Community group maps undiscovered monarch migration pathway across Yucatán

The assemblage enactment Alas Mayas (Mayan Wings) has detected a caller migratory way for the monarch butterfly that crosses the Yucatán Peninsula, reaching Quintana Roo.

In collaboration with the researcher Dr. Cristina Dockx, Alas Mayas conducted assemblage monitoring for six years, during which they recovered that the monarch butterfly not lone transits but besides breeds successful the northeast of the peninsula. This was peculiarly noteworthy connected Isla Mujeres, wherever monarch butterflies person been observed astatine each stages of development: egg, larva, chrysalis and adult.

During this time, the radical recorded much than 300 specimens successful San Juan del Río, Yucatán, and astir 100 successful Cacao, Quintana Roo, supporting the proposal that this portion is portion of a caller migratory way connecting the United States, Cuba and southeastern Mexico.

The radical besides revealed they successfully tracked a monarch butterfly with a transmitter for the archetypal clip successful the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve. 

Unlike the wood sanctuaries successful Michoacán, wherever the monarch butterfly migrates annually to hibernate, researchers judge Quintana Roo functions arsenic a earthy bridge: butterflies get successful Florida, transverse the Caribbean islands and participate the Peninsula pursuing a way that has been small explored until now. 

This Caribbean transportation demonstrates that their migration is overmuch much extended and analyzable than antecedently believed.

“The taxable of the monarch butterfly present connected the Yucatán Peninsula is simply a caller 1 that tin assistance rise awareness, truthful radical tin larn astir them, observe them and hold for them,” Dockx said. “And successful the lawsuit of Isla Mujeres during the breeding season, larn astir them, support them, conserve them and get radical involved, adjacent perchance triggering a (sighting) play similar that of the whale shark oregon the tern,” she said. 

As portion of their probe strategies, the scientists utilized accepted tagging methods alongside tiny solar-powered transmitters for Bluetooth tracking. 

These findings person led to the constitution of the Monarch Butterfly Community Monitoring Network successful the Yucatán Peninsula, which aims to proceed studying this caller migration route.

Alas Mayas has called connected the wide nationalist to prosecute done national observations, photographs and reports connected the iNaturalist platform, wherever information has been collected since 2021 connected the Yucatán Peninsula.

With reports from Por Esto!, La Jornada Maya and Heraldo de México