The US government may add the Monarch butterfly to the Endangered
Species list following a catastrophic loss of its population over last
decades due to habitat decrease from cultivation of genetically
engineered crops and climate change.
US Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Monday it would conduct
a one-year status review of the Monarch butterfly to determine if
they are warranted protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The agency is requesting scientific and commercial data through a
60-day public information period and they’re looking for data on
the insects’ biology, range and population trends, habitat
requirements, genetics and taxonomy, distribution patterns,
population levels, life history, thermos-tolerance, and
conservation methods.
READ
MORE: Monsanto blamed for disappearance of monarch
butterflies
The Center for Biological Diversity said the population has
declined from a recorded high of approximately one billion
Monarch butterflies in the mid-1990s to only 35 million
butterflies last winter, the lowest number ever recorded.
The agency review comes in response to a petition from the Center
for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety, and the
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation to list the
subspecies of monarch (Danaus plexippus plexippus), who argue
might be necessary.
The Center for Biological Diversity said the decline is driven in
part to the widespread planting of genetically engineered crops
in the Midwest, where most Monarchs are born. The vast majority
of genetically engineered crops are made to be resistant to
Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, a potent killer of milkweed, the
monarch caterpillar's only food.
Read More... http://rt.com/usa/218855-monarch-butterly-endangered-species/
