this volume brings together fourteen essays that examine, question, and explain the growing intersection between criminal justice and migration control. Through the lens of race, we see how criminal justice and migration enmesh in order to exclude, stop, and excise racialized citizens and non-citizens from societies across the world within, beyond, and along borders. Neatly organized in four parts, the book begins with chapters that present a conceptual analysis of race, borders, and social control, moving to the institutions that make up and shape the criminal justice and migration complex. The remaining chapters are convened around the key sites where criminal justice and migration control intersect: policing, courts, and punishment. Together the volume presents a critical and timely analysis of how race shapes and complicates mobility and how racism is enabled and reanimated when criminal justice and migration control coalesce. Race and the meaning of race in relation to citizenship and belonging are excavated throughout the chapters presented in the book, thereby transforming the way we think about migration.

East Asian Exceptionalism to Western Populism and Migration Crisis

2018 ◽  
pp. 196-210
Author(s):  
John Lie
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Northeast Asia ◽  
Historical Account ◽  
World War ◽  
Post World War Ii ◽  
The World ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
And Migration

In the 2010s, the world is seemingly awash with waves of populism and anti-immigration movements. Yet virtually all discussions, owing to the prevailing Eurocentric perspective, bypass East Asia (more accurately, Northeast Asia) and the absence of strong populist or anti-immigration discourses or politics. This chapter presents a comparative and historical account of East Asian exceptionalism in the matter of migration crisis, especially given the West’s embrace of an insider-outsider dichotomy superseding the class- and nation-based divisions of the post–World War II era. The chapter also discusses some nascent articulations of Western-style populist discourses in Northeast Asia, and concludes with the potential for migration crisis in the region.

War Captives, Left-Behind Wives, and Buddhist Nuns: Female Migrants in Early Medieval China (4th–6th Century CE)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Wen-Yi Huang
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Textual Representations ◽  
Medieval China ◽  
Gender And Migration ◽  
Early Medieval China ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Northern Wei ◽  
Distance Travel

Abstract Using received texts and excavated funerary epitaphs, this article examines the intricacies of gender and migration in early medieval China by exploring women's long-distance mobility from the fourth century to the sixth century, when what is now known as China was divided by the Northern Wei and a succession of four southern states—the Eastern Jin, Liu-Song, Southern Qi, and Liang. I focus on three types of migration in which women participated during this period: war-induced migration, family reunification, and religious journeys. Based on this analysis, I propose answers to two important questions: the connection between migration and the state, and textual representations of migrants. Though the texts under consideration are usually written in an anecdotal manner, the references to women, I argue, both reveals nuances in perceptions of womanhood at the time and elucidates the contexts within—and through—which long-distance travel became possible for women.

scholarly journals A case study of a conservation flagship species: the monarch butterfly

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie D. Preston ◽  
Julia D. Liao ◽  
Theodore P. Toombs ◽  
Rainer Romero-Canyas ◽  
Julia Speiser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Monarch Butterfly ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Flagship Species ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Tests Of Association ◽  
And Migration

AbstractWhat 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. 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). 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. The results showed that people often described encounters with monarchs in childhood and as adults. 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). 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. These results imply that conservation campaigns built around species people encounter may build lifelong awareness, concern, and actions towards conservation.

scholarly journals Out of the forest: past and present range expansion of a parthenogenetic weevil pest, or how to colonize the world successfully

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (15) ◽  
pp. 5431-5445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcela S. Rodriguero ◽  
Analía A. Lanteri ◽  
Noelia V. Guzmán ◽  
Jerson V. Carús Guedes ◽  
Viviana A. Confalonieri
Keyword(s):  
Range Expansion ◽  
The World
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