Monarch butterflies have been declared endangered. Here's why tropical milkweed is great and also bad
Gardeners in San Antonio and all through North America have been actively involved in monarch butterfly initiatives with the hope that the population decline can be reversed. Unfortunately, it appears we have not yet been very successful. The nonprofit IUCN reports that the migratory population of monarchs continues to decline and the Eastern population that passes through San Antonio may only be 30 percent of what it was before the last decade.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has listed monarch butterflies as endangered as their population declines.They report that the decline is caused by the destruction of milkweed, the only plant species on which monarchs lay their eggs. Milkweed is a tough weed to control, but apparently with the help of glyphosate herbicide, farmers have been so successful in eradicating it that there's not enough for monarchs to successfully reproduce.
Complicating matters is the long distance of the monarchs' migration route, from their wintering grounds in the forest of Central Mexico all the way into Canada. The distance and time it takes to travel it leaves the monarchs vulnerable to weather extremes.Another challenge is that monarchs lay eggs and reproduce as many as seven times along the migration route. In each reproduction cycle, the adults die and are replaced by the new generation.
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