Monarch Butterfly& Milkweed Relationship

Prompt: Write 3 questions that you have about the relationship between Monarch Butterflies and milkweed plants.

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Monarch butterflies and caterpillars are easy to spot because of their colorful markings. Why do you think Monarch butterflies and caterpillars are so colorful?

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Monarch caterpillar only becomes poisonous to eat after it starts eating the Milkweed plants. What is your prediction of how a Monarch Caterpillar would look like after it hatches from an egg?

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The Viceroy Butterfly is not poisonous but it looks almost like the monarch butterfly. Why do you think the Viceroy Butterfly looks like the Monarch Butterfly?

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Monarch Butterfly& Milkweed Relationship

Monarch larvae are specialist herbivores of milkweed plants, and have been recorded feeding on 27 different North American species in this. The larvae store toxic steroids, known as cardenolides, from milkweed, and they use these cardenolides as a defense against predators. The bad taste and toxicity of both the larvae and adults are advertised by conspicuous, warning coloration. When a bird or other predator tastes a monarch, it learns to associate this color pattern with the bad taste, and avoids preying on monarchs in the future.

Early in the 20th century, Poulton (1909) suggested that the reason that monarchs feed only on milkweeds might be because chemicals in the milkweeds provide them with some protection from predators. However, it was not until the 1960’s that researchers discovered that cardenolides were the chemicals in milkweed that made monarchs toxic and bitter-tasting (Parsons 1965). Since then, several studies have shown that monarchs are able to store these toxic compounds.

Write a summary of the Monarch Butterfly and Milkweed relationship in your own words.

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Does the Milkweed plant benefit from this relationship? If so, how?

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Is there a symbiosis relationship between the Monarch Butterfly and humans? If so, what kind of relationship is it?

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Decline in Monarch ButterflyPopulation

Prompt: Monarch butterfly population has been declining recently, write 3 questions that you have about the monarch butterfly decline.

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Complete Cause and Effect Box for the Monarch Butterfly Population Decline

Cause / Effect

How can we stop the decline of the Monarch Butterfly population?______

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Are there any problems with your solution? If so, explain. ______

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If the Monarch Butterfly population continue to decline, would it cause other problems for us and the planet? Why or Why not.

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If the Monarch Butterfly goes extinct, what do you think will happen to the milkweed plant? Explain your answer.

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Decline in Monarch ButterflyPopulation

Graph the following data on the above graph. Draw a line between each data point to show a trend. Make sure to use a different color for each line and label each line.

Year / Monarch Colonies (hectares) / Corn + Soy Planted (million acres) / Glyphosate (fertilizer) Used (million pounds)
1992 / 25 / 18 / 2
1996 / 20 / 19 / 3
2000 / 10 / 19 / 5
2004 / 5 / 20 / 12
2008 / 5 / 20 / 20
2012 / 1 / 21 / 23

Based on the above graph, what do you think caused the decline in the Monarch Butterfly population? Support your reasoning. ______

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