CANCELLED: Milkweed, Monarchs and Climate Change

Monarch butterflies are much beloved by the public because they are common, beautiful and have a fascinating and unique migratory life cycle.  Every year, migratory monarchs from the eastern United States migrate down to a small set of mountains in central Mexico.  The next spring, those same individuals fly north to the Texas region where they lay eggs.  The adults that emerge about a month later continue north and east, recolonizing the eastern United States where they feed on milkweed and produce two-three more generations before heading back south in the fall.  But monarch numbers have been declining. Georgetown University ecologist, Leslie, Ries,  will present what we know about the various pressures that may be behind the decline of the monarch and what a warmer future may mean for the migratory monarch population.