User:Barbara (WVS)/sandbox/Monarch butterfly tagging

Monarch tagging allows scientists to assess migration directions and speeds, by comparing the timing of the initial tag date and the date and location of the subsequent recovery of the tagged individual. At least one tagged butterfly made a trip of 4,635 km (2,880 miles).

Monarch tagging is a popular educational project for students. Captive/commercially bred monarchs have been known to migrate to overwintering sites in Mexico, although their success rate is much lower than it is for wild monarchs.

Scientists who study monarch migration have utilized monarch tagging records to answer a number of questions about monarch migration biology. A study from South Carolina showed, through tagging records, that monarchs with smaller and/or damaged wings tend to remain longer at stopover sites, which leads to them falling behind in the migration. Another study used tagging records to show how monarchs tagged in areas along the Atlantic coast have a lower migration success rate than do those tagged at inland locations. Collectively, the conservation value of tagging data are vast, yet one scientist argued that these data remain largely untapped.

Migration routes
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− Generally speaking, the eastern population migrates from southern Canada and the Midwest United States almost directly south toward Mexico. Monarchs from the Northeast tend to migrate in a southwesterly direction. Monarchs transplanted from the midwest to the east coast began migrating directly south but then reoriented their path to the southwest in one study. Geographical features affect the migration route.

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− In general, the western population of monarchs migrates from areas west of the Rocky Mountains including northern Canada to California. Australian monarchs that migrate travel from the west to eastern regions closer to the Pacific.